My desktop is connected to the internet via a broadband (comcast) cable modem. I brought my laptop home from work and tried to connect it to the Internet using the same cable modem. I basically removed the ethernet chord from the computer and plugged it into the laptop. I received the connectivy message in my icon try (i.e. now connected at 100.0) but when I click on Internet Explorer, it does not connect. Is there something that I need to do to make the modem recognize that this is a different computer than the one that is normally connected to it? Please help.

Hello vip4bham ,

If you plug your work laptop directly to the modem, depending on your ISP provider, it might have to be registered - Best to get a router to share internet connection.
Also, check your proxy settings, if your laptop is from your work - most probably it uses a proxy to connect to the internet at work. You might want to verify your proxy settings - make sure it configured right.

Note: for each time you plug and unplugged you network cable, try to restart you computer or renew/release your IP and see if that will work.

post back results.

cheers!

A very common issue is the breakage of the WINSOCK file in Windows. While your system will be able to connect to your provider, it is the WINSOCK file which allows IE to open a webpage. You can either remove the file from Windows manually allowing it to be rebuilt at startup, or you can download and run WinsockFix.exe to repair your network connections. Another thing is cable modems need to be recycled/reset every so often (usually every 60 days). Turn off your system and remove the power plug from your cable modem. After a couple of minutes, re-attach the power to the modem and restart your machine.

Mysons already gave the right answer I think. If your laptop came from work it may be configured for static IP addressing, or have DNS server entries.
Go to Start - Settings - Control Panel - Network Connections and select the "LAN or High Speed" connection (might be called "Local Area Network".
Right click on it and select Properties. In the General tab, there should be an entry called "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)" in the list. Double click on that, and see if it is set for static ("Use the following IP address" and/or "Use the following DNS server addresses" information is filled in).
If they are, change them to "Obtain automatically".
Note that if you take the laptop back to work you may have to reconfigure this - check with our IT department.
Hope this helps,
ronald.