[Jester86]

Hello everybody,

I've joined this site because I have a problem that I cannot fix, and you ladies and gents seemed genuinely able and happy to help. Some of the following is being taken directly from a similar thread from over a year ago, as it is almost exactly my problem down to the order in which I attempted to fix things. I hope Irina doesn't mind.

Last night my DSL Internet connection simply stopped working while my computer was in sleep mode. Firefox said that no page could be found and IE6 that no page could be displayed, as did Opera. The only thing I knew how to do was to check the Internet options (which according to my provider should be configured to detecting the settings automatically). I also disconnected all connectors from power source to my cable modem to computer, waited 20 seconds. Rebooted. The light was blinking fine and dandy, everything caught up to speed and acted like it was going to work. I waited. Nothing.

I then went on checking for any kind of malware. My AV is AVG, as well as AntiVir Guard, both of which I update daily. I also have the ZoneAlarm firewall and a collection of spy/adware removers like Lavasoft AdAware, Spybot S&D and I also downloaded and ran Ewido, CWShredder and did Trend Housecall online scan. I seem to be clean.

Now, my provider uses DHCP. When I went to view my connection under control panel I saw that I had been assigned an IP starting with 169.254.... and my subnet mask was 255.255.0.0. Until I saw another user say this was not good, I wasn't exactly certain.. although the subnet mask did indeed make ne a little cautious.

Next, I went to command prompt and typed ipconfig/release and then renew, but I received an error message saying the following:

An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection 5 : unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.

At this point I got the brilliant idea to hook up my 56k modem line, which to my surprise still works. I searched the internet and and came across a tool I had previously forgotten called WinsockXp Fix. Using the following command ( netsh winsock reset ) I rebooted my computer. An error message popped up that was too fast to read just before it shut down, and when it logged back in.. nothing. I tried ipconfig/releasedns, then reset and renew. Nothing.

Next idea was to just say 'screw it all' and use system restore to a few days ago. NO dice, as frustrating as it was. It gave me an error and said the 'system restore failed' or some such, and that no changes had been done. Tried a few days back. Same outcome. A week back (as far as I could go), same outcome.

It seems like something went either wrong or missing somewhere on my PC without me knowing it. I don't know anymore where to look. I am desperate for help. I was already considering a reinstall which would doubtless solve the problem but I would also like to get to the bottom of this. Any help would be priceless for me!

Thanks in advance,

Jester

Edited by Jester86, 23 December 2006 - 03:17 PM.

[Advertisements]

Not an expert by any means. You can call your DSL provider and have them provide you a Static Ip or at the least the IP that is being used this cycle. However I think even though your lights are on your modem has died. If you call your DSL provider they can see your modem but not past it. If they cant see your modem your modem is dead. Try calling them. However you did not mention whether or not you had a router for multiple computer connections to the DSL. If you do then I recommend you bypass your router and connect your computer to your Modem to get the correct IP then reconnect your router to attempt to get connectivity.

[rawq]

Not an expert by any means. You can call your DSL provider and have them provide you a Static Ip or at the least the IP that is being used this cycle. However I think even though your lights are on your modem has died. If you call your DSL provider they can see your modem but not past it. If they cant see your modem your modem is dead. Try calling them. However you did not mention whether or not you had a router for multiple computer connections to the DSL. If you do then I recommend you bypass your router and connect your computer to your Modem to get the correct IP then reconnect your router to attempt to get connectivity.

[Jester86]

I was hoping for a way to figure this out myself, because I had my doubts about tech support over the holidays. I called.. They said to wait until tuesday and a tech would be sent out. I suppose I won't be learning much from this one.

Anyway, as for your question: there is no router. The cable goes straight from the jack to the DSL, then from there to the computer.

[silverbeard]

Hi jester86,

If your ISP is using DHCP assignments for subscibers they assign an IP to your circuit at the modem. Then the modem assigns a subnet or private IP behind the modem. There are different private addresses, the most common is 192.168.xxx.xxx .

A 169.x.x.x is an address assigned by the OS when the DHCP server fails to assign one. This can be caused by problems in the OS,failure in the NIC(network interface card) or failure in the modem.

It looks like your modem is not assigning an address to the pc. Try restarting the modem(unplug it and plug it back in). After it has gained sync se if you can surf.

Most modem/routers have a reset button, if the modem fails to assign an address use the reset button. hold it for at least ten seconds and allow the modem/router to gain sync and see if you can surf.