FIXED IT! Wireless Connection Unavailable and weird DNS stuff!

[KarenMarie]

Three desktops, one laptop all networked thru Linksys Cablem Modem and Linksys Wireless router. The three desktops have no problem what-so-ever with internet access or sharing files/printers. The three desktops have linksys wireless NIC cards. The laptop came with a LAN-Express IEE 802.11 PCI Adapter. All machines running WinXP Pro.

Until yesterday, the laptop was working perfectly, as well. Last night I turned off the laptop and when I turned it on this morning, I got an error message saying: "wireless connection unavailable". When Iview the available wireless networks, there is nothing there. When I went into the properties, there were all the same as yesterday. Automatic IP, DHCP enabled... etc. I uninstalled and reinstalled everything about six times. Nothing. Everything on the laptop tells me that the device is working correctly and all drivers are up to date. I made sure the channels are the same, and that the configs are correct according to the 192.168.1.x. I went into the systems services and disabled the wireless zero thingy I read about here previously. No go.

I ran a benchmarking program named Aida32 (similar to SANDRA) to see what it would tell me about the network confirgurations and stuff and it says:

Network Adapter = LAN-Express IEEE 802.11 PCI Adapter
Interface Type = Ethernet
Hardware address = 00-02-8A-2C-C4-CC
Connection Speed = 11MPS
MTU = 1500 bytes
DHCP Lease Obtained = 12/31/1969 7:01PM (1969 ???)
DHCP Lease Expires = 12/31/1969 7:01PM (!!???!!)
Bytes received = 0
Bytes Sent = 0

I did some digging around by opening a c promt and checking the ipconfig. It tells me that the media is disconnected. Now... I do not know if this is related or not, but when I
C:> ipconfig /displaydns I get a long list that looks like this:

www.radiate.com
---------------------------------------
record name.....www.radiate.com
Record type......1
Time to live......600736
Data Lenght.....4
Section............Answer
a <host> record...127.0.0.1

There are over a dozen of these they are all the same except for the names:
www.adserve.cin
afservent.guj.de
adres.internet.com
z0.extreme-dm.com
www.valuesponsor.com
www.cash2002.de
ads.tripod.com
www.hit-parade.com
www.adultclicks.com
sextracekr.com
ads08.focalink.com

I have never seen any of these sites in my life.


i ttry to /release but it says "no operation can be preformed on Wireless Connection while it has its media disconnected. Ok fine.. so I try /flushdns. and it says "Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache. But when I /displaydns again it is all still there. I have run SpyBot Search & Destroy and removed everything I found to no avail. I do not know if this is realted to my not being able to connect or even find a wireless network.

Oh yea, ... for some reason, my system restore has been diabled and i no longer have permission to enable it.

One more thing.... I *can* get access to the internet if I hook up a cable from the laptop internal NIC to the cable modem.
Did I leave anything out??

Any and all suggestions appreciated!

 

[KarenMarie]

Anyone?

update:
I connect to the internet thru a cable from the laptop to router. I ran Norton's Antivirus Check, and downloaded AdAware and System Mechanic. Still cannot get all of those weird sites out of the /displaydns but I am not showing any viruses or spyware. Hmmm....

 

[Matthias99]

Did you try resetting the wireless router (either unplug/wait a minute/replug or hit the reset switch on the back)? I have one of those, and every now and then it gets "stuck" and won't let any wireless clients attach to it. :-/

 

[KarenMarie]

I have un-installed and reinstalled the wireless NIC on the laptop about a dozen times. Funny this is that I have wireless connection thru the desktop that shares the router and I have wired connection from the laptop to the router.

It's driving me crazy!!!

 

[wlee]

by the looks of it you or someone has been to some pr0n sites on that machine. Those places are well known to shove malware down your throat. You might want to take a look at your HOSTS file to see if there are any rogue entries in there. Also, try these free programs to search for malware that may have been missed. SpyBot
HijackThis You could also try the demo ver of TrojanHunter The full ver is $40. Beyond that, I would try to shut down all the other computers, power-cycle the modem and router, then boot up the laptop by itself and see if it can connect. Also check the NTP time on the router and time/date on the computer.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
I have un-installed and reinstalled the wireless NIC on the laptop about a dozen times. Funny this is that I have wireless connection thru the desktop that shares the router and I have wired connection from the laptop to the router.

It's driving me crazy!!!

Did you try resetting the *router*? I get the same thing on my BEFW1154 sometimes. It's not the NIC, it's the router.

Edit: typo.

