Network/internet connection problem...

[Kipper]

I have a friend here at school with a Dell that's about three years old, running Win2K Pro. About a week ago, his net connection flaked out and guessing that it was his onboard NIC gone bad, he went out and bought a PCI NIC and I installed it for him - the computer recognizes the card and everything, even recognizing a connection when I plug in the cable - but no internet or recognition of any other machines on the network.

We've talked to the IT department and they say that it's not that particular jack on the wall (verified because we were able to run his roommate's computer into it and get internet) so that it was automatically ruled out. The cable is also not bad because I tried switching cables, to no avail. Drivers are installed, up-to-date, and the card seems to be in perfect working order. I have a feeling that the onboard NIC is still functional as well, but can't for my life figure out what is wrong. No software/hardware firewall is present, and all of the settings I could uncover seem to be running perfectly fine. I ran the internet setup wizard a half dozen times and had no luck.

The only clue I can come up with is that when I check his IP it shows an IP which is registered to an ISP on the west coast, when he SHOULD have the school domain and an IP in the school's range (obviously). DHCP is activated in the network settings, so logically he should have had no trouble being assigned an IP. As such, it's quite plain that the problem is not server but client-side. Any ideas? Sorry for the long post.

Edit: thanks for the help, but formatting the computer was easier - all suggestions were tried, including uninstalling the devices from the system. No luck there.

 

[vietofmars]

I had similar problem. NIC lights showed connection with cable attached. But dhcp wasn't working. Turned out to be the cable. You tried a known working cable?

If his net connection went flakey, I'd suspect the cable or NIC, and I would also check for spyware with spy bot and spy sweeper.

I'd uninstall both NICs from the device manager list. Disable onboard lan. Install the new NIC. Enable dhcp (I think it is enabled by default, if not, go through the internet connection wizard).

In a DOS prompt window type ipconfig /all
What's it say?
If you get some crazy ip address that is not in the school domain, than dhcp is not working.

 

[tjaisv]

Originally posted by: MadCowDisease
The only clue I can come up with is that when I check his IP it shows an IP which is registered to an ISP on the west coast, when he SHOULD have the school domain and an IP in the school's range (obviously). DHCP is activated in the network settings, so logically he should have had no trouble being assigned an IP. As such, it's quite plain that the problem is not server but client-side. Any ideas? Sorry for the long post.

Well here you go, your problem's right here. His TCP/IP properties shouldn't show any IP address information. All the IP boxes should be greyed out, and the "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically" buttons should be selected.

If he has any software from the old ISP make sure he uninstalls it. That's what may be causing the problem.

 

[Kipper]

Originally posted by: tjaisv

Originally posted by: MadCowDisease
The only clue I can come up with is that when I check his IP it shows an IP which is registered to an ISP on the west coast, when he SHOULD have the school domain and an IP in the school's range (obviously). DHCP is activated in the network settings, so logically he should have had no trouble being assigned an IP. As such, it's quite plain that the problem is not server but client-side. Any ideas? Sorry for the long post.

Well here you go, your problem's right here. His TCP/IP properties shouldn't show any IP address information. All the IP boxes should be greyed out, and the "Obtain an IP address automatically" and "Obtain DNS server address automatically" buttons should be selected.

If he has any software from the old ISP make sure he uninstalls it. That's what may be causing the problem.

This isn't the problem as DHCP was enabled by default when I installed the NIC. The cable also is perfectly functional - tried switching it with his roommate's to no avail. At this point I think it's quicker to just format the damn thing rather than track down one software bug...

 

[Mnementh]

Open a command prompt and type ipconfig /release (this will get rid of the IP adress the machine currently has), then type ipconfig /renew. If DHCP is working then the machine will pick up a new school IP address and all should be well, of not then there is either a problem with the DHCP server or the client is not configured properly for DHCP. If that is the case let us know and we can diagnose further.

Mnementh

 

[vietofmars]

Yah reformatting would be quicker i think, but what about all the user data? Term papers and game saves and mp3's and pr0n.

What if it's a hardware problem?

 

[Kipper]

No go. Both commands don't respond at the prompt, some cryptic message about a socket not being connected or something. The IT guy who came by messed with the drivers and the settings...I'm going to back up his files tomorrow, then format. Hopefully that will fix everything.

Unlikely it's a hardware problem as everything seems to be functional, we've tried a different NIC (the old one is onboard), and I've swapped PCI slots twice. The damned DHCP just won't turn on and won't let me release the IP address that is in there already. If a format won't fix the problem, I don't know what will.

I don't think it's a problem on the school's side, either. The wall jack works fine and configures his roommate's computer even when we unplug him, no problem. They have double-checked and everything on their side is fine, routers and all. The NIC's lights even light up, so there is definitely a connection - just no incoming traffic. I'm sure it's client-side, with some annoying setting turned off or on.

 

[tjaisv]

Yeah hopefully the reformat does it. Let us know what happens.

 

[OZEE]

Originally posted by: MadCowDisease
No go. Both commands don't respond at the prompt, some cryptic message about a socket not being connected or something. The IT guy who came by messed with the drivers and the settings...I'm going to back up his files tomorrow, then format. Hopefully that will fix everything. Unlikely it's a hardware problem as everything seems to be functional, we've tried a different NIC (the old one is onboard), and I've swapped PCI slots twice. The damned DHCP just won't turn on and won't let me release the IP address that is in there already. If a format won't fix the problem, I don't know what will. I don't think it's a problem on the school's side, either. The wall jack works fine and configures his roommate's computer even when we unplug him, no problem. They have double-checked and everything on their side is fine, routers and all. The NIC's lights even light up, so there is definitely a connection - just no incoming traffic. I'm sure it's client-side, with some annoying setting turned off or on.

Actually -- you've just given yourself a major clue - if you've got a socket problem, it's not installed/configured correctly. And that's a TCP/IP socket, not the physical socket that the NIC is plugged into...

I wouldn't format just yet. Delete the TCP/IP settings for the old NICs so there's no problems with that interaction. I'd also probably delete them for the new card, too - then redetect/reconfigure it.