[Lokius]

I have seen numerous threads with similar problems, but none of which the solution helped and none which were identical to mine. Back in December, my internet one day just stopped working. I was getting ready to move within a week, so I figured the ISP's router went bad so I didn't worry about it. Was in the airport about a month later trying to connect to their wireless and found it would connect, but would show local only or limited connectivity. When looking at the network connections, it shows a red x to bridge my connection to the internet.

I have tried all the basic trouble shooting steps. I have tried giving it a static IP and it just resets it upon reboot to the auto configuration. When talking to technical support, they concluded it was a hardware issue, but I am not sure. It's an intel wireless card and it has a diagnostic tool. Every test (including the hardware test) pass. Only thing that fails is the ping test. Any ideas?

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Hey Lokius and welcome to G2G

On your laptop, when you try to connect to a network, can you please do the following:

• Select Start
• In the Start Search field type cmd -- right-click on the cmd program and choose Run as administrator
• In the new command prompt window, please type the following commands (*Note: each ping will take approximately 10 seconds to complete; wait for the command prompt to return before you type the next one. Also, the single '>' and double '>>' are intentional; please type the commands exactly as they appear):
  • ipconfig /all > C:\results.txt
  • route print >> C:\results.txt
  • ping localhost >> C:\results.txt
  • ping google.com >> C:\results.txt
  • ping 209.85.171.100 >> C:\results.txt
• Once the above commands have completed, navigate to your C: drive and open the text file results.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

Question: you only mentioned the airport network. Do you have a home network? Does the same issue occur there? Have you tried connecting your laptop via an Ethernet cable to a router and seeing if you could connect? What about directly to a modem? Obviously, if you don't have a home network setup, this may be hard to test

Some basic steps to try:
Step 1: Re-install your network adapter -- *Note: You may need your Network adapter drivers CD in order to complete these steps.

• Press Start
• In the Start Search field type devmgmt.msc and then press the ENTER key.
• In the Device Manager, expand Network adapters
• Under Network adapters, right-click your network adapter and select Uninstall.
• Restart your computer; upon reboot, Windows will detect New Hardware and ask you to install your network adapter; please proceed to do so.

Step 2: Reset your TCP/IP and Winsock stack:

• Select Start
• Type cmd in the Start Search field
• Right-click on the cmd program and select Run as administrator
• In the new command prompt window, type netsh int ip reset reset.log
• Once the above command completes, type netsh winsock reset catalog
• Restart your computer.

Try to connect to a network; can you?

Thanks,
- Dan

[Dan]

Hey Lokius and welcome to G2G

On your laptop, when you try to connect to a network, can you please do the following:

• Select Start
• In the Start Search field type cmd -- right-click on the cmd program and choose Run as administrator
• In the new command prompt window, please type the following commands (*Note: each ping will take approximately 10 seconds to complete; wait for the command prompt to return before you type the next one. Also, the single '>' and double '>>' are intentional; please type the commands exactly as they appear):
  • ipconfig /all > C:\results.txt
  • route print >> C:\results.txt
  • ping localhost >> C:\results.txt
  • ping google.com >> C:\results.txt
  • ping 209.85.171.100 >> C:\results.txt
• Once the above commands have completed, navigate to your C: drive and open the text file results.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

Question: you only mentioned the airport network. Do you have a home network? Does the same issue occur there? Have you tried connecting your laptop via an Ethernet cable to a router and seeing if you could connect? What about directly to a modem? Obviously, if you don't have a home network setup, this may be hard to test

Some basic steps to try:
Step 1: Re-install your network adapter -- *Note: You may need your Network adapter drivers CD in order to complete these steps.

• Press Start
• In the Start Search field type devmgmt.msc and then press the ENTER key.
• In the Device Manager, expand Network adapters
• Under Network adapters, right-click your network adapter and select Uninstall.
• Restart your computer; upon reboot, Windows will detect New Hardware and ask you to install your network adapter; please proceed to do so.

