[APML] OT very OT:network and/or cable modem help

[Stosh <stosh@ptd.net>]

Greetings.

This is VERY OT and I'm sorry for the wasted bandwidth.  If you're looking for
APML material, please delete this message now.

If there are any network and/or cable modem whizzes out there that are willing to
lend me a hand, please read on because I would seriously appreciate any help.
I have 3 home computers networked together through a 4 port hub and the uplink
port is to a cable modem. All 3 computers were working fine until last weekend
when one stopped being able to use the network for seemingly no reason.  Netscape
Navigator says the site can't be found, games say I'm not connected to the
internet, and network neighborhood shows no other computers on the network. I went
through every possible option I could think of in control panel - network and all
3 are set up identically. The computer that's not working is the newest and has a
network card built into the motherboard. I thought maybe the network circuitry of
the motherboard blew, so I bought a new network card, installed it, and put the
CAT5 wire into it.  Still not working.  When I disabled the new card I now got
different errors like there isn't even a network available to even start searching
the internet. So back to original and no network errors, just can't find anything
on the network including cable modem.  The only thing I can think that's different
is that my ISP said they are putting new security measures in place in light of
recent events and there will be no more networking through their cable modems and
no more using your home computer as an internet server. But I'm not networking
through the modem, I'm networking through the hub. And the other 2 computers still
work fine. WHAT'S THE DEAL??? Anyone have any thoughts?
 
I have to admit I'm not an expert at all on networks because there were times the
cable modem worked on all computers, but they sometimes couldn't share files even
through the work group was the same and the drives were shared. I don't have any
static addresses specified (nor gateways). Windows98 is set up to automatically
detect everything.  Maybe this needs to be specified?  The craziest thing is that
the hub port is blinking like the computer is trying to talk, and the cable modem
is blinking both for send and receive - it's like they just can't see each other.

One other thought possibly related:  When the cable modem guy was first here
setting up the oldest computer initially (all setting lost) there was some method
he used to find out my IP address.  And when he was in that screen that told him
about IP addresses, he told me that the cable modem automatically changes the IP
address every 10 minutes or so - I'm not sure why.  I guess I could call my IP,
but they charge for tech help, especially since I lost my initial settings.

WOW, long question. Any help greatly appreciated. 
Please email replies PRIVATELY to:
stosh@ptd.net

thanks,
Stosh

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