asked on

Limited or No Connectivity

I am a computer technician and a client of mine had problems with her computer. I swapped out the motherboard and installed a fresh copy of Windows XP Pro. SP2 w/ all latest updates. I had the PC at my house connected to my router to a cable modem and it retrieved an internet connection DHCP. No problem there... When I brought it to the clients business the internet connection was fine as well. They are running Windows XP Pro. SP2 w/ a Biostar P4VMA-M motherboard with an integrated NIC. The NIC is a VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter. The PC is directly connected to the cable modem. After a day running smoothly her internet connection said "Limited or No Connectivity". The Windows Autoconfiguration assigned it an address of 169.xxx.xxx.xxx etc... I tried everything from uninstalling the NIC and loading newer drivers to resetting the WINSOCK. Restarted the PC, set a static IP address but that still didn't do the trick. I hooked up my laptop directly to the cable modem and my laptop was able to resolve the IP address as well as the DHCP server. Right now I do not know what to do.

This is my first post, so I am sure an Expert will need more info. Thanks.

Amit Bhatnagar

Is the Computer able to connect if you boot the PC into "Safe Mode with networking" mode? Resetting the WINSOCK and TCP stack is a good idea but let's make sure that it is not because of some third party software that they might have installed like a Firewall etc. If that does not work, check eventwvr under System log and see if you find some relevant logs. U said u tried resetting WINSOCK, did you try TCP stack too?

XbluefireX00

ASKER

I have not tried booting into Safe Mode With Networking yet. I only reset the Winsock not TCP Stack. I will try all of these steps and hopefully one of them will work.

Thanks Bamit

XbluefireX00

ASKER

I did a "netsh int ip reset" and it worked! Although the cable internet is really really slow (which probably has something to do with the ISP) I am relieved that this corrected the problem. Thanks!

FYI, below is the log file from the IP reset...

reset SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2EDA16CC-3FBD-4816-BD9F-B279AC629AB5}\AddressType
old REG_DWORD = 1

deleted SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2EDA16CC-3FBD-4816-BD9F-B279AC629AB5}\IpAutoconfigurationAddress
deleted SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2EDA16CC-3FBD-4816-BD9F-B279AC629AB5}\IpAutoconfigurationMask
deleted SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{2EDA16CC-3FBD-4816-BD9F-B279AC629AB5}\IpAutoconfigurationSeed
<completed>

XbluefireX00

ASKER

Hey maybe you can save me a trip. Like I said in the earlier post, the internet connection is really slow. I am probably just going to shut down the computer and reboot the modem and hope for the best. Have you heard of this happening after a TCP Stack reset?

Amit Bhatnagar

Hey, I am glad the problem got resolved !!.
No, infact most of the problems gets resovled after TCP\IP stack reset. Their are certain optimization keys like setting the MTU for Internet Connection etc. but personally I have seen they are more use on VPN scenarios rather than simple Internet. Look at the articles that I have provide and see if they can be of any help to you. Although, I would recommend filing a complaint with the ISP rather than trying to tweak through registry,.

http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/30/

XbluefireX00

ASKER

I just checked in with my client and she is unable to connect to the internet again. The Local Area Connection status says "Limited or No Connectivity" again. I had her reset the TCP stack again and it aquired the IP Address from DHCP server. Unfortunately when she tried to open up a web-page such as google or yahoo.com it was unable to load. The event viewer says it is unable to establish a connection with the DHCP server. Do you think this is an issue with the PC or the ISP now?

Thanks!

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Amit Bhatnagar

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

XbluefireX00

ASKER

Before I did what you suggested, I brought a $15 Netgear NIC and installed it into my clients computer. I went ahead and disabled the integrated network port and plugged the modem into the new NIC. Everything worked fine! Download/Upload speeds are amazing. She is back in business now. Thanks for all of your assistance with this issue. Much appreciated.

Amit Bhatnagar

Great !!!...I am glad the issue got resolved. Cheers !!..:)