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Need networking help! Seriously at the end of my ROPE!

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I recently got a malware/virus on my machine, which I had cleaned out successfully. But to be sure, I decided to do a clean install.

After the install, my computer couldn't get an IP address from my router, and I don't know why.

I've tried the following with no luck:

re-installed windows (XP Pro, Service Pack 3)
Thought it was a corrupt install, so re-installed XP Pro SP2
did netsh reset, and winsock reset
static IP, with correct DNS, Gateway and subnet, outside of my router's assignable DHCP range
forced router to reserve IP .100 to my network card's mac address
used a completely different network card, on a completely different router with no security in place.
updated drivers
rebooted everything
made sure it wasn't a mac filter on the routers
replaced tcpip.sys with an expanded one through recovery console
I even reset the bios on my motherboard

I mean, what else could it be? It can connect but doesn't get an IP from ANY router through ANY network cards, wired or wireless, or USB dongle. Overwriting, reinstalling doesn't fix the issue either.

The IP address I end up getting when I use DHCP is 169.254.X.X which is when Windows automatically assigns itself an IP address if it can't get one from the DHCP server.

I'm able to connect with a static IP, but pinging the router or the internet times out.

My computer is able to see the router and the signal is good. But no IP!

Sometimes, I'm able to get a connection with a proper IP seemingly randomly (like 1/25 times), but I either lose connection shortly after, or I don't have internet connection at all.

I'd thought my network card has gone bad, but it's less than a month old, and doesn't explain why my other network card doesn't work either.

I'm running out of ideas short of taking a sledge hammer to it. The thing is, everything worked fine prior to re-installing Windows.

For reference, my motherboard is Asus P5K with an on-board ethernet jack, and I'm using a D-Link Wireless N DWA-552 on PCI. The router I'm trying to connect to wirelessly is the Netgear WNDR3700, and the router I'm trying to connect to via ethernet is the Linksys 54GL2 with WDDRT custom firmware.
 
smurfx said:
who is your isp? you try hard resetting your router and your isp modem?

I've got the DNS setup correctly (telus, btw). I did a factory reset on the router and power cycled too. I can't even connect to the router properly, so I'm not so sure it's a DNS problem.
 
WAWAZA said:
call help line on your router

I've tried connecting to two completely different routers from different manufacturers using two completely different network cards. I'm posting here from another computer that is connected to said routers, which means the routers work.
 

hteng

Banned
i find it weird that your static IP doesn't work, is it a physical layer problem? faulty cables? see any lights on ethernet port?

after you assign static ip on your interface, can you ping yourself?
 
hteng said:
i find it weird that your static IP doesn't work, is it a physical layer problem? faulty cables? see any lights on ethernet port?

after you assign static ip on your interface, can you ping yourself?

It's wireless. Signal is 98%.

here's the setup:

IP 192.168.1.200
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1

Preferred DNS (ISP's)
Alternate DNS (ISP's)

Pinging 192.168.1.1 times out
Pinging 192.168.1.200 is fine, 0ms, no packets lost.

For the wired connection, ethernet lights are lit, cable is good (tested on another machine).

I disable the wireless and enable the ethernet to prevent the computer from getting confused.

Pinging 192.168.1.1 times out
Pinging 192.168.1.201 is fine, 0ms, no packets lost.
 

hteng

Banned
radiantdreamer said:
It's wireless. Signal is 98%.

here's the setup:

IP 192.168.1.200
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1

Preferred DNS (ISP's)
Alternate DNS (ISP's)

Pinging 192.168.1.1 times out
Pinging 192.168.1.200 is fine, 0ms, no packets lost.

For the wired connection, ethernet lights are lit, cable is good (tested on another machine).

I disable the wireless and enable the ethernet to prevent the computer from getting confused.

Pinging 192.168.1.1 times out
Pinging 192.168.1.201 is fine, 0ms, no packets lost.

router interface problem maybe? weird that you can manage the router yet you can't ping it, try connecting using a different PC?

and from what i find on the net the default ip for this router seems to be 10.0.0.1 (if you have factory reset it that is).
 
hteng said:
router interface problem maybe? weird that you can manage the router yet you can't ping it, try connecting using a different PC?

and from what i find on the net the default ip for this router seems to be 10.0.0.1 (if you have factory reset it that is).

I'm using a different PC (my laptop) to post on this forum, so I'm able to connect to the router just fine with other devices. Even my 3DS is able to connect and browse the web with it.

Nah, default IP for the Netgear WNDR3700 is definitely 192.168.1.1. It's pretty much default for any router.

