Unidentified Network problem (have tried "everything")

[Eskil]

Hello,
I have a Windows 7 computer which all the sudden got disconnected from the internet and now cannot get back on. I just keep getting "Unidentified Network" no matter what I try...

Here is what I have tried so far...
- Uninstall / re-install the Ethernet adapter driver
- Manually set the default gateway, IP, and subnet masks.
- Tried to disable / enable the connection between each try
- Uninstalled the iTunes Bonjour software (this was suggested as a cause of this problem many places)

Thanks for any help!

 

[bak0n]

have you tried a loopback ping?

 

[scout_03]

did you check with your internet provider why you get disconnect ?

 

[zdbc13]

Do other computers work on this network? You need to first confirm that the network itself is working. Then go to troubleshooting your pc.

 

[Eskil]

Thanks for the quick responses, you guys... To answer the questions:

- Not sure what a loopback ping is, although I am familiar with running tracert and regular ping from the command prompt. I should also mention that I have 20 years of experience using Windows (Since Win 3.1) but never seen a network problem as tricky as this one.

- All the other computers and units in our home still work, so it's not a internet disconnection issue. In fact, the very same network cable even connects to the internet when plugged into an Xbox360.

The problem is definitely with the network settings in this one pc only. It was working completely fine, until one day it decided not to connect anymore.

 

[getochkn]

If you've reinstalled drivers, could be the part died. It happens, onboard or not. Do you get any lights on the back on the board when it's plugged in or on the router when it's plugged in.

Does it get an ip from your router?

 

[scout_03]

then i would check for the network chipset driver and the card settings ,it could be a good thing to redo all the internet settings for this computer since you must be connect to a router .

 

[Eskil]

If you've reinstalled drivers, could be the part died. It happens, onboard or not. Do you get any lights on the back on the board when it's plugged in or on the router when it's plugged in.

Does it get an ip from your router?

Yes it does get a light when the cable is plugged in. It is also able to obtain an IP from the DHCP server (our router), so I doubt the network adapter is dead. I am 80% sure that it is a Windows config issue, and not hardware - although I am not ruling that out completely yet.

 

[Eskil]

then i would check for the network chipset driver and the card settings ,it could be a good thing to redo all the internet settings for this computer since you must be connect to a router .

Yeah I went through all that and tried to set up the internet settings from scratch.

 

[Wisecracker]

I'll take a wild swing at it

Check your *Network Connections* folder. If you have multiple connections, you can check all their individual properties for setup --- or, you can wipe them all out, reboot and establish a new one while letting the OS do the grunt work.

 

[getochkn]

easy way to test if its the card for sure or setting, burn a linux live cd and run that. if you get net, then it's settings. can you ping say google.com from a command prompt and get a response in windows?

 

[Eskil]

Thanks again for the continued help you guys...

I'll take a wild swing at it

Check your *Network Connections* folder. If you have multiple connections, you can check all their individual properties for setup --- or, you can wipe them all out, reboot and establish a new one while letting the OS do the grunt work.

No there was/is only one connection in there, and I have tried removing it and creating a new one (several times)

 

[Eskil]

easy way to test if its the card for sure or setting, burn a linux live cd and run that. if you get net, then it's settings. can you ping say google.com from a command prompt and get a response in windows?

Yeah I guess I could try a linux disc.

When I do a tracert to Google, nothing happens for like 20 seconds and then I get "unable to resolve target..."

When I do a ping to Google, nothing happens for like 20 seconds and then I get "ping request could not find..."

 

[getochkn]

Yeah I guess I could try a linux disc.

When I do a tracert to Google, nothing happens for like 20 seconds and then I get "unable to resolve target..."

When I do a ping to Google, nothing happens for like 20 seconds and then I get "ping request could not find..."

What if you ping 74.125.226.46 which is google.com's ip. that will determine if other things are working not the dns or you got dns hijacked, etc.

 

[moulderhere]

Thanks for the quick responses, you guys... To answer the questions:

- Not sure what a loopback ping is, although I am familiar with running tracert and regular ping from the command prompt. I should also mention that I have 20 years of experience using Windows (Since Win 3.1) but never seen a network problem as tricky as this one.

- All the other computers and units in our home still work, so it's not a internet disconnection issue. In fact, the very same network cable even connects to the internet when plugged into an Xbox360.

The problem is definitely with the network settings in this one pc only. It was working completely fine, until one day it decided not to connect anymore.

I would first reset your network adapter to obtain IP address and DNS
Then

Do all this in command prompt

ping 127.0.0.1
does it respond? It should as this then indicates the driver for the network is resolving the network stack protocols properly and working. If this fails get onto another computer download the proper network driver and try again.
Say the above works.

do the following commands
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Now get IP address type
ipconfig /all

Can you ping the IP address given to you? Like if its home network probably 192.168.0.69
You'd be pinging you're own computer. If this fails then I presume Windows Firewall is blocking ICMP
Turn off windows firewall and then try surfing the web. Did that work, can you surf? Yes..? What if you turned on windows firewall can you surf now? No.. Check firewall settings.


If nothing
Can you ping your router gateway address like ping 192.168.0.1 for example.
Does it respond?

Some companies like slashdot.org block ICMP so it may not respond when you try pinging internet addresses.

 

[Eskil]

What if you ping 74.125.226.46 which is google.com's ip. that will determine if other things are working not the dns or you got dns hijacked, etc.

