Suddenly can't connect to internet

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sneaky jedi

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I just returned to college after being home for the weekend to find my desktop unable to connect to the internet either via wired or wireless connections.

My laptop is able to connect both by wifi and ethernet.

Troubleshooting resulted in the message "There may be a problem with the driver for the local area/ wireless network connections adapter"

I went through the device manager uninstalled and then, after downloading from my laptop, reinstalled the realtek pcie gbe family controller. This yielded no results.

My desktop was working fine last thursday, has been powered off since then, and was unable to connect upon my return this evening.

Any advice on how to resolve this problem?

Thanks
 
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It should show in Device Manager as a network adapter. A replacement card will work fine.

nbelote

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Try, at the command prompt with administrator privileges, "winsock netsh reset" without the quotation marks. Reboot. See if that helps.

It's a shot in the dark, and not a typical fix for your issue, but it could prevent you from getting through to the internet.
 

sneaky jedi

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Onboard LAN1 Boot ROM was disabled...I enabling it did not result in a fix

Not sure what I am supposed to be getting from running those two commands...I don't deal with the command prompt very often
 

sneaky jedi

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Any other ideas?

I don't mess around with bios a lot, but going into Smart LAN yields this:

"Start Detecting at Port" then, flashing up every second or so this:
"Link detected -> 10Mbps
Cable Length less than 10m"

Is this information of any more help?
 

sneaky jedi

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ping 127.0.0.1 yields:

Packets: sent = 4, Received = 4, Loss = 0
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
minimum = 0ms, maximum = 0ms, average = 0ms


ipconfig yields a bunch of Media disconnected messages after various tunnel adapters
 

runswindows95

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Start ---> All Programs ---> Accesseries ----> Right Click on Command Prompt, and select Run as Admin. Now the commands in order:

1) ipconfig

You should see a default gateway v4 listed. It will either start with 192 or 10. If you see this, go to #2. If you see no gateway, but either a 0.0.0.0 or a 169.254.X.X IPv4 Address, go to #3

2) ping abc.com

If you get replies, your system is connected. If you get timeouts or "cannot find host", then it's either a virus or something blocking your connection. It's not the modem or router since the laptop connects.

3) netsh i i r r
netsh winsock reset catalot

Run them both together, then reboot after the Winsock is reset. This resets the TCP/IP information. Once reboot, check ipconfig. If you still got a 169.254 or 0.0.0.0 IP address, I would suggest a new LAN card at that point.
 

th3parasit3

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It seems to detect the network. Can you confirm that when the Ethernet is plugged in that there is an exclamation point the network icon?

Have you been downloading or sharing files illegally? College campuses can block services to a MAC address that is participating in illegal activities.

Also, try going into safe mode with networking to see if you can get online. If you can then there may be some software or even a virus that is keeping you from getting online.
 

sneaky jedi

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@runswindows 95

I didn't see what you indicated when i ran ipconfig...I see this:

Windows IP configuration

Tunnel adapter 6t04 adapter:

Media state. . . . . . . : media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS suffix

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media state. . . . . . . : media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS suffix

Tunnel adapter Reusable Microsoft 6t04 adapter:

Media state. . . . . . . : media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS suffix

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media state. . . . . . . : media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS suffix


I followed step 3 and reset my computer and got the same result seen above


@ th3parasit3
"Can you confirm that when the Ethernet is plugged in that there is an exclamation point the network icon?"
Not sure what you mean...There is a red x through my network icon in the notification area.

And I haven't been sharing files, and at any rate I would have gotten an email from the university had they done anything to my internet, also, as I can use my laptop (which is using my same ID to connect so if that was the issue it would be blocked too)

"Also, try going into safe mode with networking to see if you can get online."
Can you elaborate please?

Thanks!
 

th3parasit3

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The MAC address if different from your login information. The MAC address is specific to your network interface device. You stated that you did not recieve any such notice of your access being blocked and do not share, so we can move forward.

The "Red X" means that you are disconnected from the network. It means that your NIC cannot see the network at all. Please confirm that the same Ethernet cord you use to connect your desktop PC to the wall jack works when plugged into your laptop. This should tell us if you are having issues with the Ethernet cord itself. While back there check the desktop's Ethernet port and see if you have any bent pins (this is unlikely) or if the Ethernet cord can be wiggled or can move easily when plugged into the desktop.

If the cord and port is fine then go back to the drivers as being the issue.

As stated before you can try safe mode, you can enter safe mode by hitting F8 while the computer is booting:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ss/safe-mode-windows-7.htm


 

sneaky jedi

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Thanks for all the advice, but I still seem to be striking out everywhere.

I have tried multiple ethernet cables (all 3 work with my laptop but not desktop) and there don't look to be any bent pins or other visible problems with the port on my desktop.

