Limited or No Connectivity with LAN

Hi. A lot of people have this problem - but I have noticed that the other threads all have some characteristic different than my problem, or they get too advanced and I don't understand, or frankly I just need someone to look at MY information and see if they can't help ME out.

When I try to connect through the ethernet cable to a router (model: Motorola SB512), I get "limited or no connectivity." It cannot repair the connection because it for whatever reason cannot renew the IP address. The computer is BRAND NEW and my old computer did fine, as does another computer, but my new computer (and my friend's computer) do this limited or no connectivity business.

Before we start making fun of the dumb girl, things I have tried:
1. Power cycling router/computer
2. Verifying that cable and ethernet work at other locations
3. Renewing IP Address (doesn't work)
4. Resetting winsock
5. Talking to Microsoft (completely not helpful)
6. Talking to Motorola (blaming Microsoft)


IPCONFIG info:

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

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

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : m
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethern
et
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-58-CE-41-9B
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.199.67
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 169.254.199.67

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Networ
k Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1C-BF-8A-D4-36




If someone could help me with this...I could not even begin to explain how much it would mean to me. I really appreciate any assistance.

 

The IP and gateway are the same because the PC is not getting an address so it auto-assigns it that way.

Have you totally unplugged the router since you go the new PC? Sometimes they have a hard time letting go of the old connection. Unplug the router power for a few minutes and then give it another try.

 

Ok, so I have messed with the TCP/IP properties a bit. At some point, now, it has decided that it doesn't have "limited or no connectivity" anymore, but it is "connected, shared" but I am still not receiving internet.

I have tried flushdns, no luck.

The computer I am on right now is connected through the same LAN cable to the same router. Here are its ipconfig settings:

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

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

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : N14RA
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : no.cox.net

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 802.11g MiniPCI Wireless Network Ada
pter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-D3-7E-50-82

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : no.cox.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-40-45-2B-B7-D4
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 98.163.214.129
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.248.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 98.163.208.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 172.19.49.19
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.105.28.11
68.105.29.11
68.105.28.12
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, May 23, 2008 4:58:36 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, May 24, 2008 4:58:36 PM

C:\Documents and Settings\Staff>


Thanks!

 

Tried booting into Safe Mode with Networking?
Updating/Rolling back drivers for the Broadcom controller?
Check comp manufacturer's support for possible issues with this connection/computer?

 

When you are having problems online did you start with trying to repair the connection?

BTW, don't mung up your IP, knowing or not knowing the numbers is actually the difference between getting help or not. WRong numbers = wrong answer = ineffective help.

So what is it "sharing". Files with itself....


Oh! Did it EVER log on?

If so, go to control panel> Administrative tools> componant services> services and see if there is anything that has gotten turned off, or on, or stopped/started which shouldn't be.

If it was running go to: control panel> Administrative tools> componant services> event monitor


Look and see if something special happened about the time your system stopped responding appropriatlt to the network.

Check and make sure that your network card is configured to reach the IP address, and NOT configured to 127.0.0.0. which is an internal IP address. ( I think it's internal. Might be the MAC address, I don't remember.)

Have you downloaded something like 2hotspot? A piece of advice, for now, DON'T. It can cause a beginning network person a big headache as it will configure your system to respond to itself at 127.0.0.0 and NOT the IP address (you ping yourself, and back again. I had problems and uninstalled it.)

Do you have Zone Alarm Security Suite? You can use the privacy block to see every IP address your compuer tries to reach out and touch, even if it is internal to yourself.

I haven't done networking for quite awhile, so other folk can feel free to chime in and refresh my memory. :-D

 

Hi,

I looked up the router model (SB512) that you named in your post on Motorola's site. The closest thing I could find to that model was either a SB5102 or an SB5120: Both are cable modems and neither is a router.

On many cable broadband services, the cable modem memorizes the MAC address of the first device that connects to it after it is powered on and will only permit that device to access the Internet unless you turn it off, disconnect that device, connect another and then turn the cable modem on again. Then, the new device will be the only one that can connect to the Internet, until the process is repeated (and this is one of the reasons why people buy NAT/Routers: The NAT/Router has its own MAC address for the WAN interface, and that interface talks to the cable modem. Everything connected to the LAN ports on the NAT/Router gets their IP addresses from it, and it translates requests from everything "behind" it and sends them to the Internet. Network Address Translation in action in ~35 words or fewer ).

Since you indicate that two other computers can work when connected to it (I'm assuming one at a time), I will assume that you are turning off the cable modem long enough for its memory to be cleared (I usually tell people to wait 2-5 minutes to be sure).

Since you're using the same Ethernet cable, it's pretty safe to eliminate it as the cause of the problem.

With the above in mind, I'd suspect an Ethernet speed/duplex negotiation problem based on the symptoms, but I haven't seen that happen in a long time, so I'll tackle troubleshooting that issue last (and in another post, depending on the results of what follows).

