unable to connect to internet through wireless network

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alextz

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my apartment has a wireless network set up via a router, which worked fine until suddenly i could not connect through my laptop while everyone else's laptops are having no problem connecting. i'm able to connect to the internet via other networks, but not the one in my home. it tells me i'm connected to the network, but the ip address shows as 0.0.0.0

if i do manage to get it to connect, windows autoconfigures a local ip that differs from that chosen by the other client computers, and if i overried it manually it tells me without fail that my default gateway is offline.

this is getting very frustrating. i've even tried editing the registry to disable automatic ip addressing, with no result.

please help :(
 
It appears this is a bug in Service Pack 2 of Windows XP dealing with a loss of network connectivity for workstations that use Microsoft’s L2TP-based virtual private networking (VPN) client to connect to servers that are connected to NAT-based networks. However, this bug seems to appear in situations that are not associated with VPNs either.

If you have installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 and are experiencing any of the following symptoms, this bug is affecting your system.

After installing Windows XP SP2, your network connection reports a problem with "Limited or No Connectivity"

You have trouble connecting to the Internet or your local area network after installing Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Your network connection gets stuck "Acquiring IP Address"
If you are receiving this error, you should run the Microsoft patch (KB884020) for it. Follow the instructions below to do this.

1) Download the patch from Microsoft's site: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=17d997d2-5034-4bbb-b74d-ad8430a1f7c8&DisplayLang=enere
2) Run the update to install it
3) Run this short Registry fix to complete the update. Type the following lines in Notepad and save the file as FixReg.reg on your desktop, then double click on it to install into your registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\IPSec]
"AssumeUDPEncapsulationContextOnSendRule"=dword:00000002

4) Reboot your computer

If you experience the error message again, reboot your computer first. In most cases this will solve many connectivity issues that are not associated with this SP2 bug.
 
christ, it must have automatically updated before i could catch it.
thanks a lot, it seems that might work... but one question, how do i download the patch if i can't connect to the internet?
 
download the patch onto another computer then transfer it over using a CD or floppy
 
alextz said:
christ, it must have automatically updated before i could catch it.
thanks a lot, it seems that might work... but one question, how do i download the patch if i can't connect to the internet?
Click to expand...
err, so how are you writing this ... ;)

:D
 
annoying the crap out of my roommate until she let me borrow her laptop :D

and i tried that, and it told me that i needed to have at least service pack 2 installed for the hotfix to work, which means i DONT have sp2, which means i back to square one and just about ready to shoot myself.

any other ideas? :)
 
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well, first I would verify all your wireles settings, ssid,keys, channel you're on, etc. if you don't find anything amiss there, you could try turning all wireless security off on the router and see if you get an address on your pc.
do you have an option to try cable connecting? most wireless routers have some cat5 ports, as do most laptops. if you can;t get wirless to work, try wired, if that fials, then you have some issue on your laptop.

for some additinal info, open a command prompt window.
try this sequence of commands:

ipconfig /release (releases you dhcp address)

ipconfig /flushdns (clears dns cahced on your pc)

ipconfig /renew (this can take a while, it should return an ip settings if successful)

if the renew worked, do:
ipconfig /registerdns

Unfortunately, there is so much that can go wrong, it could take a whiel to resolve...
 
it would also be worth checking that the laptop is actually set to get an IP from DHCP, otherwise it won't get a proper IP.

Also, ensure that the wireless router is set as a DHCP server to issue IP addresses and that there are some free addresses left for it to give out?
 
i'll assume you have Windows XP. The ensure the laptop is set to get an IP from DHCP:-

right click on My Network Places
Right click on the wireless connection
left click Properties
left click TCP/IP
press properties
Ensure that the settings are set to OBTAIN IP AUTOMATICALLY and that DNS are also set the same
Check the router's config to check that it is set up to issue IP address. There will be some mention of DHCP settings and they should be turned on. I can't be too specific about the router side of things as I don't know exactly what equipment you have.

Finally it may be necessary to disable any firewalls you're using just to be sure they're not blocking the laptop from accessing the router, and vice versa
 
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