Donate SIGN UP

Knackered Router?

Avatar Image
Hammer | 13:01 Wed 01st Apr 2009 | Technology
17 Answers
I can't get my laptop to connect to my router. All has been fine for a couple of years, but now all I get is 'limited connectivity' and it looks like it won't give me a proper IP address.

I've tried wireless, ethernet and USB, rebooted, restarted and done a factory reset on the router but still the same story. I can see the router but only get limited connection.

Any ideas or shall i just buy a new one?
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 17 of 17rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by Hammer. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
Question Author
Forgot to mention, I can't even get to the router settings via 168.192.1.1 (or whatever it should be - can't quite remember) to check the setup, even using ethernet or USB, so I'm really stumped.
you don't say which flavour of windows ... so we'll stay general

two methods of connecting to router ... wire and wireless

the most reliable is wire ... so you need to use an ethernet cable

first restart your lappy and router .... count to 50 then fire router ... when router is started (90 seconds?) fire up lappy

connect with the wire

give it 30 seconds
then try it with IE

if no joy

type the following in a command prompt
ipconfig /all
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
this will show your ip addresses
(the gateway should be the router ... so you need 192.168. ... or something in there)

in your case it looks as if it sould be
192.168.1.x (x= a number between 2 and 252)
if you get a 169 address part of your router isn't talking to lappy (dhcp)

so let's start testing
type the following - press enter at the end of the line
ping 127.0.0.1
you'll see something like this
Pinging 127.0.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 127.0.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
that "proves" the netwok adapter is working

ping 192.168.1.1
ping 194.159.246.194
if you get a reply
ping www.demon.net

then try to do it all again through the wireless adapter
;-)

come back for more if no joy
Question Author
Nice one. I'll try all that tonight and post again tonight if it works, tomorrow if not.
Question Author
Have read and digested that now. So your thinking is to check that the network adapter works correctly first, and rule that out as the problem,right?

There were 3 items in network connections (I'm on XP by the way). Wireless adapter, LAN adapter and something else I can't remember (1306 rings a bell?).

Am I right in thinking that these are all distinct items and one of them breaking shouldn't affect the others? To me, that would then point to the router itself being the problem. It just seems odd that I can't get at the router either wired or wireless.

If network adapters are not OK, then what? Try re-installing drivers?

And if they are OK, try a new router? I've bought a new one just in case but I can always take it back if I don't break the seal.

Sorry for all the questions but I want to try to get this sorted tonight one way or another. My knowledge of PCs is reasonable so I'd like to think I can get this sorted with a few pointers in the right direction

Thanks again.
The 1306 thing in your network connections will be your firewire card. For some stupid reason, Windows bundles this with the networking stuff (it can be used for networking, but usually isn't).

Not to jump in on AC's answer, but I would suggest doing the following:

1) Turn off all stuff. Then turn on router, followed by your machine (ideally connected with a cable, not wifi), in that order, and waiting for a few minutes between.

2) Goto the command prompt (on XP it's start->run, type "cmd", then in the black window that appears type "ipconfig /all". (no quotes).

What information does it give? (copy all of it to here.)

What is the brand and model of router?

When you connect router to PC via ethernet cable, do lights turn on and/or flash on the back of router and/or your PC?
Question Author
It's a Belkin 54G if I remember rightly.

I�ve tried all the turning all the stuff on and off numerous times but will turn them on in that specific order just in case that does it!

When connected via cable, lights do flash on the lappy and the light on the router does come on to say something is connected. It kind of connects, but I always get 'limited or no connectivity'.

I'll do the ipconfig thing and post back when I get a chance.
you sound to have your head round it

it's quite simple .... break down every stage ... into hardware/software
and work through.

so if lappy OK ... could be - could be

each step has (in effect) an ip address - or at least one that tells you something

127 only works on the lappy if the drivers are installed .... and there is s network device
(or at least what looks like one - it's a bodge test ... but it works a lot of the time))

you will only get a 169 address if windows sees dchp is missing ... and the network card can see what looks like a hub or switch port

if dns is missing ... you can ping an IP address ... but not a domain name

not as good as an electrical test ... but it will only take 5 mins to work through it

fo3 often put's things in a less wordy way that I do ;-)
between us you'll get there
Question Author
Cheers guys, most helpful.