I'm going to assume that you don't have a router, but a cable modem with a single Ethernet cable to which you are connecting the computers one at a time after turning off the cable modem: If this isn't correct, then ignore the rest that follows, because I'm proceeding from invalid assumptions

You said that the connection now shows as "connected, shared" - the first thing you want to do is disable Internet Connection Sharing on the Ethernet interface. This is under Network Connections, Local Area Connection, Advanced tab. There's a checkbox labeled "Allow other users to connect through this computer's Internet connection". Uncheck it and click OK.

Since its Windows, and a Broadcom NIC to boot, the next thing to do is to update its driver to current.

Using one of the computers that can connect to the Internet, go to:

http://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet_nic/netlink.php

And download the Windows XP 32-bit drivers for the Broadcom NetLink Ethernet NIC that is in the other computer.

Once done, you will need to transfer the ZIP file to the other computer: How you do this depends on the resources at hand. If you have a USB memory stick, and USB ports on both computers, that would be easiest. If not, and if both computers have a floppy diskette drive (assuming both will be 3.5" - hey, I have to say that: I still have a 5 1/4" drive in one of my computers and it still works *grin*) and you have a diskette floating around, use that.

Barring that, if the computer which you used to download the file has a CD burner, burn the file to a CD and use that.

Once you get the ZIP file to the other computer, extract it somewhere. I generally do such things as follows: Every computer that I have has a subdirectory (Everyone calls these "folders" nowdays - I suppose I should get into the habit, too) off of the root of C: called "Masters". Beneath it, I create folders for the master copies of drivers, etc., that I'd like to keep around, just in case.

So, I will use that paradigm for the rest that follows.

I'd save the file win_xp_2k3_32-10.78.0.0.zip from Broadcom's site to: C:\Masters\Broadcom, which I created just for this purpose.

Assuming that you're using Windows XP's built-in Zip extraction capabilities, you can navigate to C:\Masters\Broadcom with Windows Explorer, and open it by double-clicking it.

I admit that I've forgotten exactly how to actually extract the files that way, and don't have a computer running Windows XP that doesn't have a third-party Zip program on it, so I'm doing this from memory: I think that all you need to do once you navigate into C:\Masters\Broadcom\win_xp_2k3_32-10.78.0.0.zip in Windows Explorer is to select the 3 files that are displayed (Ctrl-A will select all of them at once), select File, Copy, then navigate out of the Zip file using the upfolder icon (looks like a folder with a green upward pointing arrow), then click File, Paste.

Once you've extracted them, you need to tell Windows to use them, so here's how to do that:

Right click on My Computer, select Properties. This opens the System Properties window. From there, select the Hardware tab, and from it, click the Device Manager button.

Open Network Adapters by clicking the plus sign to its left. Double-click on the Broadcom NetLink adapter: You should get another window with tabs labeled "General", "Advanced", "Driver", "Details", "Resources", "Power Management" - click the tab labeled "Driver".

There should be a button labeled "Update Driver": Click it, and it will start the Hardware Update Wizard. There will be 3 radio buttons: Click "No, not this time", and the Next button below will light: Click it.

You will get another dialog box with 2 radio buttons: Select "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) and then click Next.

The default will be "Search for the best driver in these locations". If the checkbox labeled "Search removable media (floppy, CD-ROM...) is checked, uncheck it, then check the box below: "Include this location in the search" - that will enable the field below it. Click the Browse button to the right.

This opens a "Browse for folder" window: Open My Computer by clicking the plus sign to its left. Open Local Disk C: by clicking the button to its left.

Scroll down to the Masters folder, and open it by clicking the plus sign to its left.

Open the Broadcom folder by clicking the plus sign to its left. The OK button should activate.

Click OK, which will return you to the Hardware Update Wizard window, with the path "C:\Masters\Broadcom" in the field.

Click Next.

I don't have that NIC in this computer, nor any at hand, so I can't tell you exactly what follows: It should install the new driver, and activate it, however.

If you get a window that says "Cannot Continue the Hardware Update Wizard", then its not the right driver, for some reason.

However, assuming that you don't get any errors, you can now test the new driver: Turn off the cable modem. Disconnect the other computer from it, connect this one to it, and turn on the cable modem.

I'll stop here - post the results, one way or another. If it works, well great If not, post the results/symptoms and we'll go from there.

Regards,

dj

P.S. - I apologize for the length of this post, but it is as long as it needs to be for me to be able to troubleshoot further, later.

 

No offense taken. I've lost a few brain cells because of a head injury. I was just rolling around the things I had to do recently to try and set things right, after a virus corrupted my system and ate parts of the registry, and I found my virus software wasn't working and I needed an exterminator.

I settled for re-installing the OS and sacrificing the data.