I have a home network with a D-Link home networking NAT router with DHCP enabled. I have 3 machines that work flawlessly with this router (and have been for 4+ years). I know the settings of the router and each of those machines backwards and forwards.
I brought in a newcomer to the network from work - an IBM T42 Thinkpad with Windows XP. When I plug in the network cable, I can get an IP address assigned from the D-Link DHCP server, and it is in the valid range of IP addresses (192.168.0.185). It also retrieves the Connection-specific DNS Suffix (comcast.net). However, nslookup doesn't work, I can't ping any machine on the network, I can't connect to any servers (internal or external). Basically I get no connectivity whatsoever aside from retrieving an IP address. I've also assigned a manual IP address (192.168.0.101) and DNS servers from my ISP, and that didn't work either. I checked ipconfig and all looked well. So I try various things, look at Windows Firewall (it's disabled), look for IP filters, there were none defined, look at "route print" for routing problems ... nothing detected.
So then I reboot. Same deal. Then I go through another 30 minutes of troubleshooting and out of frustration I reboot again. Suddenly everything works. I can ping all my machines, connect to servers, nslookup, connect to websites, etc.
This laptop also has problems connecting at other locations (both wireless and wired). So I guess I just have to reboot until it works? Can anybody tell me WHY this happens and what I can do aside from rebooting all the time to make it work? Is it a flaw in the Thinkpad? I've heard other people say that they have difficulty connecting to wireless APs if they are on battery power, but no trouble at all if they plug in their power cable in the same room and connect to the same AP.
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