Limited or no connectivity

[lauren22]

My wireless connection keeps saying limited or no connectivity and when i try to repair the connection it says the IP address cannot be renewed. I called my supplier but they just kept telling me to call other people?

help please. =]

 

[Route44]

Who are they saying for you to call?

 

[turbo1]

is that a broadband connection?

what ISP?

i assume you've tried START>RUN>CMD...hit enter

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

when i try to repair the connection it says the IP address cannot be renewed.

if the querry responded "timed out"

then your base station is down (perhaps under maintenance).

 

[lauren22]

firstly i called Virgin Media (my ISP) and they told me to call the maker of my router (which is Buffalo) and THEY told me to call the pc manufacturer?!

i tried both the ipconfig commands...
any more suggestions?
thanks =]

 

[tuant]

Can you obtain an IP when you connect your PC to the router directly via a ethernet cable? or does still give you the same error?

 

[lauren22]

yeah i tried with the ethernet, it gave me the same error

 

[ScRibE]

Have you made sure with your ISP that the service is 'active'

 

[lauren22]

yeah the guy at Virgin said he couldnt see anything wrong with the connection

 

[rf6647]

Never believe the tech who only knows only about network trouble. Yours could be classed 'local'. Local problems often clear themselves (local techs completed their disruptive work).

Identify the elements of your home network:
Router connected to cable/dsl modem
cable/dsl modem only

When you use the cat / ethernet cable to connect the computer, what are the results of the ' ipconfig /all ' ?

Output speaking of 'Lease' and address of the form 192.168.x.y are good signs of a working LAN side.

To communicate with that device, use IE (browser) to gain access by entering the IP address of the gateway. Your documentation will tell you what to enter for user / password.

With access to the router/modem, the logs and status tables hold much of the info about what is happening on both sides (LAN and WAN).

The same technique can be used for the wireless connection. Again it would only confirm the working WLAN side. Some routers need a setting changed to permit access from the wireless computer.

 

[lauren22]

its a router connected to the modem.
i'll have to try ipconfig /all when its connected directly because i didnt write down what it said...the connection wasnt working anyway.

the laptops are using the same connection and are fine, its only after i did a system recovery on the pc that it wont work. The IP address started with something like 169, not 192.

when i tried entering the IP address into IE it just said IE couldnt open the page?

 

[DelJo63]

hum; fails after a restore.

how are you connected, USB or Ethernet? (the latter is highly recommened)

 

[lauren22]

the router is connected to the modem by ethernet

 

[DelJo63]

ok;

WIRE the system to the router,
perform the configuration[*]
save and restart the router

disconnect the wired connection
use the Wireless Network Wizard to find and config the wireless connection.

[*] set encryption off temporarily, set a non-default SSID, choose a non-default channel (eg #11), set a new password

 

[lauren22]

sorry im a bit confused, =[

please can you explain how to set a non default SSID and choose a non-default channel?

 

[DelJo63]

depending upon the brand name of the router, there's a tab on the config page
for Wireless configuration.
it will have the SSID and Channel selections

changing the SSID is a security issue and also clarifies your choice when using
the Wireless Wizard

the channel change is an effort to remove interference from your connection.

 

[rf6647]

<keep this in reserve. By the time I composed this, your session with Jobeard resumed>

Here is a thread for a basic tutorial on networking

169.x.y.z is symptomatic of no connectivity.

Jobeard is seeking details of the computer connection to the network
A cable [LAN/Ethernet] plugs into < motherboard, expansion card, USB-Ethernet adapter>

The wireless connection uses <expansion card, USB-WIFI adapter, pcmcia card, internal>

Some mechanics for troubleshooting.
Customize the start menu to add 'network connections'

Right click <Start> ! properties !customize ! advance ! scroll & V 'my network places' and 'network connections' ! Link To

Properties for network connection
Start ! Network Connections ! Right Click icon for your connection ! properties ! Highligt TCP/IP ! click Properties ! General ! obtain IP address automatically ! obtain DNS....Automatically

Open command prompt window ! [ ipconfig /release ] [ ipconfig /renew ] [ ipconfig /all ] < 3 separate commands, no [] >

Copy text from the 'command prompt window'
Click Upper Left corner icon ! Edit ! Mark ! move pointer to (start of edit) & left click to leave mark ! drag pointer to highlight region ! strike enter key to copy region

Paste this text into notepad or any other editor.

This same context menu allows you to paste into the command window, as well.

Show us what you get.

 

[lauren22]

thank you =] heres what i got:


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator>ipconfig /release

Windows IP Configuration

No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media disconnected.

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator>ipconfig /renew

Windows IP Configuration

No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media disconnected.
An error occurred while renewing interface Wireless Network Connection : unable
to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.

C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Administrator>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : your-a9053ee463
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-09-B9-B0-7D

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Wireless PCI 802.11b/g adapter WN4201B
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-12-BF-06-D9-81
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.81.42
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :



any suggestions??

 

[DelJo63]

WIRE the connection first:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-09-B9-B0-7D​

device is not connected and thus did not RENEW

The wireless is not seeing the router

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Wireless PCI 802.11b/g adapter WN4201B
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-12-BF-06-D9-81
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.81.42
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0​

the /release, /renew is useless and you need to use the Wireless Wizard to
create the connection

Suggest you work on these ONE AT A TIME, starting with the wired connection.
Once it works, DISABLE the NIC, disconnect the cable and then work on the wireless.

 

[lauren22]

ive got the local area connection working when its wired, how do i disable the NIC??

and what do i do to the wireless once i have?

thank you. =]

 

[rf6647]

disable NIC

Start ! Network connections ! Right click icon ! disable

 

[lauren22]

okay ive done that thank you, now what do i do?

=]

 

[rf6647]

Enable wireless

Start ! Network connections ! Right click icon for wireless ! enable

Stay on this page

Right click same icon ! view available wireless networks

If this is a laptop, enable may not be able to override a toggle switch.

Report back.

 

[lauren22]

okay i enabled wireless and it says "limited or no connectivity",

when i clicked view available wireless networks it says "Windows cannot configure this wireless connection."

 

[rf6647]

check out device manager

Start ! control panel ! system ! hardware ! device manager ! + network adapters

Current assumption, system restore point predates installation of the wireless adapter.

Either adapter is not shown or it has a big, fat, red X.

 

[lauren22]

The Wireless Adapter is shown: Wireless PCI 802.11b/g adapter WN4201B and there is no red X or any other symbols =[

any other suggestions?
thank you again!