Wireless on laptop sees/connects to networks but no internet(local access only)

[slightlyhuman]

Got an acer aspire 4720z that works just great except one problem, no internet. It sees networks fine and connects to them but says in the bottom right of the taskbar local access only. I've tried reinstalling the drivers for the wireless to no avail. Ran combofix and MBAM just to see if it was a bug. Not sure what else to do?

Perhaps a reinstall of windows might do the trick..? Any one else care to comment please?

OS is vista.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Just asking the obvious...

Is DHCP enabled or did you manually set the IP addresses and/or DNS?
Is your system date/time correct?
Are you using Windows Zeroconf or WiFi software provided by Acer?

 

[slightlyhuman]

Just asking the obvious...

Is DHCP enabled or did you manually set the IP addresses and/or DNS?
Is your system date/time correct?
Are you using Windows Zeroconf or WiFi software provided by Acer?

not sure how to answer the first question.. how can i check?

date and time are correct. i'm using the windows built-in wireless to try and connect.

 

[alkemyst]

not sure how to answer the first question.. how can i check?

date and time are correct. i'm using the windows built-in wireless to try and connect.

Right click on your network adapter and go to TCP/IP properties.

make sure you don't have a hard-coded address...obtain your address via DHCP.

 

[slightlyhuman]

it's set to obtain an IP addy automatically and the same for DNS server. also saw DHCP was enabled..

hrmmm?

 

[slightlyhuman]

also, thanks for the comments so far.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Let's see what the full config is. Connect to a wireless network and follow the instructions here. Skip step 2 (redundant), run step 3, then right-click inside the black window, select all, right-click again and copy. Paste the output here. Run step 4 and see if the address changes.

If all is right there, you may have enabled a proxy server by accident. Go here to check and disable if it is enabled.

 

[BoomerD]

Perhaps a stupid question, but are you sure the router that you're connecting to is actually connected to the internet?

Even when my POS Netgear router isn't connected to the web, I can still connect to it wirelessly...<shrug>

Have you checked connectivity with another device?

 

[slightlyhuman]

Perhaps a stupid question, but are you sure the router that you're connecting to is actually connected to the internet?

Even when my POS Netgear router isn't connected to the web, I can still connect to it wirelessly...<shrug>

Have you checked connectivity with another device?

wireless works fine as my xbox and phone connect to it just fine. about to try the other suggestions. will post back.

 

[slightlyhuman]

Let's see what the full config is. Connect to a wireless network and follow the instructions here. Skip step 2 (redundant), run step 3, then right-click inside the black window, select all, right-click again and copy. Paste the output here. Run step 4 and see if the address changes.

If all is right there, you may have enabled a proxy server by accident. Go here to check and disable if it is enabled.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : staples-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : domain.invalid

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : domain.invalid
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1E-4C-8F-65-BF
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5c96:eed5:f51:83e1%16(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.115(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, August 25, 2011 2:53:21 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, August 26, 2011 2:53:21 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.254.254
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : domain.invalid
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-24-E2-22-07
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 10:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 6TO4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : domain.invalid
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.domain.invalid
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Windows\system32>^A

 

[alkemyst]

disable all the other network interfaces and test again.

Also you may be joining a domain that requires you to be a 'user' on it. If you don't have an account and have authenticated you may not be allowed out to the internet.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Your DNS server (192.168.254.254) might be the issue. Try manually setting it to one of the servers listed here.

IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.115(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, August 25, 2011 2:53:21 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, August 26, 2011 2:53:21 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.254.254

The question I have is: Why is the DHCP server setting the DNS to a different local subnet?

 

[slightlyhuman]

disable all the other network interfaces and test again.

Also you may be joining a domain that requires you to be a 'user' on it. If you don't have an account and have authenticated you may not be allowed out to the internet.

disabled the nic. went to disable the wifi adapter and as soon as i clicked disable it froze. it's done it twice in a row.

would a format/reinstall fix this bull shit? i have no problem doing that.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

*bump* (in case you missed my last post)

 

[alkemyst]

disabled the nic. went to disable the wifi adapter and as soon as i clicked disable it froze. it's done it twice in a row.

would a format/reinstall fix this bull shit? i have no problem doing that.

If you are getting freezes, I'd do a repair install first.

I just noticed as the other poster did your DNS if a locally significant address (normally they are on different subnets)...unless you have your own DNS service running you won't be getting far.

I use 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 for DNS. Any off that list above are good choices.

edit: 4.4.4.4 is the wrong ip I had above, 8.8.4.4 is the correct one.

 

[slightlyhuman]

*bump* (in case you missed my last post)

I right clicked the wifi adapter, properties then selected IP ver 4. Then changed the preferred DNS server and alternate DNS servers to the numbers suggested. Still nothing. Did I do it right?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I right clicked the wifi adapter, properties then selected IP ver 4. Then changed the preferred DNS server and alternate DNS servers to the numbers suggested. Still nothing. Did I do it right?

Sounds like you did. Run ipconfig /all again and make sure DNS has changed. If not, run ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew again.

 

[slightlyhuman]

Alright, I went ahead and formatted/reinstalled a fresh copy of vista.

I'm STILL having the same problem... wtf? My other computers/laptops are getting on the internet without ANY problems on my wireless network.

 

[alkemyst]

Do you have a limit to connections set in the router?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

From the system specs:

Acer InviLink 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED network connection

Your network wouldn't happen to be N only, would it?

 

[discerning]

If you can see other devices on the LAN, then the connection to the router is OK. I suspect that the router config is wrong. Reading the thread, your Acer was set to auto obtain DNS, and it was set to 192.168.254.254. I would suspect that the router's DNS setting is incorrect (usually set to auto obtain from the ISP).

I can't explain why your other devices have no problems, however.

 

[slightlyhuman]

Do you have a limit to connections set in the router?

i don't think so. had 4 or 5 wireless devices(pci wifi adapters and laptops) connected last night without any problems.

 

[slightlyhuman]

From the system specs:



Your network wouldn't happen to be N only, would it?

no I have an old dell machine in here using a pci wireless card(g) that works just fine.

 

[alkemyst]

i don't think so. had 4 or 5 wireless devices(pci wifi adapters and laptops) connected last night without any problems.

Is there a third-party driver needed for your wireless?

I have seen trouble like this with some third party driver software.

I usually recommend WZC to set up the wireless.

If you are using that already do a netsh wlan show settings from the cmd prompt.

 

[slightlyhuman]

Is there a third-party driver needed for your wireless?

I have seen trouble like this with some third party driver software.

I usually recommend WZC to set up the wireless.

If you are using that already do a netsh wlan show settings from the cmd prompt.

I went ahead and installed XP and it's working fine. I really appreciate the help gentlemen but let me tell you something, fuck windows vista. And here I thought ME was the worst OS of all time.