Internet connection problem 1

[HelloMike]

I have a problem talking to the outside world with my old Win2K desktop. Sometime on Thursday afternoon my router appeared to reboot itself, suddenly and without warning. Since the following reboot of my PC (Friday morning) it's been unable to talk 'properly' to the internet. The other various laptops scattered around the house all work just fine. By 'properly', I mean that I can ping and tracert to my heart's content, but I'm unable to do anything else - Firefox times out when looking for any website, and my mail client can't connect to the ISP's mail server.

I've looked in the System Event log and found the following error (Event ID 1002) immediately after the router restart:

The IP address lease 192.168.1.34 for the Network Card with network address 0080AD051258 has been denied by the DHCP server 192.168.1.1 (The DHCP Server sent a DHCPNACK message).

I know that 192.168.1.1 is my router, and I can get into the router's maintenance functions through my browser with no problem at all.

The things I've done to help myself (with zero success so far) are:
1. Checked that the problem is confined to this particular PC.
2. Checked the PC for viruses, malware etc - it's clean.
3. Unplugged the network cable and plugged it back in again.
4. Unplugged the network cable and plugged it into a different socket on the router (which is a Zyxel 360 4-port jobbie that works with wired and wireless devices).

Although I'm an IT professional (I develop business applications), I'm in serious don't-know-what-I'm-doing territory here, and any help would be appreciated.


Cheers, Mike.

 

[wahnula]

Try giving the Win2K box a static IP address within the router's scope (like 192.168.1.50) using the TCP/IP properties in the Network connection window. The default gateway will probably be 192.168.1.1

Then, Start==>Run==>cmd

and type

ipconfig/ release
ipconfig /renew

Any better? If not it may be a faulty NIC.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[HelloMike]

Thanks Tony.

The property sheet is also demanding Preferred & Alternate DNS Server addresses. What should I use? (it won't accept zeros).

Cheers, Mike.

 

[G0AOZ]

For DNS addresses, first try the IP of the router (might be 192.168.1.1). Failing that, check out your ISP, who may post DNS IPs on a help page.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[docjohn52]

Have you actually tried just rebooting the machine?

It sounds like you just lost the IP lease, and rebooting will make the router assign a new one...

START>RUN>CMD>IPCONFIG should show you an address in the 192.168.1.XXX range when it's right...

Unplugging and plugging back in the world, won't make the box request a new IP... Unless it's the power cord...

 

[HelloMike]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, but still no joy.

ipconfig shows a valid IP address, whether I assign one manually or tell it to grab one dynamically. I can still ping and tracert, but nothing else.

Entering sensible Preferred & Alternate DNS Server addresses (ie. as given to me by my ISP) causes ping & tracert to fail, and Firefox to give me the 'Server not found' message instantly, whereas leaving everything to allocate dynamically allows me to ping & tracert and Firefox times out before giving an error.

And yes, I've rebooted the PC lots of times.

I'm coming to the conclusion that my network card is hosed. It's a very old machine with a lot of miles on the clock, and I've been looking for an excuse to get something shiny and new for a while now. I think I can feel a wallet-emptying session coming on ...

Cheers, Mike.

 

[docjohn52]

Is Firefox set up for a proxy ad killer to load ie(proxomitron)?

Does IE load?

It's rare that a NIC card will load a DHCP address and not be talking to the network, if you can talk to the router thru browser, it's not your network card, start looking at the router, hard reset, etc.

John

 

[Lemon13]

can u ping by fqnd or only by ip?
do u use mac-filtering on the router?
can u post the ipconfig/all result?
did u try the winsock fix?
is the dhcp server configured propperly on the router (scope.....)?

 

[G0AOZ]

DocJohn52 suggested rebooting the machine, which you say you've done. How about switching off the router for several minutes, then restarting it? I have found that will sometimes solve a connection problem...

