Problems with wired Linksys router/Telewest/setup

[1stpoofinspace]

I recently bought a router to share a Telewest internet connection with my two housemates. I have followed the instructions for setting up the router, and configuring the PCs and router (using the DHCP/automatically detect settings option), but none of the PCs detect the Internet connection.

On my housemate's laptop, which used the Telewest connection just fine, I have looked under the Network setting option...there seem to be three internet connections there, but I have no idea which is the Telewest one. I have asked her how she connected, but she has had the connection a while, and doesn't remember (she knows less about this sort of thing than I do).

Am I missing something? How hard can it be to connect PCs to a perfectly good internet connection via a router?

Please help!

[Aragorn]

to CF

A few questions-
What model is the router
What OS are the PC's running
Are they connecting wired or wirelessly to the router
Was the laptop previously using a USB connection or was it ethernet
Please confirm whether this is using a Cable Modem or the STB

Should be enough to start.

[1stpoofinspace]

Thanks for the reply.

The router is a BEFSR41 cable/DSL router. The laptop is running on Windows XP; my PC uses (eek) Millennium. The connections are wired. The laptop was previously connected to the modem via ethernet port/cable. Oh, and what's STB?

[Aragorn]

It 'should' work out of the box!
Try plugging the laptop into the router and browsing to
192.168.1.1
The password will be either linksys or admin. This is the router user interface and if you can get there you have a connection to the router.In the router config pages you should be able to see if the router has a valid Telewest IP address.
The other thing to check - have you power cycled the modem since plugging in the router?
You could also confirm that the ethernet cable from router to modem is plugged into the WAN port on the router.

HTH