Like I said, I have absolutely no idea what the heck is wrong with my computer here...

I'm tempted to just completely dismantle it, and re-assemble it to see if that will fix anything. I'm that far at the end of my rope.
 

Medalion

Banned
Try bypassing your router and go direct hardwired to modem, maybe try rebuilding your TCP/IP stack?

go to your command prompt and do

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt
 
Medalion said:
Try bypassing your router and go direct hardwired to modem, maybe try rebuilding your TCP/IP stack?

go to your command prompt and do

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

Yeah, I did the netsh thing already, plus winsock reset. Didn't work. Even overwrote tcpip.sys using recovery console. Still no dice.

Kentpaul said:
Install windows 7 and hope for the best ?

I don't even want to go there... lots of other hardware incompatibilities and driver support that I would have to deal with.
 

hteng

Banned
arp -a in command prompt to see if your pc has learnt the router's mac address

if there are no mac addresses then layer 2 connectivity is not established

arp -d to clear the mac address table
 

Wads

Banned
I know you said you reinstalled windows, but have you tried running hijack this to make sure there are no LSPs or anything? Those could block you from making a connection. Perhaps a new reinstall is in order and maybe something got corrupted on the re-install?
 
hteng said:
arp -a in command prompt to see if your pc has learnt the router's mac address

if there are no mac addresses then layer 2 connectivity is not established

arp -d to clear the mac address table

arp -a No ARP Entries Found

arp -d The specified entry was not found.

This is after I established a static IP 192.186.1.200
 
Wads said:
I know you said you reinstalled windows, but have you tried running hijack this to make sure there are no LSPs or anything? Those could block you from making a connection. Perhaps a new reinstall is in order and maybe something got corrupted on the re-install?

That's a good suggestion. Ran hijack this and there are no O10 (LSPs) running. Dang... this is so weird...

Tiger uppercut said:
try calling your isp.

Thanks, but that has already been suggested. How else am I posting on this forum?
 

hteng

Banned
radiantdreamer said:
arp -a No ARP Entries Found

arp -d The specified entry was not found.

This is after I established a static IP 192.186.1.200

yea looks like your interface aren't learning any mac addresses in the network, if you can't establish connectivity at layer 2 (MAC) you can't go up to layer 3 (IP).

never seen problems like these before, maybe your interface aren't broadcasting it's own mac? hmm..
 
hteng said:
yea looks like your interface aren't learning any mac addresses in the network, if you can't establish connectivity at layer 2 (MAC) you can't go up to layer 3 (IP).

never seen problems like these before, maybe your interface aren't broadcasting it's own mac? hmm..

wow that's out of my knowledge territory now. But at least something new has been learned... what should I do now?
 

hteng

Banned
radiantdreamer said:
wow that's out of my knowledge territory now. But at least something new has been learned... what should I do now?

assign a static entry i guess? try arp -s <your router's ip> <your router's mac address>

ie: arp -s 220.0.0.161 00-50-04-62-F7-23

you can use arp -a on your working PCs for reference.
 

TGMIII

Member
You said that you've reserved your IP on the router, if you take this off does it make any difference. Also is there any 3rd party networking software on the PC or are you using the Windows zero configuration?
 
radiantdreamer said:
That's a good suggestion. Ran hijack this and there are no O10 (LSPs) running. Dang... this is so weird...



Thanks, but that has already been suggested. How else am I posting on this forum?

people "borrow" wi-fi, that's the obvious choice. not mention using a hotspot.
 

Whogie

Member
Back when I experimented with Hackintoshing my CMOS would sometimes get corrupt and kill functionality like networking. I wonder if that virus may have done something funky to it.

Jumping the "clear CMOS" pin isn't always enough. You may have to pull the battery too and wait some hours.

To narrow the problem, you could try a live boot with an Ubuntu disc too and see if it connects.
 
hteng said:
assign a static entry i guess? try arp -s <your router's ip> <your router's mac address>

ie: arp -s 220.0.0.161 00-50-04-62-F7-23

you can use arp -a on your working PCs for reference.

Just added the entry.
Did arp -a and it's registered.
Still have static IP connection. pinged router, and it timed out. Pinged myself and it's no packet loss.

Rebooted, and pinged again, no dice. Did an arp -a, and No ARP entries found. o_O;

awwyeahgurrl said:
You said that you've reserved your IP on the router, if you take this off does it make any difference. Also is there any 3rd party networking software on the PC or are you using the Windows zero configuration?

No, doesn't make a difference... and no Windows Zero Configuration. It is using 3rd party software (Dlink's connection manager, and on the wireless card only) But I have disabled it before and it didn't make a difference.
 
