Re: Can't connect to Internet and e-mail.

Lem, do you have any further ideas regarding my internet connection
problem. Following your last set of instructions I did run the
ipconfig/all test on three computers and I posted the results to you
as requested. Hopefully you did receive these(?)

Peter.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lem" <lemp40@unknownhost>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: Can't connect to Internet and e-mail.


PVR wrote:
Lem, in view of your comments re: item #4, I ran that test again,
this time with a cable I know to be good. This cable is attached to
one of of the PCs which does connect to the 'Net, etc. The result
was that the problem computer was able to connect to the 'Net and
e-mail. I have dumped the first cable I used for the test. However,
the icon representing the wired connection had a small yellow dot
moving back and forward just below the icon. This also occurs when
the problem PC tries to connect to the 'Net. What does this mean?

Would it be wise to run the Windows Wireless Wizard again on all
three PCs?

Peter.


"Lem" <lemp40@unknownhost> wrote in message
news:OsZgcox1JHA.4416@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PVR wrote:
Lem, many thanks for your answer and further suggestions. Because
the other two PCs have access to the 'Net and e-mail I concluded
that the modem/wireless router were working OK. The problem has
to be with the XP PC which cannot access the 'Net and e-mail.

"What actually happens when you attempt to connect to the
internet?" Answer. The Start bar Wireless icon has a small yellow
dot moving back and forth and I do not obtain access to the 'Net.
I receive a message "No connection to the Internet is currently
available." When I access the list of available wireless networks
I find that the default is "Acquiring network address" but this
never succeeds.

"What was the wrong choice you made?" Answer. I did choose (in
error) to have Windows install a driver from Windows Update. As
far as I can tell this is when things went wrong. I did try the
Windows "roll back driver" feature but this did not correct the
problem.

"What drivers were you told to install?" Answer. Here I list a
series of suggestions obtained from another forum.

Things to try:
1. Delete the current wireless network on the problem computer.
Create it
again and test. Result, Done with no improvement.

2. If that didn't work, check the settings on the wireless
network adapter
to make sure it is set to get an IP address/DNS automatically and
that
there is no Alternate setting. Result, IP address is set to
automatic.

3. Also check the security on the problem computer. What
antivirus/security
software do you have? I've seen cases where McAfee security
handled access
to the outside world separately for wired and wireless
connections. Perhaps
an update to this software messed things up. Result, I
temporarily removed
security software. No improvement.

4. What happens when you connect to the router with an Ethernet
cable?
Result, no change.

5. Perhaps you updated the wireless network adapter drivers,
either on
purpose or by mistakenly accepting this from Windows Update. Try
installing
the latest drivers for this adapter. Get them from the OEM's
website if you
have that sort of computer (Dell, HP, etc.) or from the wireless
network
adapter's mftr. if you installed it yourself. What is the
wireless network
adapter hardware? Result, Have not yet tried to update the
driver(s). The
wireless adapter was built-in to the HP Pavilion laptop as
bought.>>

As indicated I checked all of these without success.

Also, would a System Restore help here? I haven't done this as
yet.

I hope this was not too long.

Peter.





"Lem" <lemp40@unknownhost> wrote in message
news:e5NZ1RX1JHA.5728@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PVR wrote:
I have three PCs on a home wireless network, 2 XPs and a Vista.
One of the XPs cannot access the 'Net or e-mail. No problem
with the other two PCs.

This problem developed very recently during a Windows update.
It is likely I made the wrong selection during the update. I
have been advised to obtain the current driver(s) from HP.

How do I do this if connection to the 'Net is not possible on
the HP machine? Is it possible to download the driver(s) to an
external drive using another PC and then install the new
driver(s) from this drive?

Many thanks.

Peter.
The answer to your asked question is yes. Download the driver
and copy it to a USB "thumb" drive.

But unless you are very confident of the advice you have already
received, you might do well to post back here with some
additional information. For example,

- what actually happens when you attempt to connect to the
Internet? Do you get any error message?
- what was the "wrong choice" you made?
- if the wrong choice was to install a driver from Windows
Update, have you tried the "roll back driver" button (never
install drivers from Windows Update)?
- what drivers were you told to install?

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

The most troubling item in your list is #4. If you can't connect
through an Ethernet connection then whether or not you installed a
bad driver for your wireless adapter is irrelevant (that may be an
*additional* problem).

The "acquiring network address" message usually appears on
*wireless* connections if there is a security mismatch between the
router and the computer. The first step in diagnosing this is to
(temporarily) disable all security on the router's wireless
configuration page (i.e., no encryption, no MAC filter, no other
"security" configuration).

However, wireless security has no effect whatsoever on the ability
to connect to the router with an Ethernet cable. If that also
doesn't work for you (any error message?), then you have a deeper
problem

You need to do some methodical diagnostic work. The two sites
below offer help on how to do that. Chuck's site is more
hands-on. Hans-Georg Michna's site should pinpoint the problem(s)
if you answer the questions accurately.

http://networking.nitecruzr.net/2005/05/troubleshooting-internet-service.html
http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm



--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm



No, don't re-run the Wireless Networking Wizard again.

On the problem computer,open a Command Prompt window and type

ipconfig /all [press Enter]

Copy and paste the results in your next post (to copy from a command
prompt window, click the icon in the upper left corner of the
window's title bar and use the Edit function from the drop down
menu).

