so, my father-in-law is having the oddest of problems with his computer and/or internet connection. i wonder if anyone here might have any ideas? coz i am completely stumped!

i got there last night and turned the thing on and the internet (web AND email) was working just fine. installed an anti-spy software program and ran it, to make sure there were no yuckies lurking around anywhere. it came back clean (with the exception of 3 cookies to sites they frequent). we had dinner and went to check on it to see if it was alright (since he mentioned that sometimes it works fine at first but after a bit it goes off and he cant do anything). it wasnt. getting those sweet pages that tell you to retry or contact the system (or was it network?) admin to fix the problem. (not a 404, but the ones you get when you're not connected, ya know?)

so, i poked a few buttons, checked the network connection properties and everything seems normal. rebooted the router. rebooted the computer. still nothing. so, in a fit of anger, i loaded MSN messenger, just to see if it would work. and it DID. while nothing else was working. what the hell?? i got caught by someone on msn and talked to her for a few minutes, and during our conversation, i poked ie again to see if it was still an idiot. and it WORKED?! and the email did too!

i guaranteed to him that it would work for the next 3 minutes (trying to be funny!) we left shortly after, but by the time we got home (about 20 mins), my father-in-law had called and said it was dead AGAIN.

i'm baffled. how can it work for messanger, but not for web or email? and how can it work fine one minute and not the next? and then come back on later and be alright for a minute?

now, one of my first thoughts was that it's a problem with the modem. however, after that connection died again, he took the modem to another computer in his home and used it, left it on and running all night and not one problem. which then makes me think it's some type of setting problem. but i still dont understand how something wrong with the settings causes only an intermittent problem (as opposed to a constant problem)?

the computer (a dell dimension 4700, i believe) is not terribly old, probably less than 6 months. they have a cable modem connection.

the alternate computer (with no problems) is very old, several years, anyway, and an emachine to boot. same cable modem connection.

i've scoured the web today looking for solutions. i even tried live chat support for the cable company, but they couldnt help because i wasnt at that computer (and if i had been, i would not have been able to use live chat support, because, chances are, the internet is not working on it! GRRRRRRRR). i found an article on disabling unsuccessful ('negative') DNS caching, but to do so you have to add things to the registry, and i'd much rather avoid that if at all possible.

does anyone have any ideas? any help, suggestions, pointers, etc will be greatly appreciated.
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i don't care no i wouldn't dare to fix the twist in you (Sick Puppies : All The Same)