Lost Internet Connectivity

socav · 07-03-2006, 06:41 AM

I'm the unofficial go-to guy for computer problems at work, and I have a problem that I think is beyond me.

This morning, my boss turned on his computer, and had no internet. Nothing had been touched since he last used the computer, when everything worked fine. No one had even been in his office, except when an employee came in to clean. However, the network worked -- he could send/receive files with other computers on the network -- but neither Intenet Explorer nor AOL could connect to the internet. At first, this was the only apparent error, but after I started switching NICs, I got something else. The Local Area Connection became labeled "limited or no connectivity" and when I clicked "repair" under the support tab of the Local Area Connection Status window, it failed because the IP address could not be renewed. As you can see below, I tried a lot of things, and nothing has worked. I've ran out of ideas. Please, any suggestions???

What doesn't work:
Update programs can't connect to the internet
AOL can't connect to the internet
IE can't connect to the internet
Will not successfully ping 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.0
ipconfig does not list a default gateway address
ipconfig does not list a DNS suffix

What works:
The network -- all computers that can typically be accessed by this computer can be accessed, and can access this computer
Other computers on the network can access the internet
All hardware seems to be working correctly
Will successfully ping IP address of computer (169.254.?.?)
Will successfully ping 127.0.0.1

What I've tried:
Ran Spykiller
Ran Ad-Aware SE Personal (latest definitions)
Ran Norton Anti-virus 2002 (latest definitions)
Did a System Restore to 3-2-06 (when internet worked)
Unplugged/replugged power to switch
Switched NIC with known working NIC
Put NIC in known working PCI slot
Plugged PC into known working outlet/cable
Computer has been rebooted multiple times throughout all this (obviously)

Description of network
Broadband (At least cable, maybe faster)
All of the computers (9) are plugged into a Linksys 16-port switch (sorry, no model #). I have no idea what the switch is plugged into. There is a D-link wireless router (sorry, no model #) plugged into the switch, which works fine.

The OS(s) used
The computer with the problems is running XP PRO SP2
Five other computers are running the same
One computer is running XP PRO SP1
Two computers are running Windows 98 (1 SE, 1 Regular (I believe)) (One of these lost internet connectivity last week, not sure if this is related)

Please, any ideas would be appreciated.

socav · 07-03-2006, 03:37 PM

This morning I woke up to a call from work saying that ALL of the computers on the network have no network OR internet access. They are all getting the "limited or no connectivity" thing...

EDIT: Nevermind, they got that fixed. Apparently, there's another piece of networking equipment somewhere (that I didn't know about) that they reset... now to see if the problem computer was fixed...

madmikejt12 · 20-03-2006, 09:27 PM

just for a bit of info, to fix the "limited or no connectivity", right clk the computer icon with the yellow ! in the taskbar, click properties and in the general tab UN-tick the box that says "Notify me when this connection has limited or no connection" this should fix 80% of internet problems which isnt to do with aol software..

Mike