Right. I'm online with an ubuntu live cd so the router obviously does work, just Windows that doesn't.

Did the ip config stuff under windows, output is below (split in 2 posts). Now I'm getting a bit lost!!!

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.



C:\Documents and Settings\Chris>ipconfig /all



Windows IP Configuration



Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell-Laptop

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Cont

roller

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-22-F2-AF-17

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.91.24

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :



Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network

Connection

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-6F-65-D6-3F



C:\Documents and Settings\Chris>ipconfig /flushdns


<
Question Author
C:\Documents and Settings\Chris>ipconfig /release



Windows IP Configuration



No operation can be performed on Wireless Network Connection while it has its me

dia disconnected.



Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:



Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :



Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:



Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected



C:\Documents and Settings\Chris>ipconfig /renew



Windows IP Configuration



An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection : The requested

service provider could not be loaded or initialized.



No operation can be performed on Wireless Network Connection while it has its me

dia disconnected.



C:\Documents and Settings\Chris>ping 127.0.0.1



Pinging �� with 32 bytes of data:



Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128



Ping statistics for :

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms



C:\Documents and Settings\Chris>ping 192.168.1.1
So the card works fine, but Windows doesn't seem to be agreeing with the DHCP server on the router.

The card also works fine under Windows, so I doubt it's a driver issue.

AC: any thoughts?
just to be bl@@dy minded ...
on with ubuntu ..... same machine??

another thought ... virus/firewall?

if yes same machine it's drivers or software
chipset or nic

in system | hardware ...
remove every entry for all network adapters out and redetect .... get the latest drivers from dell first!

Question Author
Yes, same machine with ubuntu. You could be onto something with the firewall � I updated ZA a week or so ago, though it has been OK since then, just suddenly lost connection in the middle of a net session.

I�ll try removing and updating the drivers tonight otherwise I might have to resort to restoring a backup image of my hard drive. Haven�t backed up for a few months though so would rather avoid it if I can.
woa there bigboy
which version of zone alarm?
and vista or XP?


there was a panic a few months ago when an update killed all network

just found it again!! - see if this sounds familiar
(if not it's still a fair bet it's the firewall)
http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/pressRe leases/2008/LossOfInternetAccessIssue.html
just seen .... xp (oops)
so I know where my money is now
Question Author
Aha. Could be the culprit. I always keep ZA updated and install the windows updated when they are released so strange it�s taken so long to show itself, but I will try the fix anyway, probably before doing the drivers. I�ll let you know how I get on
Question Author
*sigh*

I don't think it's the firewall. The fix AC linked to didn't work cos I couldn't remove the windows update it mentioned. I can see the update, but it says it can't be removed.

So I uninstalled ZA completely. And disabled windows firewall. And removed all network adapters. And re-installed them all with the latest Dell drivers. And rebooted. Again. And did a little dance just in case.

But I'm still getting the same 'limited or no connection' via ethernet and wireless to the router.

Have I got you both beaten yet? I think tomorrow evening I'll bite the bullet and restore my hard drive image.
Question Author
This might be relevant....
I'm looking around the router settings (using ubuntu obviously) and the router's firewall log has a few warnings popping up at around the times I've been trying to connect with windows.

Quite a few of them say "Blocked - NAT out failed First packet in connection is not a SYN packet: TCP 192.168.2.2:38822->88.221.205.68:443 on ppp0"

and one or two say "Blocked - NAT out failed Packet not in tcp window: TCP 192.168.2.2:44419->74.125.4.28:80 on ppp0 [repeated 3 times, last time on Apr 2 19:22:28 2009]"

1 to 17 of 17rss feed

Do you know the answer?

Knackered Router?

Answer Question >>