Re: Networking nightmare...

"Scott" <sn4265@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:2GDii.2781$rL1.1949@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I have a real head scratcher here... I've been banging my head against the wall for a couple of days now. I've stumped a friend at work who is an MCSE, and I'm just about ready to wipe the system and start from scratch. This is what I'm really trying to avoid.

I have a Windows XP Home Edition system with SP2 that has been running fine for several months. This is connected to a Linksys broadband router that does DHCP. Let me stress that this configuration has worked flawlessly for months. The system is a custom built, that I built myself. The motherboard is an Abit AB9 Pro that has a pair of built-in GigE network ports.

A few nights ago everything was working fine. The next morning I had no Ethernet connectivity. I specifically mean I had no Ethernet connectivity because my work laptop is connected to the same Linksys router and is working fine. I tried step one of Windows troubleshooting and rebooted. This obviously didn't work. I disabled DHCP and assigned a static IP. I was able to ping the IP I just assigned to the card, but was unable to ping the router. I replaced the Ethernet cable and rebooted and still nothing.

At this point I thought maybe I have a bad network port on the motherboard, so I went out and bought a brand new Linksys Ethernet card. I installed this and it would also NOT pickup a DHCP address. I assigned a static IP with the same results. Out of pure frustration I went out and bought a new broadband router, and this too made NO difference. Obviously several reboots have occurred in this time.

I ran this by an MCSE friend at work. He suggested doing a repair install of Windows XP and this sounded like a good idea, although I'm still stuck without Ethernet connectivity after this. The only thing left that I can think of is to give up and either call Microsoft (I'm not paying the money for that), or wipe the system and re-install from scratch. The last thing I'm going to try this evening to completely rule out hardware is to download a Live CD version of Linux and make sure that I have network connectivity that way. I suspect that this is some kind of TCP/IP corruption, but I have no idea how to straighten this out.

Please help me avoid having to wipe and reload the system. I know that this being Windows I need to do this once a year or so, but I just built this system less than 6 months ago. Even Windows should be able to run without having to be reloaded for that period of time. Thanks in advance for any help.

Scott


If your using any software firewall check it to make sure the LAN IP(s) aren't being blocked.
All of the below may not be necessary for you:

Right click My Network Places on the Desktop.
Click Properties.
Right click Local Area Connection.
Click Properties.

Under "This connection uses....."
Click "Client for MS Networks".
Click Properties.
Select "Windows Locator" from the dropdown box, if disabled skip.
Click Ok.

Scroll to and select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
Click Properties.

Under the General tab make sure "Obtain an IP address automatically" is selected.
Click the Advanced button.

Under the DNS tab:
Selected "Append Primary and Parent DNS suffixes.
Register this connections address in DNS"

Under the WINS tab > NetBIOS:
Selected Default.
Ok out of MNP.
Reboot if required.

Test connectivity:
Open a command prompt, click Start > Run, type in: cmd and press Enter.
At the prompt type each command below and press Enter after each.
**Note: Command noted by =, Space noted by ^. Do not type the = or ^.

=ping ^ 192.168.1.1 *Routers IP, change as necessary.
If it times out then there is no communication between the router and machine.
If not then the machine communicates with the router.

=ping ^ google.com
If it times out then there is no connection to the net.
If not then net connection is established and all is well.

ping 127.0.0.1
If it fails it may be a TCP/IP stack problem.

Ping each computer from the other using the UNC:
=ping ^ computername
If it fails either way there's an IP or Name resolution problem.

If pinging times out on any address, to see if the machines IP is correct along with other settings.
= ipconfig ^ /all
If anything isn't correct, at the prompt type and press Enter after each command:

=ipconfig ^ /release
=ipconfig ^ /flushdns
=ipconfig ^ /renew
=ipconfig ^ /registerdns
=exit
If that fails reopen the command prompt, run /release and /flushdns only and exit.

Shut down the machine.
Pull the power from the router.
Pull the power from the modem.
Wait approx 30 secs.
Apply power to the modem and wait for it to finish synchronizing with the cable.
Apply power to the router and wait for it to finish synchronizing with the modem.
Power up the machine.
The machine should now be assigned a new IP from the router.
Run ipconfig or attempt net connection to test.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375


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