Internet Connection Problem

Cardew

My newish desktop PC is connected via an Ethernet cable to a BT 2091 wireless router. Yesterday it developed a fault and I cannot connect to the internet. The wireless side is working OK to my laptop - which I am currently using. OS is XP Home and ISP is BT.

The fault indication is a yellow triangle on the Local Area Network icon and it tells me I have no connectivity. The repair facility tells me that it cannot renew my IP address.

I spent an hour on the phone to BT last night and after lots of tests he stated the problem was the PC defaulting to the incorrect IP address. It begins with 169 and it should be 192.

He concluded that the fault was in my PC and not their software. I got the very firm impression that the problem was above his level of expertise, and it is most certainly is above mine.

The Device Manager indicates no fault – VIA RhineIII fast ethernet adapter.

Has anyone any ideas or advice on steps to take please.

woo

think he might be right, if your pc can't negotiate with the router properly you will get that yellow triangle and will default to an ip address, which will start 169.

assume you have rebooted the router, is there only one ethernet port on your router?
other option could be to check the wired side with your laptop, if it works with a cable into the same port then it would indicate pc issue.

albertross_2

What happens when you do

start, run, ipconfig /release

then

ipconfig /renew

MercilessKiller

albertross wrote:

What happens when you do

start, run, ipconfig /release

then

ipconfig /renew

Ye I agree - give that a try...

Also though... Im not sure about BT routers but if you've configured security on it, then try disabling it for testing purposes.

Also make sure you don't have firewalls such as ZoneAlarm running (for testing purposes)

No one flame me for saying dont use zonealarm, its just to test the connection. Thank you.

It will be something in between the IP protocol on your pc and the router thats dodgy. Is the ethernet cable new? could have a loose connection and suffering attenuation or something...

Cardew

albertross wrote:

What happens when you do

start, run, ipconfig /release

then

ipconfig /renew

BT guy took me through that procedure a couple of times and it made no difference.

I have just tried it with Zone Alarm switched off and re-booted and it makes no difference.

I don't know if it is relevant but I have been sometimes getting this error message on switching on:

"Blackd has encountered a problem and needs to close - then the usual tell Microsoft about this problem."

I understand that Blackd is some sort of Microsoft intrusion detection s/w?

albertross_2

Assuming it isn't malware, (some nasties use the same names as legit software), it's part of blackice defender, which is another firewall product. Do you have this installed as well as zonealarm?

If your pc isn't getting an ip address, it is either:

A faulty or loose lead.
A faulty router.
The router config is messed up and not acting as a dhcp server
A faulty network card.
Faulty tcpip config on the PC
Malware or firewalls interfering.
Something else..

You can rule out the first three by turning of the wireless and using the same wire on your laptop as suggested by woo earlier. You can maybe rule out software with a system restore:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx

You are booting the PC after switching the router on aren't you?

On 192.168.2.1 internet config screen is nat ticked?

espresso

Cardew wrote:

BT guy took me through that procedure a couple of times and it made no difference.

I have just tried it with Zone Alarm switched off and re-booted and it makes no difference.

I don't know if it is relevant but I have been sometimes getting this error message on switching on:

"Blackd has encountered a problem and needs to close - then the usual tell Microsoft about this problem."

I understand that Blackd is some sort of Microsoft intrusion detection s/w?

"blackd.exe is the Intrusion detection system of the BlackICE computer protection firewall" so have you got two firewalls running on your system? Have you tried re-booting the router?

MercilessKiller

I'd put money on it being a firewall interfering due to receiving an IP address but not a proper connection. It shows your network adapter and protocols are working fine if you get an ip (i assume pinging localhost would be successful).. and you know the router is fine.

so it HAS to be software interfering.

Cardew

albertross wrote:

Assuming it isn't malware, (some nasties use the same names as legit software), it's part of blackice defender, which is another firewall product. Do you have this installed as well as zonealarm?

If your pc isn't getting an ip address, it is either:

A faulty or loose lead.
A faulty router.
The router config is messed up and not acting as a dhcp server
A faulty network card.
Faulty tcpip config on the PC
Malware or firewalls interfering.
Something else..

You can rule out the first three by turning of the wireless and using the same wire on your laptop as suggested by woo earlier. You can maybe rule out software with a system restore:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx

You are booting the PC after switching the router on aren't you?

On 192.168.2.1 internet config screen is nat ticked?

Problem solved!!!

The Ethernet is connected to PC via a BT supplied BT Voyager 10V telephone adapter which supplies the BT Boadband phone.

Because of your emphasis on the probability of the Ethernet connection being a source of the problem, I disconnected the telephone adapter and connected straight from the router to the PC - and Voilà (as I believe some foreign people say)

So I reset the Telephone adapter, re-connected, and Voilà again.

I had mentioned the adapter to the BT guy last night, but he said it wasn't something he knew anything about - and the Broadband phone was working.

So thanks very much to all of you for your help - much appreciated.

PS
Re Blackd. I only have one Firewall(zone alarm) and my windows firewall is set to off.

espresso

Cardew wrote:

Re Blackd. I only have one Firewall(zone alarm) and my windows firewall is set to off.

Glad that you have found the problem but I would do a search on your machine for blackd, as it is obviously generating the error message.