metalmongrel
New Member
Hi all,
About 3 days ago, my wireless internet stopped working. I know just enough about computers/internet protocol to usually guess what is wrong, but not necessarily how to fix it. I'm not sure if it's a software or hardware issue at this point, so hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction. Here's what I've done to try to fix it and what I've discovered is the problem.
1. OS = Windows XP 2nd edition
2. ISP = Verizon, with Westell DSL 327w modem (4 ports wired and also wireless antenna on board). I have verified that the modem is functioning correctly and have performed all necessary resets and power cycles. The DSL line is fine.
3. I had been using a D-Link USB wifi stick to access the internet for about a year; it always worked fine.
4. So, on "my networks", the Wifi connection can see the strength of the signal coming from the westell (3 bars our of 5 typically).
5. However, when I try to enable this connection (or right click + repair), it will cycle through the process until it says "assigning ip address" (or something like that). It will stay here for about a minute and then give me the error "unable to assign ip address" and then the pop-up window on the lower right of the screen says "you have limited or no connectivity to your network, some resources might not be available"
6. When I run CMD -> IPCONFIG , I get an ip address; however, verizon tech support informed me that this ip address is invalid. So when I execute IPCONFIG /RENEW, it hangs for about a minute and says "media is disconnected, unable to renew ip addres, unable to contact DHCP server, timed out"
SOOO....
I call Verizon tech support (2 x 1 hour phone calls) and they insist that I:
1. Hardwire the modem to the LAN port on my computer with a cable, so I do this.
2. No internet connectivity takes place automatically despite the TCP/IP settings on both my 1394 internet controller and a secondary Yukon ethernet adapter being set to auto assign both the IP address and DSN.
3. So, we diable and re-enable the above 1394 and Yukon devices, recheck the ipconfig, and I receive the same ip address and cannot renew it.
4. So Verizon tech support goes back and forth and we try every configuration that we can think of (including power cycles, reboots, enable/disable the network devices) and in the end says that my NIC must have failed because it is giving me invalid IP's. He says I need to buy a new one.
Is this true? I find this odd because both the wireless USB (which doesn't use the NIC card, right?) and the wired LAN port are both assigning incorrect ip's. Therefore, it can't only be the NIC right? I would think that this would indicate a software issue that applied to both the NIC and USB ethernet devices.
The only odd coincidence software-wise is that I use Kaspersky labs anti-virus and the license expired about a week ago. Kaspersky wouldn't shut down my internet or something malicious like that if I didn't renew, right?
Thanks so much for any and all help!
-Thomas
About 3 days ago, my wireless internet stopped working. I know just enough about computers/internet protocol to usually guess what is wrong, but not necessarily how to fix it. I'm not sure if it's a software or hardware issue at this point, so hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction. Here's what I've done to try to fix it and what I've discovered is the problem.
1. OS = Windows XP 2nd edition
2. ISP = Verizon, with Westell DSL 327w modem (4 ports wired and also wireless antenna on board). I have verified that the modem is functioning correctly and have performed all necessary resets and power cycles. The DSL line is fine.
3. I had been using a D-Link USB wifi stick to access the internet for about a year; it always worked fine.
4. So, on "my networks", the Wifi connection can see the strength of the signal coming from the westell (3 bars our of 5 typically).
5. However, when I try to enable this connection (or right click + repair), it will cycle through the process until it says "assigning ip address" (or something like that). It will stay here for about a minute and then give me the error "unable to assign ip address" and then the pop-up window on the lower right of the screen says "you have limited or no connectivity to your network, some resources might not be available"
6. When I run CMD -> IPCONFIG , I get an ip address; however, verizon tech support informed me that this ip address is invalid. So when I execute IPCONFIG /RENEW, it hangs for about a minute and says "media is disconnected, unable to renew ip addres, unable to contact DHCP server, timed out"
SOOO....
I call Verizon tech support (2 x 1 hour phone calls) and they insist that I:
1. Hardwire the modem to the LAN port on my computer with a cable, so I do this.
2. No internet connectivity takes place automatically despite the TCP/IP settings on both my 1394 internet controller and a secondary Yukon ethernet adapter being set to auto assign both the IP address and DSN.
3. So, we diable and re-enable the above 1394 and Yukon devices, recheck the ipconfig, and I receive the same ip address and cannot renew it.
4. So Verizon tech support goes back and forth and we try every configuration that we can think of (including power cycles, reboots, enable/disable the network devices) and in the end says that my NIC must have failed because it is giving me invalid IP's. He says I need to buy a new one.
Is this true? I find this odd because both the wireless USB (which doesn't use the NIC card, right?) and the wired LAN port are both assigning incorrect ip's. Therefore, it can't only be the NIC right? I would think that this would indicate a software issue that applied to both the NIC and USB ethernet devices.
The only odd coincidence software-wise is that I use Kaspersky labs anti-virus and the license expired about a week ago. Kaspersky wouldn't shut down my internet or something malicious like that if I didn't renew, right?
Thanks so much for any and all help!
-Thomas
