I have a friend with a computer problem that has stumped me. He is functionally illiterate with computers, in that he uses one every day but resists learning anything about how it works or working on it. So the reporting is spotty, but this is his problem:

He has AOL (that's a problem to begin with!) and uses a computer built a couple of years ago. I gave him a laundry list of things he should have for functionality for years to come, and he seems to have gotten all of those things. He has been using this with a regular dialup modem, and the computer has the DSL 10/100 Ethernet jack also.

He finally arranged to get DSL through AOL and has the modem and the cables, but he can't get it to work. He was on the phone today for an hour with the AOL folks and this is what he tells me:

Just spent 63 minutes on the phone with tech support...after that heinious recorded stuff...and we tried the USB port as well. I need to take the computer to the guy who made it. If I understand correctly, I do not have a Router IP Address installed on this phucking thing.

This is something I've never run across before. Not have an IP address? Isn't that assigned by the service provider? Or should he just get a router and plug into the modem (some of the modems today act as routers, but apparently this one doesn't). I am in Texas and he is in New York City, so I haven't seen this, we've only discussed it.

Any ideas on how to remedy this problem without his having to unplug it and lug it across the street to the hack who built it (and installed a pirated version of Windows XP Pro that I had to replace when I visited last summer)? That guy will certainly gouge for the work, and probably not explain it. Is there a BIOS approach or a card or something?

SRS