Unable to repair LAN connection.

My two XP machines, Home on the Upstairs computer, Pro on the Downstairs, were talking to each other nicely until a few days ago.

Their LAN connection is via modems which send their data over the a.c. mains wiring.

Downstairs' LAN icon says that it is connected at 1.0 Gbps. The Upstairs' one says it's connected at 100.0 Mbps. Shouldn't they be the same? :confused

In both machines' Control Panels there are two identical Network Connections icons.

Placing the mouse cursor over the left hand icon on both machines brings up the message "Connects to other computers, networks, and the Internet."

Placing the cursor over the right hand icon on both machines brings up the message "Configures network software."

On the Downstairs machine, opening either of the two Network Connection icons displays a Local Area Connection icon.

On the Upstairs machine, opening either of the two Network Connection icons displays two icons, 1394 Connection and Local Area Connection. 1394 is the name of the Net Adapter.

With the Upstairs' Local Area Connection highlighted, clicking on "Repair this connection" in the Network Tasks window opens another window which tells me, after a few seconds, that the connection was repaired.

With the Downstairs' Local Area Connection highlighted, "Repair this connection" opens up a message "Windows could not finish repairing the problem because the following action could not be completed. Failed to query TCP/IP settings of the connection. Cannot proceed. For assistance, contact the person who manages your network." (That's me , but I'm not much help :-o)

So, please, what does "Failed to query TCP/IP settings of the connection" mean, and what can I do about it?

And why are there two Network Connection icons in both machines' Control Panels?

 

You may have to wait for someone smarter, but I will try.

Have you changed any settings recently?
Have you removed any hardware recently?

From what you say it seems you cannot get an IP from your DHCP, but I cannot figure out what would be doing DHCP service.

Are you using static IP's?
Please post your modem model.

 

Run ipconfig /all in a command prompt on each machine and post screenshots. Then we might be able to understand your problem.

 

No.

No.

Sorry, I don't understand the abbreviations.

Don't know what IP's, static or otherwise, are.

The modems connecting the two machines on the LAN are Solwise HOMEPLUG AV, PL-500AV-PIGGY, HPAV/IEEE 1961 Ethernet Adapters.

My router is a D-Link DSL-2640R

First screenshot of Upstairs


http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/syncopator/Upstairs_zpsfff775dd.jpg~original


and the next is Downstairs (Doesn't seem to have worked.)

As they are not talking to each other I had to transfer it by USB drive.



http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/syncopator/Downstairs_zps4f8f7eb1.jpg~original

 

The downstairs machine has entirely lost its network connection. Could be the homeplug itself or the machine's network adapter. Need some more info on that machine's configuration but not around until this evening to tell you what we need. I'll check this thread when I'm back.

 

One thing you could check - make sure the downstairs homeplug is inserted directly into a 13 amp 3 pin socket and not into an extension lead or adapter. Also, and this is from memory as I don't use XP, Start > Connect to > Show all connections. Right click your LAN adapter > Properties > Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) > Properties and post a screenshot. Maybe an XP user will correct that if it isn't quite right.

 

It is normally plugged into a multi-socket extension lead, along with the PC, the monitor, and audio amplifier and a desk lamp. There's no surge protection or filtering in the extension - which is perhaps your misgiving? Been like that for months without a problem. Both of the Homeplug modems have three steady green lights.

Anyway, to be sure, I plugged the Downstairs one into a separate mains socket. Made no difference I'm afraid.

These two pictures show the TCP/IP properties.



http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/syncopator/LANprops1_zps4817da71.jpg~original

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/syncopator/LANprops2_zps69d5ac21.jpg~original

The Ethernet modems' details are in my post made yesterday. The three l.e.ds on both of them are steady green.

 

OK, both homeplugs have three green lights - that covers at least some of my questions, plodr's too possibly. For the downstairs machine only can you give us a screenshot when you click on Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) > Properties please?

 

Just come back from downstairs, having realised that I didn't right click TCP/IP to see their properties.
On the General tab, both "Obtain IP addresses automatically" and "Obtain DNS server addresses automatically" are enabled.

Don't think a screenshot would help, would it?

 

Can you check Device Manager and see what it says in Network Adapters about your LAN adapter? Does it have a yellow question mark? If not, right click it and check that it says it is working normally.

While in Device Manager it may help if you disable all other adapters other than your LAN adapter.

 

I have, on more than one occasion, deleted three (yellow flagged) Bitdefender items in Network Adapters. I'm sure that the two in the screenshots were amongst them.

As you can see in the second picture, everything but the LAN adapter is disabled. Still can't connect to Upstairs.


The Properties of both Broadcom entries say that the device is working properly.



http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/syncopator/DeviceManagerNetworkadapters_zps8970b414.jpg~original


http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/syncopator/DeviceManagerNetworkadapters2_zps76850b2d.jpg~original

 

In my machine, an HP DC7100 SFF, it's integrated on the system board.

I have Broadcom's Control Suite installed. It is clear from this screenshot that something is wrong with it

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/syncopator/BroadcomControlSuite1_zps4c1a0d4f.jpg~original

I have copies of Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit drivers and Intel Gigabit Network Connection drivers, which I downloaded from HP's web site as a safeguard.

POE device? A strange abbreviation. The ethernet modems are these (which I named/described in my earlier post) are these,

The manufacturer's page is http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-500av-piggy.htm

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/syncopator/net-pl-500av-piggy-1_zpsf03926d8.jpg~original

 

Can DOWNSTAIRS access the internet? If so it rules out any problems with your network devices. I'm now wondering if this might not be a firewall issue so you could try temporarily disabling Bitdefender's firewall on this machine.

 

I dug out an extension for the 'phone connection and was about to bring the router downstairs so that I could try internet access, but first thought I would try something else.

Bitdefender was installed a while back, but I uninstalled it. I forget exactly why, but I think it was prone to pop-ups or some other annoying behaviour.

As I said, the Bitdefender entries in the Network adapters re-appeared after "uninstalling" or "deleting". So I search for "Bitdefender leftovers" and discovered that leftovers are not uncommon. Not remembering whether I had had the free or paid version, I downloaded their uninstall application and ran them both.

The Bitdefender entries in Network adapters no longer reappeared after rebooting, and my LAN is is now working correctly

The Downstairs computer now talks to the Upstairs, I can print from the Downstairs and connect to the internet from Downstairs too.

Strangely, perhaps, is the fact that Broadcom's Advanced Control Suite continues tells me that the Locally Administered Address is Not Present :confused

The test print which I sent from here on the Downstairs machine is a diagram of my system

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd27/syncopator/LAN_zps91aec5f2.gif~original


Thank you both for your time and effort.

 

Well done and thanks for the update. Maybe we were slowly closng in on Bitdefender but you beat us to it

BTW, I think that Locally Administered Address is something you optionally configure yourself, and it's just that you've never done so.

Good outcme.