router only connects one computer

[nickgabriel]

We live in Northern Virginia and have Cox Communications as our ISP, we have high speed internet via a cable modem.

Right now the cable goes to the modem, then from the modem to a 3com router, to which my husband's desktop is connected, which has good internet connection.

Now, when I connect my laptop to another router plug(the router has 6 of them), my laptop does not get internet.

If we remove the desktop connection from the router, and only leave the laptop, then the laptop connects to the internet fine, but not the desktop obviously.

So, it seems like we can only get internet to one computer only, and was wandering if anyone else has seen or heard this problem before, and if its... curable.

 Our router is a 3com 3CGSU08   Gigabit Switch 8

 Thanks,

Maria

[Louis_2]

 Maria,

I don't know if you're still waiting on an answer for this, but I can help.  The problem is that your "router" is not a router, but a switch.  There is a definite difference, as a switch merely moves traffic to its destination, where a router acts as a traffic director between your network and the Internet.  Since your cable modem (apparently) cannot do routing tasks, the first computer to connect to it becomes the "bridge" to the Internet, and no additional devices will be able to connect.

What you are going to need to do is to purchase an actual "router."  It needs to say the word "router" in the name of the product.  The router will connect to the cable modem, and will probably have a few ports to plug in devices.  You can also plug the 3com switch into the router if you need to, but you may not need the switch at all if you only have a few devices to connect.

Of course, the router will require a bit of configuration, but most of them come with software to make it quite easy.

Hope that helps.