It would also be instructive to have this same information from one
of the computers that successfully connects (wired or wireless). And
confirm that your other computers don't have the "small yellow dot
moving back and forward just below the icon."

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

"Lem" <lemp40@unknownhost> wrote in message
news:ObPLzkK2JHA.2656@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PVR wrote:
Lem, in view of your comments re: item #4, I ran that test again,
this time with a cable I know to be good. This cable is attached to
one of of the PCs which does connect to the 'Net, etc. The result
was that the problem computer was able to connect to the 'Net and
e-mail. I have dumped the first cable I used for the test. However,
the icon representing the wired connection had a small yellow dot
moving back and forward just below the icon. This also occurs when
the problem PC tries to connect to the 'Net. What does this mean?

Would it be wise to run the Windows Wireless Wizard again on all
three PCs?

Peter.


"Lem" <lemp40@unknownhost> wrote in message
news:OsZgcox1JHA.4416@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PVR wrote:
Lem, many thanks for your answer and further suggestions. Because
the other two PCs have access to the 'Net and e-mail I concluded
that the modem/wireless router were working OK. The problem has
to be with the XP PC which cannot access the 'Net and e-mail.

"What actually happens when you attempt to connect to the
internet?" Answer. The Start bar Wireless icon has a small yellow
dot moving back and forth and I do not obtain access to the 'Net.
I receive a message "No connection to the Internet is currently
available." When I access the list of available wireless networks
I find that the default is "Acquiring network address" but this
never succeeds.

"What was the wrong choice you made?" Answer. I did choose (in
error) to have Windows install a driver from Windows Update. As
far as I can tell this is when things went wrong. I did try the
Windows "roll back driver" feature but this did not correct the
problem.

"What drivers were you told to install?" Answer. Here I list a
series of suggestions obtained from another forum.

Things to try:
1. Delete the current wireless network on the problem computer.
Create it
again and test. Result, Done with no improvement.

2. If that didn't work, check the settings on the wireless
network adapter
to make sure it is set to get an IP address/DNS automatically and
that
there is no Alternate setting. Result, IP address is set to
automatic.

3. Also check the security on the problem computer. What
antivirus/security
software do you have? I've seen cases where McAfee security
handled access
to the outside world separately for wired and wireless
connections. Perhaps
an update to this software messed things up. Result, I
temporarily removed
security software. No improvement.

4. What happens when you connect to the router with an Ethernet
cable?
Result, no change.

5. Perhaps you updated the wireless network adapter drivers,
either on
purpose or by mistakenly accepting this from Windows Update. Try
installing
the latest drivers for this adapter. Get them from the OEM's
website if you
have that sort of computer (Dell, HP, etc.) or from the wireless
network
adapter's mftr. if you installed it yourself. What is the
wireless network
adapter hardware? Result, Have not yet tried to update the
driver(s). The
wireless adapter was built-in to the HP Pavilion laptop as
bought.>>

As indicated I checked all of these without success.

Also, would a System Restore help here? I haven't done this as
yet.

I hope this was not too long.

Peter.





"Lem" <lemp40@unknownhost> wrote in message
news:e5NZ1RX1JHA.5728@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PVR wrote:
I have three PCs on a home wireless network, 2 XPs and a Vista.
One of the XPs cannot access the 'Net or e-mail. No problem
with the other two PCs.

This problem developed very recently during a Windows update.
It is likely I made the wrong selection during the update. I
have been advised to obtain the current driver(s) from HP.

How do I do this if connection to the 'Net is not possible on
the HP machine? Is it possible to download the driver(s) to an
external drive using another PC and then install the new
driver(s) from this drive?

Many thanks.

Peter.
The answer to your asked question is yes. Download the driver
and copy it to a USB "thumb" drive.

But unless you are very confident of the advice you have already
received, you might do well to post back here with some
additional information. For example,

- what actually happens when you attempt to connect to the
Internet? Do you get any error message?
- what was the "wrong choice" you made?
- if the wrong choice was to install a driver from Windows
Update, have you tried the "roll back driver" button (never
install drivers from Windows Update)?
- what drivers were you told to install?

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

The most troubling item in your list is #4. If you can't connect
through an Ethernet connection then whether or not you installed a
bad driver for your wireless adapter is irrelevant (that may be an
*additional* problem).

The "acquiring network address" message usually appears on
*wireless* connections if there is a security mismatch between the
router and the computer. The first step in diagnosing this is to
(temporarily) disable all security on the router's wireless
configuration page (i.e., no encryption, no MAC filter, no other
"security" configuration).

However, wireless security has no effect whatsoever on the ability
to connect to the router with an Ethernet cable. If that also
doesn't work for you (any error message?), then you have a deeper
problem

You need to do some methodical diagnostic work. The two sites
below offer help on how to do that. Chuck's site is more
hands-on. Hans-Georg Michna's site should pinpoint the problem(s)
if you answer the questions accurately.

http://networking.nitecruzr.net/2005/05/troubleshooting-internet-service.html
http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm



--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm



No, don't re-run the Wireless Networking Wizard again.

On the problem computer,open a Command Prompt window and type

ipconfig /all [press Enter]

Copy and paste the results in your next post (to copy from a command
prompt window, click the icon in the upper left corner of the
window's title bar and use the Edit function from the drop down
menu).

It would also be instructive to have this same information from one
of the computers that successfully connects (wired or wireless). And
confirm that your other computers don't have the "small yellow dot
moving back and forward just below the icon."

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm


.