I know there are some computer geeks here so I'm going to describe something that has me pulling my hair out. Microsoft Server 2003 clean install. No active directory or DNS installed yet. 2 NIC's that are not the same brand. Both pass muster with the built in networking testing app. TCP/IP settings appear standard. No firewall, enhanced internet security removed. I can ping my router and external websites both by IP and web address. IE pinging
www.google.com resolves the correct IP and tracert shows the complete path. But for the life of me I cannot get internet, not even able to activate Windows online with the built in activation. Same with either NIC and either with a switch between my router and NIC or straight connection. I know it's not explorer as firefox also will not bring up any website. I have done 3 clean installs now with the same result. First one I propagated DC and DNS to start building active directory with client computers and users then learned I couldn't connect with either nic to the web. I normally use 1 nic for WAN and 1 for intranet. Started from scratch after that knowing I would have to fix the WAN problem and having AD and DNS installed could make it tougher. I have exhausted my googlefu and banged my head enough I'm almost ready to admit defeat. Any suggestions?