On 19/02/10 09:45, Chris G wrote:
Can anyone tell me how to get this to work? Is it a question of telling NTL/Virgin that there's a new machine (with a new MAC address) connected or does the Cable Modem expect authentication across the ethernet cable, or what
Assuming you're right, and assuming he has the login details for NTL/Virgin, then this always used to be quite easy.
If memory serves, after the cable modem is turned on, for about a minute or so (maybe more?), it goes into a mode that allows any unregistered MAC address to be given a DHCP address. The official instructions always used to be turn off the computer and the modem, turn the modem on, then turn the PC on, although I always just forced the PC to perform a DHCP request; unplugging the network cable and plugging it back in ought to do that on any modern distro, and if the cable is directly from the PC to the modem it'll probably happen just from turning off the modem.
Once the network is up, you try to access the internet from a browser, which proxies your connection to an NTL login page, where you log in, fill in a couple of details, and it sets up your account to accept your new MAC address (I think you could have 5 registered so the old Windows one should still work). Then reboot the modem and restart the PC's networking again, and you should be online.
It's probably all changed now though! Hope this helps in some way anyway.