Step 2: Reset your TCP/IP and Winsock stack:

• Select Start
• Type cmd in the Start Search field
• Right-click on the cmd program and select Run as administrator
• In the new command prompt window, type netsh int ip reset reset.log
• Once the above command completes, type netsh winsock reset catalog
• Restart your computer.

Try to connect to a network; can you?

Thanks,
- Dan

[Lokius]

I have tried step 1 numerous times with no luck. Never step 2. I'll give that a shot.

As for all the commands. I am on a public computer right now, but I will try mine and then try to put the stuff on the thumb drive. The computers here are fairly secured, but I think I should still be able to use my thumbdrive on them. I will respond probably tomorrow when I am able to get back here again.

Here is a more in depth explanation. I am in the military and was stationed in North Carolina. That is when the problem started. About a week before I was due to go on leave before going overseas. I was at home for a month (North Dakota). While there, I tried making my laptop connect to my parents internet. It wouldn't work. I even tried hardwiring it. No luck. I had also bought a wireless router for back at home (so my parents could hook their Wii online). I got the router to work for their desktop, but never could get it to work for my laptop. When I'd hardwire it to my laptop and try to go to the routers page, it would show no page available. Whereas when I did it on my parents desktop, it went to the Sysco router page.

I gave up on it and rather than taking it to Best Buy to get it looked at (I have a full warranty on it), I instead assumed it was not a hardware issue so I just took it with. That is when I went to the airport and had the same problem. Now I am in Japan and I tried hooking into someone elses just to see if it'd work (with his permission of course). Same exact problem. I would like to get my own internet again, but until I fix this, I am not even going to bother.

Hope that explains it a little better. Thanks for the response and I will get back to you later with the results if possible.

[Dan]

Thanks Lokius.

On the off-chance that you see this thread before you try those tests, I'm going to give you a few more steps to try, since you don't have easy access to your machine and the Internet at the same time.

Step 1 - Restart your machine in Safe Mode with Networking:
Please restart the problematic machine in Safe Mode with Networking and then see if you can get an Internet connection; can you?
*Note: You will not be able to use a wireless connection while in Safe Mode; please ensure all tests are performed with a wired (Ethernet) connection.

Step 2: Start your machine in a clean boot state:

• Select Start
• In the Start Search field type msconfig and press the enter key.
• In the new window, select the General tab and then select Selective Startup.
• Click to clear the Load Startup Items check box.
• Verify that Load System Services and Use original boot configuration are checked.
• Click the Services tab.
• Click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box.
• Click Disable All, and then click OK.
• When you are prompted, click Restart to restart the computer.

When the computer reboots, are you able to connect to the Internet?
*Note: To return Windows to a normal startup mode, please do the following:

• Select Start, and then click Run.
• Type msconfig, and then click OK.
• Click the General tab, click Normal Startup - load all device drivers and services, and then click OK. When you are prompted, click Restart to restart the computer.

Step 3: Download and run LSPFix:
Please download LSPFix from here. Run the LSPFix.exe that you have just finished downloading, and list all of the protocols that are in the 'Keep' and 'Remove' list; if there are protocols in the 'Remove' list, then please don't click 'Finish>>'. Simply close the program by pressing ALT+F4 or the Close [x] button.

Thanks,
- Dan

[Lokius]

Thanks for the steps. It's kind of hard for me to try it with an ethernet cable. Perhaps over the weekend I will have time to do it. Until then though, here are the results of the tests you told me to run. For the record, I have disabled IPV6 or whatever it is when I trouble shooted in the past. However, when it didn't help, I re-enabled it. I have to attach it as a text file due to not being able to view my thumbdrive on these PCs.

Thanks

Attached Files

•  results.txt   4.83KB   231 downloads

[Dan]

Hey Lokius,

Usually, a "General failure" on a ping indicates software interference. If you can't do the Safe Mode with Networking test, then please try the clean boot test. Safe mode would be preferable, but a clean boot may do the trick.

I assume you tried Step 2 from my first post? No change there? If you could please try Steps 2 & 3 from my second post, that would be appreciated.