Tiger uppercut said:
people "borrow" wi-fi, that's the obvious choice. not mention using a hotspot.

Good point. :) But yeah, using the same router I'm trying to connect to with the other machine.

SmokyDave said:
Did someone sneak in during the night and install Norton 360?

I fucking hate Norton 360.

lol me too. I'm so fackwaggin' disappointed! But no, no 360.
Firewall isn't up.

Whogie said:
Back when I experimented with Hackintoshing my CMOS would sometimes get corrupt and kill functionality like networking. I wonder if that virus may have done something funky to it.

Jumping the "clear CMOS" pin isn't always enough. You may have to pull the battery too and wait some hours.

That's a good thought. The virus in question was the rampant "Windows XP Restore". No idea how it got past my firewall, router, virus checker, and spybot, but it did. The effects weren't permanent though. It hid my system files, and messed with some registry entries but that was about it. I still had full access to the network and internet, and was able to clean it out too.

Not sure how to jump the clear CMOS pin, but I did pull out the battery for 30 seconds. Might do that overnight.

I'd try Ubuntu if I knew how to even use it...
 

hteng

Banned
sorry can't think of anything else atm, obviously it's windows messing things up, try reinstall again? lol
 
hteng said:
sorry can't think of anything else atm, obviously it's windows messing things up, try reinstall again? lol

lol yeah might do that in the morning. Pulling the battery on it overnight to see what happens. Thanks for the help! I'll post again in the morning/afternoon.
 

Whogie

Member
radiantdreamer said:
Not sure how to jump the clear CMOS pin, but I did pull out the battery for 30 seconds. Might do that overnight.
Google up your mobo's manual.
Also, I'm reading you should turn off/unplug your PSU too and then turn it on to kill any remaining power.
 

TGMIII

Member
If I remember right on that board to clear the cmos you'll need to:

remove psu
remove the battery
move jumpers from 1/2 to 2/3, give it 10/15 minutes and plug it all in and try again.

Alternatively download an ubuntu live image, burn it to a disk and then just boot from CD and see if the PC can connect via ethernet.
 

C.Dark.DN

Banned
radiantdreamer said:
I've tried connecting to two completely different routers from different manufacturers using two completely different network cards. I'm posting here from another computer that is connected to said routers, which means the routers work.
try open dns anyway

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
 

accx

Member
I would recommend (like others already have) doing a live boot with an ubuntu cd/usb stick before clearing CMOS.
Just to rule out the possibility of a fubared win installation.
After that, you might as well try clearing CMOS.


How-To Clear CMOS on Asus P5K:

Clear RTC RAM (3-pin CLRTC)
This jumper allows you to clear the Real Time Clock (RTC) RAM in
CMOS. You can clear the CMOS memory of date, time, and system setup
parameters by erasing the CMOS RTC RAM data. The onboard button
cell battery powers the RAM data in CMOS, which include system setup
information such as system passwords.
To erase the RTC RAM:
1. Turn OFF the computer and unplug the power cord.
2. Remove the onboard battery.
3. Move the jumper cap from pins 1-2 (default) to pins 2-3. Keep the cap on pins 2-3 for about 5~10 seconds, then move the cap back to pins 1-2.
4. Reinstall the battery.
5. Plug the power cord and turn ON the computer.
6. Hold down the <Del> key during the boot process and enter BIOS setup
to re-enter data.
 
so last night, I turned off the power from the PSU (but didn't unplug and turn it on to drain the power), and popped the battery. I should have done the drain thing but it slipped my mind.

I woke up this morning, popped the battery in, and I was able to connect via wireless for a good few hours, and was even able to transfer 200 megs via FTP.

Unfortunately, it cut out on its own after that, and I got a 169.254.x.x IP address again.
I disabled the wireless, did an netsh reset, plugged the ethernet directly into the router and rebooted.

It's working fine *for now*. We'll see how long it lasts. I don't want to have a 50ft cable in the middle of my hall forever.
I'm getting an ubuntu disk ready. Possible causes still are:

Bad Windows install

Wireless NIC has gone bad

On-board Ethernet has gone bad

Mobo has gone bad

Router has gone bad

... basically still at square 1.

I still don't think it's the router since all of my other devices connect to it flawlessly. I could eliminate (or introduce) a possible cause by replacing the wireless NIC.

I could either replace the Wireless 2.4Ghz N NIC with the same model, or opt for a 5Ghz N dual band USB dongle. But since I'm already getting 89% reception with the 2.4, getting a 5G may not help me all that much. (am I right on that?)
 
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