[Castigador]

I have a wireless router at home (NETGEAR WGR614 v6), and out of 4 connections, my desktop PC is the only one that is not wireless. My PC is wired to the router via ethernet cable, but does not have any internet. I'm using Win XP SP2 and have downloaded then windows update that was said to fix this.

It comes up with the 168 IP, which i've read is not the one I need to be having. Using ipconfig shows that the DHCP can't be connected to. I've released, renew, cleared my TCP/IP, and used tlsfix (or something) and winsock already. I can't connect without the router as well, giving me the same error.

I also have another problem that makes it hard to reboot my router properly. Whenever my ethernet cable is attached to the router and the PC (the light at the back of the lan card lights up indicating a proper connection), my PC will hang while booting. I can only boot with the router off, or either end of the ethernet cable is detached from the router or the PC.

I should also add that I encountered this problem before, but i just got past it by brute force, kept on trying until it worked.

Help?

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An IP address in the 169.xxx.xxx.xxx range is what Windows assigns a network card if it hasn't received one from a DHCP server, for example a wireless router.

This can be caused by a faulty network card, faulty cable or faulty driver, however it can also be caused by an invalid physical MAC address. To check your MAC address, open a Command Prompt (Start -> Run -> type "cmd" (no quotes) and press Enter) and type "ipconfig /all", then press Enter. Look for the "Physical Address" line - if it's full of zeros or FFs, its invalid. You can reset this by shutting the computer down and resetting the CMOS by shorting the appropriate jumpers. This seems to be a particular problem on Asrock motherboards but is not unique to them.

[Neil Jones]

An IP address in the 169.xxx.xxx.xxx range is what Windows assigns a network card if it hasn't received one from a DHCP server, for example a wireless router.

This can be caused by a faulty network card, faulty cable or faulty driver, however it can also be caused by an invalid physical MAC address. To check your MAC address, open a Command Prompt (Start -> Run -> type "cmd" (no quotes) and press Enter) and type "ipconfig /all", then press Enter. Look for the "Physical Address" line - if it's full of zeros or FFs, its invalid. You can reset this by shutting the computer down and resetting the CMOS by shorting the appropriate jumpers. This seems to be a particular problem on Asrock motherboards but is not unique to them.

[Castigador]

My MAC address is working well. I've ruled out the the faulty cable and driver, since I've updated the drivers and can access the router via thru ethernet on my laptop. I doubt the network card is faulty too, since the PC is fairly new. How exactly do I check if it's the network card?

[Neil Jones]

Just out of interest, if the other computers are using wireless dongles/adaptors, borrow one for this computer and see if it'll connect wirelessly.
If it won't connect wirelessly as well using a dongle that you know works, there's an issue with the Windows.
Also tried another port on the router when the PC Is wired?

[Bob in NC]

Title: I had “limited or no connectivity” problem and finally fixed it.

I have been having bad home network problems since December 5, 2007. I got “Limited or no connectivity” on two PC’s which connect wirelessly and could not connect to the Internet. Two computers with wired connections worked fine as did another which connects wirelessly.

Some of the time the PC’s appeared to connect and I did not get the “limited etc.” message. Some of the time I could ping the router, sometimes even Internet sites, but browsers failed with DNS error. Sometimes could not ping the router.

Initially had a Linksys WRT54G v8 wireless router which had worked fine since I got it in late September. Replaced it with Netgear WNR854T wireless (draft) N router. The problem PC’s had the same symptoms with the new router.

I have Earthlink high speed cable modem internet (very similar to road runner). Run Windows XP SP2, fully updated. Have Norton Internet Security 2007 on all PC’s, and have Cybersitter on the wireless PC’s.

Had a very hard time with this. I am a long time computing professional, oracle & unix skills, not much networking experience prior to starting with home networking summer 2005.

Tried lots of things I found on the Internet. Setting fixed IP addresses helped a little, got me onto the home network at least sometimes, but the principal use of the PC’s is to browse the Internet, instant message, etc. The Netgear router auto assigns IP’s all the time, so I am keeping it. The Linksys DHCP seemed balky.

Nothing worked, I was very frustrated. Then I thought of system restore. I restored both PC’s back to mid November. (start, all programs, accessories, system tools, system restore). On one PC it fixed the problem immediately. On the other it didn’t, but I did system restore again and it worked! Back on the Internet, everything fine on all PC’s.
Did not deinstall service pack 2, just returned to a restore point prior to December 5, 2007. Along the way I deinstalled Norton from both PC’s and reinstalled after the problem was fixed, don’t think this was necessary, but not sure.

I ascribe the problem to the Windows automatic update received 3 AM December 5, 2007. I have turned off Windows update on all PC’s, because I no longer have confidence in it. I will apply updates manually from now on. picking and choosing carefully.

I suggest that if you encounter “limited or no connectivity” problem, or the situation where you get connected to home network and perhaps can even ping Internet, but get a DNS error when attempting to connect to Internet sites with a browser, then run system restore (start, all programs, accessories, system tools, system restore) and restore to a restore point created when the problem was not present.