Thanks,
- Dan

[Lokius]

Hey Lokius,

Usually, a "General failure" on a ping indicates software interference. If you can't do the Safe Mode with Networking test, then please try the clean boot test. Safe mode would be preferable, but a clean boot may do the trick.

I assume you tried Step 2 from my first post? No change there? If you could please try Steps 2 & 3 from my second post, that would be appreciated.

Thanks,
- Dan

I will give them a try then report back. I will also mention that right before this happened, I was experimenting with "Mobility Modder." I had old graphics drivers and at the time, Nvidia was not releasing official drivers for laptops. Gateways were old as [bleep], so I downloaded that tool and modified official Nvidia graphics drivers. I had about three sessions of working with that tool. After the last one, I put my laptop on standby. When it came out of standby was when I no longer had a connection. Might have just been coincidence though. I have since removed the tool and installed official Nvidia drivers for the graphics card and I have uninstalled and reinstalled the wireless drivers numerous times (including updating them with a newer version).

Anyways, if it was a software interfereance, do you think that tool had anything to do with it?

[Dan]

Anyways, if it was a software interfereance, do you think that tool had anything to do with it?

You'd think uninstalling the tool, and re-installing your network adapter would resolve such an issue. Also, from what I could gather, it looks like that tool would be targeting your Graphics drivers, not your network adapters. So I'd be surprised if it did cause your issue, although these days there's no telling. Let's take a peek at what's running on your system.

Please download HijackThis and install it -- restart your computer. Once the computer starts up, can you please launch HijackThis and then select the option Open the Misc Tools section -- select Generate StartupList log. Save the startup list in a safe location. Now select the option Open Uninstall Manager and then click Save list -- save it to a safe location. Please post the contents of the startup list and the uninstall list in your next response.

Thanks,
- Dan

[Lokius]

Got some interesting news to report. I tried step 2. Didn't do anything. So I tried Step 3. I tried to run it and it gave me an error that said: "Winsock 2 registry key is missing or could not be accessed." It then told me to log is as the administrator (which I was logged in as). If I was already logged in as the admin, then it told me to reinstall winsock2. Could that be the problem or is that not really relevant?

Nevertheless, I also tried the HijackThis tool and here are my results.

Attached Files

•  startuplist.txt   4.53KB   225 downloads
•  uninstall_list.txt   2.37KB   182 downloads

[Dan]

I'm sorry Lokius -- I've only just recently returned to this forum, after a lengthy absence, so some of my instructions are out of date (i.e. they were written pre-Vista). The error you got from LSPFix isn't actually a big deal; simply right-click on LSPFix.exe and select Run as administrator. I've amended my instructions for future reference -- thanks for the feedback.

I've noticed that you have Norton running on your machine. It's possible that it's not the cause of your issue, but I have seen Norton causing quite a few issues on a number of machines over the past few weeks. I'm going to strongly recommend that you actually uninstall it.

• Select Start
• In the Start Search field type control.exe
• In the new Control Panel window, click on Programs and then Uninstall a program.
• From the list of applications, please uninstall all applications with Norton or Symantec in their names.

Once you have done so, please download and run the Norton Removal Tool -- once it is finished, restart your computer.

See if you can connect to the Internet now; can you?

- Dan

[Lokius]

Prior to reading this, I actually tried uninstalling Norton just because it annoys me (pre-installed free trial). Just like my previous laptop, the uninstaller doesn't seem to work for Norton. Kaspersky is the anti-virus I use, however, I never installed it on this laptop. Only had it for like a month before the internet went bad. Besides those two programs, as you may have seen, I also use Spyware Doctor.

[Dan]

Please run the Norton Removal Tool that I linked; it will remove all traces of Norton from your machine.

[Lokius]

So I got an interesting update. After removing Norton, some drivers for another brand wireless adapter (i had accidently downloaded the ethernet brand for my wireless once), and some other stuff that didn't seem relevant, I got a minor connection. The computer icon at the bottom right would go from being just computers to computers with a globe on it. I was able to actually obtain an IP address and when I opened the internet browser, it would say "web site found, waiting for reply." However, these connections would usually only last 30 seconds to a minute before it would disconnect and say "local access only" again. Never during any of the times would any webpages actually load. The internet here requires a log-in to actually connect to it. My buddy did give me his log-in info, but the page would never load to actually enter it.

