Wireless Internet Connection - Not working

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Guest

Hello~

I currently have a small home network set up.........two desktops connected
to the internet through a router (Netgear) and one laptop connected to
internect wirelessly. Everything working just fine until about 3 days
ago............suddenly I can't connect to the internet on the laptop. Both
desktops working OK.

I have tried to "repair" the connection, done "ipconfig /release" and
"ipconfig /renew". Every time I get an error message "unable to contact your
dhcp server". I have gone in a disable my Firewall (Windows), disabled the
wireless connection, re-enabled the wireless connection, still to no avail.

I have to installed any new programs or hardware on the laptop......any
suggestions on the problem?

Thanks in advance!!
 
I would try to reset the router first. Or check this post.

Media disconnected even you assign static IP
http://www.chicagotech.net/netforums/viewtopic.php?t=1472

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
Hello~

I currently have a small home network set up.........two desktops connected
to the internet through a router (Netgear) and one laptop connected to
internect wirelessly. Everything working just fine until about 3 days
ago............suddenly I can't connect to the internet on the laptop. Both
desktops working OK.

I have tried to "repair" the connection, done "ipconfig /release" and
"ipconfig /renew". Every time I get an error message "unable to contact your
dhcp server". I have gone in a disable my Firewall (Windows), disabled the
wireless connection, re-enabled the wireless connection, still to no avail.

I have to installed any new programs or hardware on the laptop......any
suggestions on the problem?

Thanks in advance!!
 
shutdown the laptop. unplug the router and plug it back in again.
wait 60 seconds and then boot up the laptop. if this does not fix
your issue, please check and see if there was a recent driver update
that windows update applied to your wireless NIC. if yes, roll back
the driver/uninstall the update.

it might help if you posted the text output from the afflicted
machine of

ipconfig /all

Hello~

I currently have a small home network set up.........two desktops connected
to the internet through a router (Netgear) and one laptop connected to
internect wirelessly. Everything working just fine until about 3 days
ago............suddenly I can't connect to the internet on the laptop. Both
desktops working OK.

I have tried to "repair" the connection, done "ipconfig /release" and
"ipconfig /renew". Every time I get an error message "unable to contact your
dhcp server". I have gone in a disable my Firewall (Windows), disabled the
wireless connection, re-enabled the wireless connection, still to no avail.

I have to installed any new programs or hardware on the laptop......any
suggestions on the problem?

Thanks in advance!!
Click to expand...
--

Barb Bowman
MS Windows-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/meetexperts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/
 
Checked the driver - it is dated 7/2006, so it does not appear to have been
updated recently. Had also tried reseting the router before posting my
question on the board - did not work.

Two more pieces of info that might be helpful: 1) I am running Windows XP
on all computers, and 2) the 'Main' computer does not see the laptop on the
Network.

Below is the text output of ipconfig /all. What I am noticing is that the
Host Name is Nancytwo - it should be Nancyone (Nancytwo is the laptop). How
do I change this? Maybe this conflict will correct my problem?

Thanks!!



Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Nancytwo
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8187 Wireless 802.11g
54M
bps USB 2.0 Network Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-C0-A8-CA-12-21
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.213.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
 
"Host name" in the output of ipconfig /all is the name of the local host
computer on which you just ran ipconfig. In this case, "nancytwo" is
correct.

The results of your ipconfig command verify what the earlier error
message said -- your laptop is not able to connect with the DHCP server
in the router, and therefore is not obtaining an IP address for your
local network.

Because you have two desktops connected (by Ethernet cable I assume)
successfully, the router's DHCP server appears to be on and not broken.

The particular wifi adapter chip you have, Realtek RTL8187, can be
packaged either as a USB "dongle" or built-in to your laptop. If it is
built-in, the most likely cause of your problem is that you have turned
off its radio. Almost all laptop built-in wifi adapters have either a
physical switch or a Fn+Fx key press combo that turns the wifi radio
on/off to conserve battery power. Check the user manual for your laptop.

If the adapter is an external USB device, there is a possibility that
something's wrong with your USB port and/or drivers. Check device
manager. Do you get the "bong" sound when you connect or disconnect the
adapter? Perhaps the easiest way to confirm that your USB port is
working is to attach another USB device. Do you have a USB printer,
memory stick, mouse, or something else you could plug into the port that
you're using for the wifi adapter?

When you "view available wireless networks" does your own network show
up? Does ANY network show up? Take the laptop to someplace where you
know there is a wireless network (Starbuck's, your local library, etc.)
and see if you can see and connect to that network.

If you can:

- see other networks but not your own, then either you configured your
router to not broadcast your SSID or your router's radio is off or
broken. Check your router's configuration utility to make sure that
SSID broadcast is enabled and that the radio is turned on. If SSID
broadcast is on and the radio is on and you still can't see your SSID
but can see other networks, than your router's radio is probably broken.

- see neither your own network nor any other wifi networks, then either
your laptop's wifi adapter probably is turned off or is broken.

- see both your own network and other networks but still can't connect,
then the problem is likely that your laptop is failing some security
measure set up on your router. Temporarily disable all of the router's
security measures (encryption, MAC filters, and any other filters).
Confirm that you can now connect. Re-enable security.

In addition to the possibilities above, there also is a possibility that
you are running two wireless configuration utilities simultaneously --
Windows WZC and a utility that came with your laptop or adapter. See
the discussion at http://www.ezlan.net/wireless.html which also has more
detail on the entire subject.
 
Checked the driver - it is dated 7/2006, so it does not appear to have been
updated recently. Had also tried reseting the router before posting my
question on the board - did not work.

Two more pieces of info that might be helpful: 1) I am running Windows XP
on all computers, and 2) the 'Main' computer does not see the laptop on the
Network.

Below is the text output of ipconfig /all. What I am noticing is that the
Host Name is Nancytwo - it should be Nancyone (Nancytwo is the laptop). How
do I change this? Maybe this conflict will correct my problem?

Thanks!!

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Nancytwo
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8187 Wireless 802.11g
54M
bps USB 2.0 Network Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-C0-A8-CA-12-21
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.213.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :








- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.213.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0


This is indicating that the Wireless adapter IS not find the router's
DHCP service. You need to:

1) From a desktop, access the router's internal configuration "web
pages" and make sure that the wireless signal are "turned on."

2) Check to see if the laptop's drivers are correctly installed and
make sure the wireless adapter software (???) is running correctly, if
you are not using Wireless Zero Configuration(WZC). Or make sure that
WZC is running, depending on you config.

3) Check for router's firmware updates. Only use a "wired" PC to
install these type of updates, since the firmware may/will cut off the
wireless signal. Alsom firmware updates can "force" a router to be
resetted to factory defaults.

4) From a desktop, locate the wireless adapter's manufacturer's web
site and check for any posible driver updates. Realtek is not a
normally a "manufacturer" that you buy "directly" any product. They
license their "hardware" chips to other companies.
 
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