OK, this is starting to mess with my self-esteem, but the times, they are desperate. The Biscuit has Windows XP desktop system networked into an Apple Airport Base Station (ABS) 802.11g router. Suddenly, the internets are lost to her however. There are a couple of bars of signal strength, but “limited or no connectivity.”
It is to cry.
We have worked our way through the initial steps of trouble shooting her machine (it’s not the router) and received this error response after an effort to “repair” the connection: “Could not renew IP address,” and she was further abjured to “contact the person who manages the network.”
Which is, you know: Me.
But I’ve done nothing to exclude her system, and both the Kat’s Wintel machine (ack, spfft!) and my MacBook Pro laptop running XP have no problem getting IP addresses automatically.
Her IP address shows up as 169.254.118.xxx with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 and blank space in the default gateway. My machine on the other hand, shows an IP address of 10.0.1.2 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and a default gateway of 10.0.1.1 (which I think is the ABS).
So. Sounds like a software problem to me, but I fairly shudder at the notion of doing an XP re-install. I guess it could be a hardware problem (the wireless network adapter?) but that theory is not easily tested at the moment.
Speak, muse.
Update: I have the best readers. I tried Jeff’s manual IP and subnet mask entry tactic, which showed me good connectivity but – perversely – refused us access to the actual intertubes. In preparations to engage Randy in some Google Talk I reset everything back to automatic again, upon which time the whole thing sprang back to live as though it had been, you know: Waiting for us.
Well played, all.
If you want some phone support, contact me via email.
Randy K
Or google chat if you would rather. Much easier to trouble shoot in real time.
You might try setting her IP address to 10.0.1.3 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 . Depends on how you are managing your DNS. If it is being run by your ISP then set her IP to DCHP or dynamic addressing.There is alway the shutting off of everything and then restarting, on rare occasion things will reset.. To err is human, to really screw up takes a computer. good luck.
Lex,
The 169.254.x.x / 255.255.0.0 bit tells me the machine isn’t getting an IP from the router – it’s Windows’ “Automatic Private IP Adressing” (APIPA) and is meant to allow a bunch of unconfigured machines to talk to each other when connected to a hub.
Whatever the case is, a full XP reinstall isn’t going to be needed. I’d see about uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers for the wireless adapter in Device Manager. You could also try going into control panel > network connections > wireless connection > right click and go to properties > highlight the words (dont’ uncheck the box) “TCP/IP” and click properties > make sure obtain an IP address automatically is selected. While there, you could also try using a static IP address of 10.0.1.100 / 255.255.255.0 / gateway 10.0.1.1 – might work.
One other quick thing – try rebooting the ABS. It’s quick, can’t hurt, and might just do the trick. It fixes half of the people I support at my job who can’t get online
Best of luck and email if you need more help!
I would expect the xp machine to have an IP address of something like 10.0.1.3
The 10.0.0 and 169.254.0 are both reserved for local use. But I would expect to find one or the other on your router.
Doh! Almost forgot DNS!
If you don’t know your ISP’s DNS server IP addresses, Verizon’s are public (anyone can use ‘em) and are 4.2.2.1, 4.2.2.2, and 4.2.2.3.
It’s how I check to see if a cusotmer is having trouble with our DNS.
Try turning back the clock, it is one of the easiest fixes. Go to “all programs”>accessories>system tools>system restore
pick a restore point (date time group) when it was working, and roll back to then.
This technique “fixes” a whole lot of Windows spontaneous maladies.
Cap’n,
Glad to hear it’s working again. To provide some further info for after-action analysis, I saw that the Kat’s subnet mask ended with two .0′s. When I set up my network, I used only one since all my machines were networked together; I no of no one so geekified as to use all 256 addresses. I’m wondering if the first .0 mask is used because you’re connecting Windows and Apple machines together. Not disagreeing with Parrothead Jeff; his info is news to me.
As a separate issue, I still have dialup (no need for constant internet access with the attendant security issues, little requirement for fast download of large files, and I’m lazy), and on occasion when I plug my laptop into the network, I can’t get the “Connect to Internet” option in the Control Panel -> Network Connections menu. Sometimes repairing my network connection brings it back, sometimes it returns on its own; in any case I can connect from the desktop and the laptop gets Internet access. Perhaps repairing the home ABS connection from the XP machine would have corrected the problem, or the old hard reset (power off/on).
