Can't connect to Internet and e-mail.

[PVR]

I have three PCs on a home wireless network, 2 XPs and a Vista. One of
the XPs cannot access the 'Net or e-mail. No problem with the other
two PCs.

This problem developed very recently during a Windows update. It is
likely I made the wrong selection during the update. I have been
advised to obtain the current driver(s) from HP.

How do I do this if connection to the 'Net is not possible on the HP
machine? Is it possible to download the driver(s) to an external drive
using another PC and then install the new driver(s) from this drive?

Many thanks.

Peter.

 

[Lem]

I have three PCs on a home wireless network, 2 XPs and a Vista. One of
the XPs cannot access the 'Net or e-mail. No problem with the other
two PCs.

This problem developed very recently during a Windows update. It is
likely I made the wrong selection during the update. I have been
advised to obtain the current driver(s) from HP.

How do I do this if connection to the 'Net is not possible on the HP
machine? Is it possible to download the driver(s) to an external drive
using another PC and then install the new driver(s) from this drive?

Many thanks.

Peter.

The answer to your asked question is yes. Download the driver and copy
it to a USB "thumb" drive.

But unless you are very confident of the advice you have already
received, you might do well to post back here with some additional
information. For example,

- what actually happens when you attempt to connect to the Internet? Do
you get any error message?
- what was the "wrong choice" you made?
- if the wrong choice was to install a driver from Windows Update, have
you tried the "roll back driver" button (never install drivers from
Windows Update)?
- what drivers were you told to install?

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[smlunatick]

I have three PCs on a home wireless network, 2 XPs and a Vista. One of
the XPs cannot access the 'Net or e-mail. No problem with the other
two PCs.

This problem developed very recently during a Windows update. It is
likely I made the wrong selection during the update. I have been
advised to obtain the current driver(s) from HP.

How do I do this if connection to the 'Net is not possible on the HP
machine? Is it possible to download the driver(s) to an external drive
using another PC and then install the new driver(s) from this drive?

Many thanks.

Peter.

You can also "try" to roll-back the "defective" driver.

 

[SparkPlug]

I have three PCs on a home wireless network, 2 XPs and a Vista. One of
the XPs cannot access the 'Net or e-mail. No problem with the other
two PCs.

This problem developed very recently during a Windows update. It is
likely I made the wrong selection during the update. I have been
advised to obtain the current driver(s) from HP.

How do I do this if connection to the 'Net is not possible on the HP
machine? Is it possible to download the driver(s) to an external drive
using another PC and then install the new driver(s) from this drive?

Many thanks.

Peter.

I believe all Microsoft updates are downloadable individually as a installer
file.

Each update is referenced by KB followed by a number. If you know the number
of the update you can find information about the update by appending the
number to http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=

You can also find the installer file to download by searching for it on
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/default.aspx using the KB reference
number as a keyword (include the KB).

Best wishes.
Mark

 

[Jack [MVP-Networking]]

Hi
Regardless of what cause the problem you should find what actually is wrong.
This page might help in assessing the status of the computer's network
configuration, http://www.ezlan.net/debug.html
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

 

[PVR]

Lem, many thanks for your answer and further suggestions. Because the
other two PCs have access to the 'Net and e-mail I concluded that the
modem/wireless router were working OK. The problem has to be with the
XP PC which cannot access the 'Net and e-mail.

"What actually happens when you attempt to connect to the internet?"
Answer. The Start bar Wireless icon has a small yellow dot moving back
and forth and I do not obtain access to the 'Net. I receive a message
"No connection to the Internet is currently available." When I access
the list of available wireless networks I find that the default is
"Acquiring network address" but this never succeeds.

"What was the wrong choice you made?" Answer. I did choose (in error)
to have Windows install a driver from Windows Update. As far as I can
tell this is when things went wrong. I did try the Windows "roll back
driver" feature but this did not correct the problem.

"What drivers were you told to install?" Answer. Here I list a series
of suggestions obtained from another forum.

