Okay, here is the situation:
Acronis Image 1: C drive last week
Acronis Image 2: C drive mid week
Acronis Image 3: C drive current

With image 1 loaded my lan adapter works fine, i have a broadband cable connection (no modem) and I am using Tango Manager to make the PPP connection.

With image 2 loaded, my lan shows “Aquiring Network Address” but with Tango loaded I can get to the Internet and do all the TCPIP things one would expect.

With image 3 loaded, my lan shows cable disconnected and no connection using Tango is possible.

This is driving me and the tech for my provider nuts, as there appears to be no hardware problems on the pole, in the cable, and back at the provider’s office.  no customers in my area have a problem.

So, what to do?  I could load image 3 and if i knew what files/directories to copy over from Image 1, I would. (Acronis allows u to mount the image as a drive). Does anyone know what files/direcectories would pertain to network connections?

I could just go back to Image 1, but I just spent all week fixing my interface using StarDock, and upgrading several software packages (Adobe Cs2, Nero, hell, too many to list).  And even if I did this, I might just clobber the network again?!?

I have not tried just deleting the Intel VE Adapter and hoping windows hardware detect loads a new one - fixed somehow…I guess that’s next…

Advice please! There is another possibility but somewhat remote: that there is a hardware problem outside the Tr3 and by coincendence and it’s intermittent nature it makes my Image experiments appear valid when they are not.  There is a 30 minute time to load/reload images of the C drive.  Why am I not using system restore?  It has never been reliable on the TR3 with most restore points being unrestorable.  I was so sick of that I just disabled the service. Acronis is 100% reliable just 300%+ slower to get the C drive back.

Well, as always, I am indebted to you all,
jigs

Here is a network configuration snapshot when working (nothing visable is changed between Images 1-3):

I went back to Image 3 just after this post. Now the taskbar icon for LAN has an X thru it, but in network connections it shows connected and all is well…Tango is working and I am writing this post…for the moment. If things go as they did yesterday, the lan line will eventually drop.  Is this hardware or software and how to tell?!? I guess on the next drop I will delete the lan adapter in device manager and hope windows picks up a new one with the same settings (or ones that work).  There is no IP addressing involved, it’s all automatic.  But there is no way in heck the poor nepali tech for my provider can ever troubleshoot this unless he brings his own laptop…hmmmm…wish i had another pc here to test…i do have a router though…arg….ACK….
jigs
Ps, the taskbar icon is disturbing (with an x thru it and no tooltip).  The wireless network has an X as it should but there is a tooltip too, to let u know what is what.  That tooltip for the lan icon worked last boot. there is something really crazy about this.  i have adwared/spywared/and nortoned this thing to death, and nothing is malicious is picked up.  again, ACK…

krikee…now all is well! I’ve done nothing at all. so it’s a case of an intermittent lan line drop, that my providers says is not their problem. how do u debug that!?! hmmmm…changing the cable might be a problem, i think it’s hundreds of meters long! i guess the only way would be to get another Pc and let it sit there for a day and see what happens…but i only have this TR3 and i live in a small village…arg…

here is a graphic illustration of insanity:

How can this be,,,i still have connectivity while the lan is aquiring an address (i guess it must be cached) and then the lan line will disconnect and then if i’m lucky reconnect.

so feel free to chime in here…insanity can also be defined as babbeling to yourself!

thanks,
jigs

I’ve noticed sumthing like this but i’m the type that just factory-restores it (have everything on the D: drive)...
...might wanna try that… 

[quote author=“OnMyWayUp”]I’ve noticed sumthing like this but i’m the type that just factory-restores it (have everything on the D: drive)...
...might wanna try that… 

wish i could but long ago during my travels i’ve lost the restore disks and rely soley on an acronis backup system. i wish i had set up my system in the first place to have the Cdrive just OS and nothing else, but ....

i am hoping to find info on what makes a network work in xp, and perhaps what files specifically to extract from a generic xp install cd that could help get the network back to an original state.  or maybe just getting a bootable xp cd will help…not sure. this problem continues to baffle me and my ip provider with limited diagnostics.

it seems a network can be operational while the lan line is aquiring a network address…very strange. and it seems like some network activity can clobber that. its so intermittent it’s hard to diagnose.

another option for me is to learn how to set up an apple wireless network with my incoming lan line, as i have one of those little apple cubes that has a network port. but this strange broadband connection here also baffles me (tango manager without a DSL modem). i bet this is some nepali problem; i’ve never seen broadbands set up like this before…they call it cable broadband but there is no cable box. just a lan line coming from a pole a hundred meters away and tango manager software with this connection: Efficient Networks, tango Access PPPoE WAN Miniport 9 -A”” -S”“

so life goes on with very flakey service….argh…

as it turns out, it was the Providers problem…the switch on the pole is defective and they will replace as soon as the rain stops…probally in october as it’s monsoon season now here… thx.

You are using PPPoE? Then why would you need an IP address in your LAN to get Internet connectivity? After all, it’s called PPP over Ethernet, not PPP over IP.

Do you even have something (= a DHCP server) inside your LAN which may provide you with an IP address?

Apparently you only want to have Internet connectivity. As mentioned, PPPoE doesn’t transport via IP and so there’s no IP address involved. Just set a static one to your LAN adapter and forget about it.

[quote author=“FrodoID”]You are using PPPoE? Then why would you need an IP address in your LAN to get Internet connectivity? After all, it’s called PPP over Ethernet, not PPP over IP.

Do you even have something (= a DHCP server) inside your LAN which may provide you with an IP address?

Apparently you only want to have Internet connectivity. As mentioned, PPPoE doesn’t transport via IP and so there’s no IP address involved. Just set a static one to your LAN adapter and forget about it.

well, yes, that’s the way it’s supposed to work, but the lan line keeps disconnecting (dropped line).  but the Provider was here with thier own laptop and it did the same thing, so i am sure it’s not my problem. so all is well, kinda…i can stop dinking with my setup now. although i now want to get this whole thing to work using my Apple airport express, but i’ll wait till they replace the switch on the pole before i even try that.  thanks though!
jigs

you know something… you’re not the ONLY one…

for these 2 specifically APs, (my neighbor’s) and my own WRT54G, the TR3A (not any of the other laptops in the house) would keep on saying ‘acquiring ip address’ even tho I’m already browsing the web. i just friggin ignore it

well i can ignore it till it fails to get the address and drops the line! the Isp tech says he thinks it’s the connectors on the switches they use…they all plug from the bottom and they don’t fit tight. i guess i’m lucky to have service at all, even 50% of the time…