I also tried booting in safemode with networking...still nothing

I have a usb->ethernet converter i can get on wednesday, any chance that could work?

At what point do I try a clean OS install?

thanks
 

egilbe

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Sounds like a bad NIC. Clean OS install isn't going to fix that. You can ping internally, so TCP/IP stack is loaded. You've tried different cables that work on a different computer. I guess you can check device manager and see if the NIC even shows up, or if it's disabled, or has a yellow exclamation point next to it.
 

sneaky jedi

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Am I suposed to be able to find something network related in addition to Network Adapters in the device manager? I don't see NIC directly represented.

Since the NIC is directly integrated into the mobo should I try getting a new card or am I going to need a new mobo?
 

egilbe

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It should show in Device Manager as a network adapter. A replacement card will work fine.
 
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sneaky jedi

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well I know i marked this as solved, but I have installed a new NIC card and still can't connect to the internet, so I am completely lost.

I will probably make do with my laptop until the end of the semester in a few weeks and then see about trying something else when i return home.
 

th3parasit3

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... I see that you tried safe mode with networking. Did you try doing a virus scan? I believe we mentioned this a while ago, but I did not see a reply that says you ran the scans.

Run these scans:
Malwarebytes (download install and manual updates)
SuperAntiSpyware
Hitman Pro

If you have a virus that has hit your registry then I would just do a fresh install. I could never trust my machine after that.
 

christian06

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Okay, I had similar issue with Windows 7...all of a sudden I could not access internet, but it would see my wireless network. I also couldn't connect with ethernet. I did all troubleshooting steps talked about in this thread and others(hours and hours of steps), but it didn't work(note that my pc laptop would work elsewhere, like at Best Buy and my MAC laptop worked at home on this network, so that was puzzling. I finally noticed that my mac address was not the one the computer was looking for. Basically, it was looking for an old router with a different mac address. You can go to command prompt, right click to "run as administrator", and type getmac...your mac address will come up--check this to the one it's looking for on Network Map. Anyways, I removed all other networks other than the one at home and I think this was also part of the problem...I uninstalled an expired Norton Security Software, McAfee software, and I even had a Comcast security software, but didn't uninstall that one(my internet provider). I think the 2 Antivirus/Firewalls softwares that were expired were messing things up, along with multiple old networks. So after removing all that, I restarted computer and the gateway was fine(go to network map), and I'm back able to get on internet. Hope this helps from a novice who had same issue with Windows 7.
 

leftbrainfemale

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I'm posting this as a hope that it will help some of the many folks viewing this and similar threads. I've just spent the last four months (off and on) trying to figure this problem out. I've read every thread I could find and tried every "solution" out there. My own situation will, of course, involve different computers/mobile devices/router, etc. than any of you, but the one similarity I have noticed is that we all seem to have only one or two computers that get randomly dropped from our network while everything else works great. And in my case, the computer that won't stay connected at home connects perfectly when I travel!

For me, I actually collected every device we have in our house that connects to the network, identified each MAC address, and set up MAC filtering. I also set up ip address reservations for all, and set each device to static. Overkill? Maybe.

But I persevered, as I am a work from home gal, and MY computer, the only one that actually earns its keep, was the one that would disconnect every time the kids or dad came home. I couldn't stay connected on the weekends without bumping them off.

So, one at a time, we tried things. Finally narrowed it down to three devices causing problems. My daughter's Galaxy Media Player, hubby's Galaxy Note, and hubby's Toshiba Thrive tablet. (Meantime, two Kindles, an iPad an iPhone & a Roku box cause no problem!)

Once I figured out how to set the Galaxies both to static ip under their settings, they stopped causing a problem. The Thrive Tablet, however, is another story. It will not hold it's Static IP setting, and so everytime hubby left home and came back, it would have to be reset or it immediately took over the network from my laptop. I have researched this issue with the Thrive ad nauseum, to the point that I decided that perhaps I needed to let the ip address reservations go and ditch the static ips. I mean, you can, sometimes, have too much of a good thing!

Bottom line, with the MAC filtering set, I'm not having any problem except with the Toshiba Thrive. Which, at this point, I think we'll sell and replace with an ipad!

Here is the thing, if you haven't checked out all the devices that attach to your network, you might want to do so. We're shockingly well endowed with wifi suckers at our house - four people, 12 devices on when we're all home, and two more sporadically when my parents come for a visit. We live out in the sticks, have an unsecured network 'cuz no one lives close enough to pick up our signal, but that also cut out a lot of the potential interferences for my troubleshooting. So do yourself a favor and take everything else off line, see if your problematic connection clears up. If it does, reconnect one device at a time to see if you have a conflict between devices!
 

Rogergreen

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