Something really interesting happens when I do that..
I get this:
Reply from host 192.168.1.101 Destination host unreachable

And in this case, 192.168.1.101 happens to be the locally assigned IP address to this computer itself.. So why would it return with itself as the "host". Normally if the network settings were wrong, I would expect it to return:
Reply from host 74.125.226.46 Destination host unreachable

 

[soundguruman]

Hello,
I have a Windows 7 computer which all the sudden got disconnected from the internet and now cannot get back on. I just keep getting "Unidentified Network" no matter what I try...

Here is what I have tried so far...
- Uninstall / re-install the Ethernet adapter driver
- Manually set the default gateway, IP, and subnet masks.
- Tried to disable / enable the connection between each try
- Uninstalled the iTunes Bonjour software (this was suggested as a cause of this problem many places)

Thanks for any help!

With the computer ON
Unplug the power to the modem, wait 60 seconds, plug the power back in
Wait until all the lights on the modem start flashing normal, about 2-3 minutes
NOW restart the computer

 

[Eskil]

I would first reset your network adapter to obtain IP address and DNS
Then

Do all this in command prompt

ping 127.0.0.1
does it respond? It should as this then indicates the driver for the network is resolving the network stack protocols properly and working. If this fails get onto another computer download the proper network driver and try again.
Say the above works.

do the following commands
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Now get IP address type
ipconfig /all

Can you ping the IP address given to you? Like if its home network probably 192.168.0.69
You'd be pinging you're own computer. If this fails then I presume Windows Firewall is blocking ICMP
Turn off windows firewall and then try surfing the web. Did that work, can you surf? Yes..? What if you turned on windows firewall can you surf now? No.. Check firewall settings.


If nothing
Can you ping your router gateway address like ping 192.168.0.1 for example.
Does it respond?

Some companies like slashdot.org block ICMP so it may not respond when you try pinging internet addresses.

Wow, thank you for writing out that detailed response.
I followed your steps and got this:

ping 127.0.0.1, this works
ping 192.168.1.101 (the pc's IP), this works
ping 192.168.1.1 (the router), this does NOT work...it won't respond

 

[Eskil]

With the computer ON
Unplug the power to the modem, wait 60 seconds, plug the power back in
Wait until all the lights on the modem start flashing normal, about 2-3 minutes
NOW restart the computer

Thank you, but this was one of the first things I had tried.

 

[moulderhere]

Something really interesting happens when I do that..
I get this:
Reply from host 192.168.1.101 Destination host unreachable

And in this case, 192.168.1.101 happens to be the locally assigned IP address to this computer itself.. So why would it return with itself as the "host". Normally if the network settings were wrong, I would expect it to return:
Reply from host 74.125.226.46 Destination host unreachable

Okay.

So This is DNS messed up. Are you sure your network adapter is set to obtain DNS automatically? Why I ask that is it is resolving to 192.168.1.101 which as you are correct is local. If this were my computer I would check my DNS Settings on the network adapter.
Somewhere it is trying to resolve a manual IP address some stupid program has set. So when you try pinging that IP it forces it to 192.168.1.101

I found a walkthrough for network card configuration for windows 7
http://www.home-network-help.com/windows-7-network-card.html

There is a picture of "Local Are Connection Properties" That should be similar to your pc as well that screen.
If you double click IPv4 the next screen should have set "Obtain an IP automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically"
I hope it is some what accurate sorry, I'm on a XP box here.

I really think your DNS is set to manual and has an entry in it there.

 

[Eskil]

Okay.

So This is DNS messed up. Are you sure your network adapter is set to obtain DNS automatically? Why I ask that is it is resolving to 192.168.1.101 which as you are correct is local. If this were my computer I would check my DNS Settings on the network adapter.
Somewhere it is trying to resolve a manual IP address some stupid program has set. So when you try pinging that IP it forces it to 192.168.1.101

I found a walkthrough for network card configuration for windows 7
http://www.home-network-help.com/windows-7-network-card.html

There is a picture of "Local Are Connection Properties" That should be similar to your pc as well that screen.
If you double click IPv4 the next screen should have set "Obtain an IP automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically"
I hope it is some what accurate sorry, I'm on a XP box here.

I really think your DNS is set to manual and has an entry in it there.

Thanks again..
As far as DNS settings, yeah I have checked those multiple times - and even tried to set them manually to the same DNS servers that other computers on the network use (when I do an ipconfig /all on the pc's, I have written down their settings and tried to replicate the exact settings on the troubled pc).

But the DNS setting is back again to what it was before now, which is to Obtain DNS automatically.

So weird..

 

[moulderhere]

Thanks again..
As far as DNS settings, yeah I have checked those multiple times - and even tried to set them manually to the same DNS servers that other computers on the network use (when I do an ipconfig /all on the pc's, I have written down their settings and tried to replicate the exact settings on the troubled pc).

But the DNS setting is back again to what it was before now, which is to Obtain DNS automatically.

So weird..

Please do this in command prompt

ipconfig /all > c:\toms.txt

This will output the ipconfig all screen to a text file under your c drive called toms.txt
Copy and paste that into your next post for me please.

 

[Eskil]

Also, some other tips I found online that did not help:
- Tried disabling "Recieve Side Scaling" in the driver's Advanced Tab.
- Tried temporarily disabling the IPv6 protocol
- Tried installing the "Reliable Multicase Protocol"
- In the Services of Task Manager, I tried to kill Automatic services that depended on the TCP/IP protocol driver

 

[moulderhere]

Have you checked your hosts file?

 

[getochkn]

Did you try the linux disc or linux live USB and see if that works. Would eliminate the adapter being wonky and nail it down to a windows settings. I've seen weird things in fixing pc's for 20+ years, so just because it seems to connect and lights come on, doesn't mean it's working 100%.