-
I am certainly not a networking pro but you seem to have a few things mixed up. NAT is sometimes confused with proxy servers, but there are definite differences between them. NAT is transparent to the source and to destination computers. Neither one realizes that it is dealing with a third device. But a proxy server on the other hand is not transparent. If you are using a proxy server then yes you must do some configuring.
As to your question "never wondered why you didn't have to 'dialup' with a cablemodem ?" As a matter of fact no I did not wonder because there is no 'dial up' because unlike a telephone line the cable connection is never disconnected unless you physically disconnect the coaxial cable itself (or turn the router off).
A cable modem (which isn't really a modem at all) is NOT capable of NAT, it is only the link between your pc and the network.
-
Pavilion inital question
i am haveign the same problems as Pavilion and i am not sure if its me or not but everone seems to have gotten off track. i too am having the same problems as Pavilion i just use a cable modem and thats it. no routers/firewalls...etc. and i can not get to the net. it detects my nic but dhcp fails... any extra help would be great. and i have been looking thru all the "searches" that i can find here in the forums, even miss spelling but bothing seems to help out. a lot of times people sort out there problems and dont really take the time to tell the rest of us what they did to fix it. anyway. thanks in advance for reading and taking the time.
hong...