 

[KarenMarie]

"Also check the NTP time on the router ..... "

what does this mean, please?

 

[wlee]

All of these routers ( that I know of ) get their time from one of the NTP ( Network Time Protocol ) Servers. The "root" time server for the US is " time.nist.gov " I think the time server is hard coded in the Linksys boxes. If the particular time server they use is unreachable, and you have rebooted your router, then it will not be able to set the correct time. That's my theory of why you have the odd "12/31/1969 " DHCP timestamp. That's prob causing your machine to not refresh it's lease. You could try using a static IP and DNS on your laptop. I would still suggest that you use the utils I mentioned earlier to make certain there is no malware on the machine.

 

[KarenMarie]

I have downloaded and run all three of those apps. I thank you for pointing me in that direction. All three of them tell me that my system is clean.

According to teh system, the wireless adapter is working corectly and all drivers are up to date. However, when I run ipconfig from a prompt it tells me that it is disconnected. I do not know how to reconnect it.

I have wireless access from the desktop that shares the router and I have wired access from the laptop that is giving me trouble with the wireless.

????

I thank for your time.

 

[KarenMarie]

too embarrassed to say what i overlooked in this thread, so if anyone must know, PM me.

 

[Murphyrulez]

Come on don't be shy.

 

[Seeruk]

Please for the love of god tell me - i am in a similar boat and know i am overlooking just as silly - PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

 

[KarenMarie]

ok ok ok...

Boob of the week award goes to me.

This machine comes with an internal wired NIC adapter and an internal wireless NIC adapter. By default, the wireless NIC is turned off and remains disconnected until a tiny button on the back of the machine is depressed andheld for three seconds. Somehow, the button was pressed and held and the wireless adapter was turned off.

I awoke at 3:00AM that morning from a sound sleep thinking to check that because when we first got the machine 6 months ago, we could not figure out how to turn the wireless adapter on, and had to RTFM.

So, after 36 hours of solid research and reading, it all came down to something stupid.



Seeruk, tell us exactly what problems you are experiencing... with what i have learned these past few days, I might be able to help.

 

[Seeruk]

Well - I have 2 PC's sat next to each other - Hardware is almost identical except the gfx cards, both have been freshly installed with WinXP Pro - have identical configurations, patches and updates from MS and no significant differences. I have a Belkin wireless switch/router and the these 2 pc's connect using belkin wireless PCI nics.

The PC I am typing this on works almost flawlessley - the odd interruption in signal for a couple of seconds every few hours but nothing major. The one sat exactly 1m away is a nightmare.

The Problems:

1. Initially the pc would constantly prompt for encrypted connection despitet the fact that encryption is disabled at the nic, the software and the router. (Rememeber my other pc is problem free!) We could never get it to join the lan as obviously there was no key to give, it was uninstalled reinistalled deleted remnoved added a million times, occasionally it would switch back to normal connection mode - you would accept the connection and it would immediatley prompt for an encrypted connection again :/

2. Sooooo after much frustration - the problem pc now has a usb wireless nic which is better...... for the 1st few days there was very slow browsing, not sure how i fixed it but i did lol. Now its more and more frequently coming up with its old tricks again claiming the connection is encrypted randomly!

3. PLUS it is constantly dropping its connection alllllll the time. There is more and more interruptions as time progresses and this usb adapter has been used with my laptop problem-free for a few weeks. when the connection is dropped no browsing or network browsing can be done - yet according the pc the signal strength is 60-99%

I cant figure it out - it cant be reception when the two machines are sat next to each other, they have identical configurations (as far as my crazed mind can tell) at the dhcp, nic, drivers, everything levels!!!

I am outta ideas - maybe I am not aware of issues with two antenna so close to each other? Or maybe I should use a different channel? Anyway here is the info I have configured in as many places as I can find it!

SSID WLAN
Channel 11
Range of 100 ip adresses set for DHCP (Nics configured for DHCP of course)
WEP Disabled on router and nics
Everything else on the nics set to automatic (things like thresholds etc)

Help a man driven mental out please

 

[KarenMarie]

have you checked the cofigs thru the router address?
the 192.168.1.x address?

I have read over and over again that there is something about the wireless zero service that will drop the connection and refuse to allow it to reconnect. You will find that by opening the services in the control panel. Start...control panel... admin tools... services.. scroll down to the bottom and try diabling the wireless zero connections.

Are you able to share files and stuff on the network? or is that also disabled with the internet connection?

Don't pull your hair out. Just take a deep breath, we will figure it out!! Might take us some time, but I will give oyu whatever help I can.