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Tough networking issue

gevorg

gevorg

Diamond Member
Alright, I'm usually good at solving most of the computer issues I get, but this time I really got stuck with my WinXP Pro SP2 machine.

One day, all of a sudden, when I came back to my computer, the network connection was disconnected and showed me an 169.254.194.20 IP address, which means it can't connect to the DHCP server. The thing is, it happened randomly, I haven't done any changes before.

I checked that the DHCP server is on in Windows services, as well as other network related services, restarted the machine, but it still could not connect. Not even to LAN.

Thinking that it might be a EMI/RFI issue, I turned-off the dsl router, network router; re-plugged all cables making sure they're not too close to the power cables, set it all back up, but the computer still could not connect and gave a 169.254.x.x IP.

Then I just connected the same network cable to another machine, and it instantly recognized the network and obtained a proper 169.254.x.x IP.

Thinking that it might be a OS/software issue, I installed Vista RC2 on a separate partition, but even Vista could not detect the network. 🙂 It gave a different 192.254 IP then XP did, though.

At this point, I got stuck. Whats going on? Any suggestions of what else I can try to do? Can an integrated nic go bad all of a sudden?

EDIT: Address correction
 
Yes, I bought it in a store like 8 years ago.

The thing is, the same cable works perfectly when I connect it to another machine.
 
order of operations:

1)cable
2)NIC
3)OS

Might be your NIC or windows vista or your router might have that pc's mac associated with an old IP address fro ma previous network configuration
 
Are you sure you mean a 192.* address and not a 169.* address? If so, look for another dhcp server on your network. 192 isn't just being randomly assigned, someone is doing that.
 
Correct, the address starts with 169.254.194.xxx.

I replaced the cable, tried with a different router, reinstalled the ethernet drivers (nforce 3), and even downgraded the speed from "auto" to "force 10 full duplex". Still the same problem, while the other machine works perfectly when connected to the same cable.

Is it safe to conclude that the integrated NIC in my MB (K8N-E) went bad all of a sudden?
 
If I remember right, that 169.x.x.x ip address is just a "dummy" ip that the OS puts in when it can't grab a legitimate ip for whatever reason.
Have you tried doing a "ipconfig /release ipconfig /renew" from the command line yet?
 
Yep, I tried release/renew, along with windows "Repair" utility in connection settings, still no luck.
 
LOL! Guess what made it work?

Opened up the case, "shattered" the caps around the network port on the MB, and the port "box" too, blown air into the NIC port... and then it WORKED!!

I guess getting physical should not always be the last resort when dealing with computer hardware. 🙂
 
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