So what do you think now? Perhaps it's fixed and I just need to get my own account now? Perhaps something else is also blocking it? Perhaps it is a hardware issue and like bad wiring, it goes in and out as it pleases? Any ideas?

Another note. I just rememvered this, but prior to this happening in the first place, I had started to get weak internet connections for about two days. Vastly reduced speed (went from rabbit to half a turtle pace). I had initially blamed it on my former roommate who used to use bittorrent to download music. Bittorrent installs this program known as DNA which I never liked. I removed that long ago, but maybe there is something hiding involving that?

Thanks

[Dan]

Ah, good -- progress! Unfortunately, change also means that all of the information you have since posted is now out of date. If you could repeat the following steps, that would be appreciated (so that I can see what's going on) -- please do all of these steps when you're attempting to connect to the Network.

Step 1 - Connectivity test:

• Select Start
• In the Start Search field type cmd -- right-click on the cmd program and choose Run as administrator
• In the new command prompt window, please type the following commands (*Note: each ping will take approximately 10 seconds to complete; wait for the command prompt to return before you type the next one. Also, the single '>' and double '>>' are intentional; please type the commands exactly as they appear):
  • ipconfig /all > C:\results.txt
  • route print >> C:\results.txt
  • ping localhost >> C:\results.txt
  • ping google.com >> C:\results.txt
  • ping 209.85.171.100 >> C:\results.txt
• Once the above commands have completed, navigate to your C: drive and open the text file results.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

Also:
Step 1: Re-install your network adapter (my first post)
Step 2: Reset your TCP/IP and Winsock stack: (my first post)
Step 2: Start your machine in a clean boot state: (my second post)

And finally, this new test.

• Select Start
• In the Start Search field type cmd and press the ENTER key
• In the new command prompt window, type tracert google.com > C:\trace.txt
• This command will take a few minutes to complete -- wait for your command prompt to return. Navigate to your C: drive and open the text file trace.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

This will hopefully let us see why your connection is slow/where it is failing.

Thanks,
- Dan

[Lokius]

Ah, good -- progress! Unfortunately, change also means that all of the information you have since posted is now out of date. If you could repeat the following steps, that would be appreciated (so that I can see what's going on) -- please do all of these steps when you're attempting to connect to the Network.

Step 1 - Connectivity test:

• Select Start
• In the Start Search field type cmd -- right-click on the cmd program and choose Run as administrator
• In the new command prompt window, please type the following commands (*Note: each ping will take approximately 10 seconds to complete; wait for the command prompt to return before you type the next one. Also, the single '>' and double '>>' are intentional; please type the commands exactly as they appear):
  • ipconfig /all > C:\results.txt
  • route print >> C:\results.txt
  • ping localhost >> C:\results.txt
  • ping google.com >> C:\results.txt
  • ping 209.85.171.100 >> C:\results.txt
• Once the above commands have completed, navigate to your C: drive and open the text file results.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

Also:
Step 1: Re-install your network adapter (my first post)
Step 2: Reset your TCP/IP and Winsock stack: (my first post)
Step 2: Start your machine in a clean boot state: (my second post)

And finally, this new test.

• Select Start
• In the Start Search field type cmd and press the ENTER key
• In the new command prompt window, type tracert google.com > C:\trace.txt
• This command will take a few minutes to complete -- wait for your command prompt to return. Navigate to your C: drive and open the text file trace.txt -- please copy/paste the contents of this file into your next response.

This will hopefully let us see why your connection is slow/where it is failing.

Thanks,
- Dan

After reinstalling the network adapter, I have been able to pull up a couple webpages. However, it was during my lunch break, so I didn't have much time to test it. Thus, tentitively, this *might* be solved. I'll respond later.