Corrupt IP/TCP?

[Aada]

Ok so while fiddling around with my router i turned the NAT off.. big mistake i guess now i can't connect to the internet via my router at all.

Phoned the company up (belkin) who were sort of helpful up until the point where they told me my IP/TCP were corrupt and i'd have to call an engineer out and put the phone down.

I can connect to the internet via direct connection to my modem so what is the problem? will a fresh install of xp help? anyone had this before?

 

[anattic]

Network Address Translation (NAT) is a function of the router that allows multiple computers to share a 'public' single IP address by remapping the PC's IP addresses and TCP/UDP ports for each packet:

Interwebnet                ________              |-------- 10.0.0.2 PC 1
                          |        |             |
 - - - - - 80.xx.xx.xx ---| Router |- 10.0.0.1 --+
        Public address    |________|             |-------- 10.0.0.3 PC 2

The router keeps a table of port/address pairs so it can translate incoming packets back again. So with NAT switched off (unless you have been allocated a block of 'world-routable' IP addresses), your ISP cannot route packets from you correctly.

So, first up, you don't need to reinstall XP -- the problem is all in the router. First thing, I would do (if you haven't already) would be to reset the router to factory defaults (most of them have a little switch on the back), then go through the setup procedure in the manual again. That way, with luck, you can get it back into working order.