No network / internet abilities but ping

So my parents computers network is busted. It cant use IE or Firefox to get online, can't view shared folders or view shared folders over the network..

But it can ping.

I'm getting the driver again to reinstall that.. Any other ideas?

dns settings?

I agree. I had a similar problem for a client. Years ago I set the DNS server manually. More ercently I decieded to use DHCP but the manual setting for the DNS stayed. To confirm this, ping to 192.168.0.2 works but a ping to mom_machine does not. (sub IPs and computer names to what you have) Look at the properties for the network card that you are using. TCP/IP properties.

DNS = Domain Name Server. It converts IPs and common names. (E.G 192.168.0.2 = mom_machine) <--- not a real example. All made up.

Routers serve this purpose in nearly all home networks. So your DNS server should be your local router's IP.

I'm thinking its something else.. Other computers on the same network are working perfectly fine..

AND.. Reinstalling the driver made things work for like two webpages.. Then things went south again.. Reboot, and things worked for a few, then things went screwy.

I'm thinkin either something got busted or a virus.. I'm gonna boot to knoppix and see if the internet works fine there - if thats the case, roll back windows if possible.. Reinstall if not.. If knoppix doesn't work, new network card or new motherboard (which means new computer).

sledgehammer to crack a nut!

I would guess that since you know how to ping that you have ran and looked at your ipconfig, made sure it wasent an issue with the gateway, checked if it was a firewall issue? Checked the logs router/OS?

Try this in a command prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

What you could also try is an nslookup. This should try to resolve the name to an IP. If you can't do this, then it's possible you have an invalid DNS server listing.