Ethernet doesn't have a valid IP configuration

[Kallikrates]

I'm asking this for a friend who lives a state away and I don't know how to help her, so any help here would be appreciated.

Okay. I've viewed dozens of posts around the net about this. I've tried a lot but I'm at a loss and stressed about it. Ideas?

I have a desktop that connects via ethernet to the Internet (time warner cable). It randomly disconnected me earlier today and went yellow triangle of "unidentified network." It's came up an hour later for about twenty minutes, then crashed.

It randomly came back up about six hours later for an hour, then crashed again. The ISP says it shows me connected, but I have no access. Here's ipconfig (and the error for renew).http://i.imgur.com/J9ZqrkX.jpg

She's already done the solutions that available for the error and it hasn't resolved her issues.

 

[Saga Lout]

That "preferred" internal IP address has to go so she needs to go into the Properties of the connection in Control Panel>Network and Sharing Centre>Change Network Adapters by right clicking on the Ethernet connection.

She needs to go into Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), click on Properties and manually set addresses. To do taht, she needs to know the address of the router and she also has to change the blob in the Radio Button from "Obtain an IP address automatically" to "Use the following address.

If she opens IE or any other browser, and experiment with addresses. Stat with 192.168.0.1, if that fails, try 192.168.1.1 and if both ffail, try 192.168.2.1. One of those will open the router's login page.

Don't log in - just note that address and put it into the address box. The subnet box will fill itself in and Default is the same as the IP address.

Swap the next section's radio button and the IP address also becomes the "Preferred DNS Server. Click Apply and OK her way out and restart the computer.

With luck, it should connect to the Net.

 

[Kallikrates]

That "preferred" internal IP address has to go so she needs to go into the Properties of the connection in Control Panel>Network and Sharing Centre>Change Network Adapters by right clicking on the Ethernet connection.

She needs to go into Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), click on Properties and manually set addresses. To do taht, she needs to know the address of the router and she also has to change the blob in the Radio Button from "Obtain an IP address automatically" to "Use the following address.

If she opens IE or any other browser, and experiment with addresses. Stat with 192.168.0.1, if that fails, try 192.168.1.1 and if both ffail, try 192.168.2.1. One of those will open the router's login page.

Don't log in - just note that address and put it into the address box. The subnet box will fill itself in and Default is the same as the IP address.

Swap the next section's radio button and the IP address also becomes the "Preferred DNS Server. Click Apply and OK her way out and restart the computer.

With luck, it should connect to the Net.

Thank you Saga for your advice, but, unfortunately, it didn't work.

From her:

I had set a static ip before, but tried again this time. Still no Internet access and troubleshoot doesn't find the problem now.

Wifi works, so I know the modem login is correct. I cannot access the login from the desktop at all.

She also says that can ping the NIC but not the gateway.

 

[Saga Lout]

Does she says can't ping the Gateway because the system thinks it's a 169 or is she strying to ping the router's actual IP address?

I sugest she goes into c:\windows\system32, scrolls down to the file cmd.exe and right clicks it. Select RunAsdministrator and close the File Explorer.

At the Command prompt type
netsh winsock reset catalog
then press Enter.

Type Exit to close the form then restart the system and see if that makes a difference.

I also suggest she runs her anti-virus to get rid of whatever caused all this chaos.

 

[Volchitsa]

Hi! I'm OP's friend.

I did the actual router. It times out.

I did this already, but did it again. No luck.

The system is clean. Avira and Malware Bytes confirms this. Avira is up to date, think MB is.

I've done SFC, nothing wrong.

I did netsh ip resets, got an error on one (no name, just that it failed), fiddled with permissions in registry, now it was successful.

I've contacted ISP, they see the computer as connected.

When it happen, entire net went down, and even wifi gave the error. It came back up, then my ethernet died. Wifi drops periodically, giving that error ip error. When it came back up a while ago, all was fine for an hour. Then entire net crashed and only wifi came back up.

I'm seriously at a loss. TWC is reporting everything is okay.

 

[Saga Lout]

Hi, Volchitsa - this is annoying, isn't it? I'm sure you've wiggled the cables around at both ends.

I've come across it before where it was only happening in one User Account. Can you switch accounts to see if that's true in your case or, if not, create a new one just for the experiment.

It would also be useful to see an ipconfig report taken whilst the wi-fi is working and connected.

 

[Volchitsa]

That ipconfig was when wifi was working. I don't have another computer - this is my phone I'm using.

I've changed cables, ports, etc. I honestly think it's a software issue. The cable and LAN port is actually reporting it's working and data is passing.

I tried safe mode with networking, same issue. I dropped from admin to user - same thing.

 

[Saga Lout]

It's a worry that you can see data passing. In Control Panel>Internet Options>Connections tab>LAN button, is there a tick in the Proxy box? If so, remove it and tick "Automatically detect settings" then click Apply and OK your way out.

 

[Volchitsa]

It's already set to automatic.

 

[Saga Lout]

Would you please call up another elevated Command form and this time, type
netsh firewall reset
and hit the enter key

It's a long shot but I'm fast running out of ideas here. I'm going to read the whole thread over again.

The time lag between posts is because I'm in the UK and was out all last evening when you posted. It's now 06:30 here.

 

[Kallikrates]

Replying for my friend:

Would you please call up another elevated Command form and this time, type
netsh firewall reset
and hit the enter key

It's a long shot but I'm fast running out of ideas here. I'm going to read the whole thread over again.

The time lag between posts is because I'm in the UK and was out all last evening when you posted. It's now 06:30 here.

Actually, today, that part of my motherboard died entirely. I find this hilarious because I got the same error on my other motherboard, but that one has actual scorch marks - it's also ten years old.

So yeah, I'm assuming when my new mobo gets here on Sunday and I install it, we're good. I have a wifi USB thing now and it's perfect.

 

[Saga Lout]

I would have got round to blaming hardware when I run out of ideas.

Good luck with it.