N.B. Do leave it for several minutes so that voltages in the router's circuitry will all decay to zero.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[HelloMike]

Thanks again for all the suggestions. Still no different.

docjohn52 -
Firefox is 2.0.0.15 default installation plus Web Developer plugin.
IR loads fine and gives me the same problem.
I can talk to the router through either browser, but it's real slow to load. I wonder if there's a clue there. I've also gone into the router using the borrowed laptop I'm currently working with and the router's pages load almost instantly. Back on the old PC I can't see anything unusual in either Task Manager or Process Explorer.

Lemon13 -
I can ping by either IP or name (see the guff below).
No MAC filtering on the router.
Here's ipconfig & ping:
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig /all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SOFTLINE2000
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : CNET PRO200WL PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-80-AD-05-12-5B
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.40
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 14 July 2008 11:08:18
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 17 July 2008 11:08:18

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ping

http://www.google.co.uk

Pinging

http://www.l.google.com

[66.102.9.104] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=30ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=33ms TTL=244
Reply from 66.102.9.104: bytes=32 time=31ms TTL=244

Ping statistics for 66.102.9.104:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 30ms, Maximum = 33ms, Average = 31ms

Haven't tried the winsock fix. I've heard of it but I wouldn't know where to start

Here's the DHCP settings on the router:
DHCP: Server
DHCP Start IP: 192.168.1.33
DHCP Pool Size: 32

G0AOZ -
Last time I rebooted the router (just a couple of days ago after all this kicked off) I only left it a few seconds before firing it up again, so I've just tried this now. Hasn't made any difference.

The whole thing strikes me as really weird. I can see the router, Windows tells me it's connected just fine, I can ping and tracert, dynamic DNS allocation happens properly and addresses get resolved as expected, but for anything beyond there nothing happens. It's almost as though something on my PC is giving up the ghost after doing basic handshaking. Like I said in an earlier post, this ain't my field of expertise and I'm stumped.

Cheers, Mike.

 

[harebrain]

If you're running ZoneAlarm firewall, an MS hotfix borked it. The best fix is to get the ZA update.

 

[Lemon13]

give winsockfix a shot

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Network-Tweak/WinSockFix.shtml

one thing, on the error msg in ur first post, the mac is 0080AD051258, whereas in ipconfig /all its 00-80-AD-05-12-5B, can u verify that?!

have u tried a different nic?

 

[HelloMike]

Harebrain -
I've been out on the road all day. Just got home and read your post. Most interesting. Found a link to a Washington Post article giving more details (

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/secu...larm_update_fixes_micros.html?hpid=sec-tech).

I said in my very first post that the problem began last Thursday afternoon. I applied the most recent W2K update that same morning. Seems like more than a coincidence to me.

I'll work on it and post back.

Cheers, Mike.

 

[HelloMike]

Lemon13 -
While I'm waiting for ZoneAlarm to finish its update, here's a little story.

When all this started, as I said earlier, I borrowed a laptop to keep me connected and working. It's an old laptop and doesn't have WiFi built in, so I found an old USB WiFi dongle and used that. Unfortunately, there's a dodgy connection in either the dongle or the USB socket on the laptop, so getting a connection isn't easy, but once the dongle is in exactly the right position, the connection is stable.

Not wishing to lose my connection, I've left the laptop switched on permanently. It's on a table in the bedroom. And it has a bright blue light that flashes when there's any traffic. Mrs HelloMike complained bitterly, but being a resourceful (ish) chap I found a workaround. I wrapped the dongle in a black sock. Et voila, no more blue flashing lights.

Now that's what I call a proper winsock fix

Cheers, Mike.

 

[HelloMike]

Harebrain -
You were bang on the money, thankyou sir. A little mauve star for you, methinks.

Here's what I did:

1. Opened up the ZoneAlarm Control Center.
2. Click on the Firewall option and changed the Internet Zone Security level from High to Medium. This now allowed me to access the internet from my old PC, albeit with reduced security.
3. Clieck on the Overview option and selected the Preferences tab.
4. Hit Check For Update, downloaded the fix and installed it.
5. Reboot the PC.
6. Back to Control Center and set Security Level back to High.

All is now well. I now have a fully functioning PC, and the borrowed laptop can go back to where it belongs.

Cheers, Mike.