Dell Inspiron 531 W/nVidia Network controller

Hello,

I'm at my wits end here, have a Dell, Inspiron 531 that won't connect to the internet through a Linksys router. It will however, connect when plugged directly into the modem. I've run diagnostic on it and it keeps comming up with "network cable unplugged, connect known good blah blah blah". I know for fact the cable is good as I'm using right now (on a different comp of course).
Everything points to a configuration problem but I'm unable to access any settings. When I try to "set up a network" it asks for ISP info or CD. I have neither, I'm connected via Cable modem with a cable company, no cd.
I've updated the driver, have "auto negotiation" selected and "Automaticaly obtain IP address" selected.
Side note: I recieved this comp from a kid that said it wouldn't connect to internet. It WILL connect but only when pluged directly into the modem, not through a router.

Can anyone help???

 

That is odd . . . what operating system are you using?

It looks from what I can find on the net that your PC is running Vista. Some routers have a problem dealing with Vista's UPnP - try different settings by turning UPnP on/off on the router, and enable/disable in services on the PC. Anecdotal evidence indicates some users have had success this way.

Assuming it's Vista (or at least XP), have you tried this Microsoft tool? It will check your router to see what functions it supports.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/using/tools/igd/default.mspx

You might also want to check to see if there is a firmware upgrade for the router . . . though flashing the firmware on a router is somewhat risky.

Also, something you can try - go into device manager and actually delete the network adapter. On reboot the operating system will find the "new" hardware and install drivers for it. Often this clears up odd connection problems for me, and I tend to try this first when the evidence points to the computer and not external hardware. Sometimes network adapters get buggy - I have no idea what causes it.

There is a chance this is malware related . . . but we can cross that bridge if it comes to it.

Hope you find some of this helpful

 

I actually did find it somewhat usefull and will try those things however I'm not to sure how to configure the UPnP and when it comes to dealing with routers and network settings I'm somewhat leary as I don't have much experience with them. (I know enough to really foul things up).

You are correct in assuming the OS is Vista. (sry, remembered that after I posted). I did however delete the adaptor driver and on start up it "found new hardware". But in Internet options under tab "connections" in the box
there was nothing listed; ie "Broadband internet conn (default)" and the settings tab is blocked out. It was there before deleting driver, didn't work though regardless.

This isn't the first time I've encountered this issue though. Although it is the first time I couldn't get it to work after "rebooting" both the modem AND the router. (long story but if you want, I'll go into more detail).

Also, I can't recall the IP address to log into the routers settings to make changes such as reconfiguring ports within the router it self.

I do appreciate your reply and look forward to
your input on this matter, Thanks


Connectivity test results (with out router):
the only test that came up "not supported" was UPnP Support test.

Basic Internet Connectivity Test

This test is intended to ensure that your computer has basic Internet connectivity, which is needed for the rest of the tests.

A result of "Supported" indicates that your computer has basic Internet connectivity. Supported.
Network Address Translator Type

One primary function of most home Internet routers is Network Address Translation (NAT). Routers providing NAT support assign private IP addresses on the local network. NAT maps these private addresses on the inside network to a public IP address on the outside network so that computers behind the Internet router can communicate with the rest of the Internet. Since Network Address Translators can work in different ways, this test uses Microsoft servers to identify your router's NAT type. Some protocols work better through routers that act as cone-type NATs than routers that act as symmetric-type NATs.

Success of this test means that your Internet router or firewall acts similar to a cone NAT. This means that it helps applications which use Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) to connect, regardless of your ISP's IPv6 support. For example, in Windows Vista you can collaborate with others across the Internet using Windows Meeting Space. Supported.
Traffic Congestion Test

Internet routers sometimes lose information that is being transferred across the Internet when they experience congestion (full router queues). This loss of information is known as packet loss. Internet protocols like the Transport Control Protocol (TCP) can use packet loss as a congestion indicator. Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) is a mechanism that provides routers with an alternate method of communicating network congestion. This notification effectively reduces TCP retransmissions and increases throughput. This test attempts to download a short Web document, first with ECN enabled and then again with ECN disabled. If both downloads succeed, the test passes, which indicates that your Internet router successfully allows packets through with ECN options set.

A result of "Supported" indicates that your router can work with this new Vista Feature to improve download speeds and increase endpoint connection reliability. Note You would need to explicitly enable ECN on Vista to take advantage of this feature. Supported.
TCP High Performance Test

Window scaling is a Transport Control Protocol (TCP) option introduced for addressing performance problems. Some Internet routers cause TCP data transfers that use window scaling to fail, particularly when there's a mismatch between the scales chosen by two computers transferring the data. This test downloads a series of Web documents of increasing length until either an incomplete download is encountered or all downloads succeed. Success indicates that your router allows Windows Vista to negotiate the best data transfer rate and help improve download speeds.

A result of "Supported" means that Windows Vista automatically uses window scaling to negotiate the best/largest data transfer rate and help improve download speeds. Supported.
UPnP Support Test

Many applications need to open ports (allow incoming traffic) through an Internet router, particularly when both communicating endpoints are behind different NATs. Modern routers allow hosts to create such open ports using Universal Plug and Play (UPnP). This test ensures that the router has UPnP enabled, can support a reasonable number of open ports, and can maintain these settings.

If this test does not succeed, experiences using certain programs may be degraded. However, your basic Internet connectivity should not be affected. Not supported.
Multiple Simultaneous Connection States Test

This test creates 80 concurrent TCP connections to external Web servers and keeps them alive over the period of two minutes by attempting continuous data download using HTTP. Passing this test indicates that your router robustly supports multiple computers or programs accessing the Internet simultaneously.

A result of "Supported" means that your Internet router can handle a large number of simultaneous connections. This will enable you to connect to the Internet reliably using multiple applications or multiple computers. Also, your experience with applications that use multiple network streams (like some file download/sharing programs) will be enhanced. Supported.

 

This Is a cable ISP (no cd) and the router is a linksys. When ever I try to use the network wizard it just tells me it can't set up the network connection. It's odd though as other devices have no trouble detecting it and gettint out.

 

Well I suppose when all else fails return to the basics... Is the unit plugged in.
I'll try a different cable. It's odd though because the very same cable is being used at this very moment replying to your post. But, I guess it's worth a try, thanks .

 

The use of a different cable was ineffective. Only when the Dell is plugged directly into the cable modem will it sign on. When ever it's plugged into the "LinkSys" router there's no internet signal. "Diagnos and Repair" only tells me "A Network cable is unplugged". I've Uninstalled the Network adaptor twice now and reinstalled to include a driver update as well.

Any other ideas?

P/S
Other PC's have no problem recognizing the router and signing on.

 

I've included the "IPCONFIG" dialog:

IPCONFIG dialog through router:
Windows IP Configuration


Quote:
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.in.comcast.net.

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :


C:\Users\ty>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

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

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.in.comcast.net.
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce 10/100 Mbps Ethernet #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1A-A0-73-37-57
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

IPCONFIG Dialog directly through modem:

Quote:
Windows IP Configuration


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.in.comcast.net.
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::c935:56c7:216b:5b09%12
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 69.137.243.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.254.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 69.137.242.1

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e50:1c1c:3c8b:ba76:cfe
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::1c1c:3c8b:ba76:cfe%8
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.in.comcast.net.

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.in.comcast.net.
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2002:4589:f301::4589:f301
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 2002:c058:6301::c058:6301


If anyone can make heads or tails of it...