FWIW
If you run into this problem in the future, try disabling the connection and then re-enabling.
We were having a similar problem with our laptop until we got in the habit of turning off the wireless connection before turning the computer off.
I’ve had similar problems, and on most occasions, they were repaired by rebooting.
I’m guessing that something got corrupted – are other computers on the Airport able to re-acquire IP addresses?
If so, the problem may indeed be on the XP box. I would recommend running Winsock XP Fix, which can be found at http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4372.html
Ooo La La! This is the kind of post that makes me weak in the knees! That’s right. I’m a Lex Babe who goes ga-ga for the geek speak. More! More! More! Of course, I’m not wishing you ‘Puter problems. That would be wrong of me. I can be satisfied by the occasional “conversation with a burrito” post, as well.
I’ll miss seeing you in person at the reunion this weekend. Go Navy!
When in doubt as far as “Connections” and “Locations,” the following mantra is useful– Automatic Automatic Automatic
I often have to connect my work PC laptop with our home G4 PowerBook to share the internets wirelessly and that seems to keep the info highway moving.
Basic Network Troubleshooting.
First of all, 169.xxxxxx, etc is a bad thing. Never used locally. It is intended to show that XP is assigning the addy, not the network.
Step 1: Start -> Run -> type “cmd”
Step 2: type “ipcofig /all” then record the data.
Step 3: type “ping 127.0.o.1″ Tests out the local machine. If the ping comes back successful your local machine is good.
Step 4: type “ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.” where x = the local IP addy (most likely local switch/router, etc). Tests connection between local machine and local router/switch/hub, whatever.
Step 5: “ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx” where x = default gateway. The gateway and switch addys, eventhough belonging to the same device in most instances represent two different sides of the same device. If this passes everything up to and going out of your switch/router is good.
Step 6: “ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx” where x = primary DNS. If this fails type “ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx” where x = secondayr DNS. If either pass, you are good up to the input side of your DNS server. If both fail, it is time to either contact your ISP or pay the bill.
If you have any other problems with your network you have my email addy lex.
The Apple router is irrelevant in this instance since all routers operate of of IEEE standards, read universal.
Damn….forgot step 7
Step 7: If all pings out to the DNS servers type “ping xxxxxxxxx.com” where x = something like “neptunuslex.com” or yahoo.com, etc. The DNS servers have inbound and outbound parts as well. If you can ping to the DNS by pinging the numbers, but not from the DSN via a URL, then contact or pay your ISP.
Wow, the ever so rare and reviled triple post. Saw you had problems without reading update. Glad it is up again and hope I provided useful knowledge to others.
And as far as Idaho, if you truly are a woman who goes ga-ga for geek speak, well you haven’t even heard my positions of tracert. I’m 12 hops from our fearless leader lex
What’s fascinating about this post is that I don’t understand a word you’re saying. For me, there’s really no discernible difference between tech talk and gibberish. If you are in fact talking about your blog, though, I’ll just say here that you have an exceptionally nice interface, both for reading and commenting.
Blarg,
You had me at the first “ping”
Seeing if Italics work here,
thump thump, thump thump
It will be interesting to see if the comment field here allows tags or not.
Idaho, I’m so geeky that I’ve figured out a way to hack a Nintendo DS to make free telephone calls (via VOIP) to any one in the world. All you need is a 1 gig SD card and I’m your bitch. Er, man.
One other thing to check when you get the automatic IP address of 169.254.xxx.xxx — make sure the Ethernet cable is physically plugged in solidly to the box. Most times the connection is loose to give that error if it has been working previously.
(PS — still no grandbaby — waiting semi-patiently …)
Yar P-3
Basically if test a passes and test b fails, always go to the physical medium.
Hope your grandkid comes soon. Any tips on me speaking geek to Idaho?
Me thinks if I go Linux it may be too much. But if I keep it around Java, I’m in there like swimwear.
Next time, open the command window and type in ‘ipconfig /renew’ . Simplest way to resolve an expired DHCP address issue, which is what the 169.XXX.XXX.XXX number usually indicates. A more severe situation might be that the DHCP server function on the ABS flamed out and needs a relight (reboot).
Just for grins, open the command window and type the above command, which will result in a return showing the IP address. More semi-useful stuff about ipconfig can be found here: http://www.networkclue.com/os/Windows/commands/ipconfig.aspx