1. Delete the current wireless network on the problem computer. Create
it
again and test. Result, Done with no improvement.

2. If that didn't work, check the settings on the wireless network
adapter
to make sure it is set to get an IP address/DNS automatically and that
there is no Alternate setting. Result, IP address is set to automatic.

3. Also check the security on the problem computer. What
antivirus/security
software do you have? I've seen cases where McAfee security handled
access
to the outside world separately for wired and wireless connections.
Perhaps
an update to this software messed things up. Result, I temporarily
removed
security software. No improvement.

4. What happens when you connect to the router with an Ethernet cable?
Result, no change.

5. Perhaps you updated the wireless network adapter drivers, either on
purpose or by mistakenly accepting this from Windows Update. Try
installing
the latest drivers for this adapter. Get them from the OEM's website
if you
have that sort of computer (Dell, HP, etc.) or from the wireless
network
adapter's mftr. if you installed it yourself. What is the wireless
network
adapter hardware? Result, Have not yet tried to update the driver(s).
The
wireless adapter was built-in to the HP Pavilion laptop as bought.>>

As indicated I checked all of these without success.

Also, would a System Restore help here? I haven't done this as yet.

I hope this was not too long.

Peter.

 

[Lem]

Lem, many thanks for your answer and further suggestions. Because the
other two PCs have access to the 'Net and e-mail I concluded that the
modem/wireless router were working OK. The problem has to be with the
XP PC which cannot access the 'Net and e-mail.

"What actually happens when you attempt to connect to the internet?"
Answer. The Start bar Wireless icon has a small yellow dot moving back
and forth and I do not obtain access to the 'Net. I receive a message
"No connection to the Internet is currently available." When I access
the list of available wireless networks I find that the default is
"Acquiring network address" but this never succeeds.

"What was the wrong choice you made?" Answer. I did choose (in error)
to have Windows install a driver from Windows Update. As far as I can
tell this is when things went wrong. I did try the Windows "roll back
driver" feature but this did not correct the problem.

"What drivers were you told to install?" Answer. Here I list a series
of suggestions obtained from another forum.


1. Delete the current wireless network on the problem computer. Create
it
again and test. Result, Done with no improvement.

2. If that didn't work, check the settings on the wireless network
adapter
to make sure it is set to get an IP address/DNS automatically and that
there is no Alternate setting. Result, IP address is set to automatic.

3. Also check the security on the problem computer. What
antivirus/security
software do you have? I've seen cases where McAfee security handled
access
to the outside world separately for wired and wireless connections.
Perhaps
an update to this software messed things up. Result, I temporarily
removed
security software. No improvement.

4. What happens when you connect to the router with an Ethernet cable?
Result, no change.

5. Perhaps you updated the wireless network adapter drivers, either on
purpose or by mistakenly accepting this from Windows Update. Try
installing
the latest drivers for this adapter. Get them from the OEM's website
if you
have that sort of computer (Dell, HP, etc.) or from the wireless
network
adapter's mftr. if you installed it yourself. What is the wireless
network
adapter hardware? Result, Have not yet tried to update the driver(s).
The
wireless adapter was built-in to the HP Pavilion laptop as bought.>>

As indicated I checked all of these without success.

Also, would a System Restore help here? I haven't done this as yet.

I hope this was not too long.

Peter.

The most troubling item in your list is #4. If you can't connect
through an Ethernet connection then whether or not you installed a bad
driver for your wireless adapter is irrelevant (that may be an
*additional* problem).

The "acquiring network address" message usually appears on *wireless*
connections if there is a security mismatch between the router and the
computer. The first step in diagnosing this is to (temporarily) disable
all security on the router's wireless configuration page (i.e., no
encryption, no MAC filter, no other "security" configuration).

However, wireless security has no effect whatsoever on the ability to
connect to the router with an Ethernet cable. If that also doesn't work
for you (any error message?), then you have a deeper problem

You need to do some methodical diagnostic work. The two sites below
offer help on how to do that. Chuck's site is more hands-on.
Hans-Georg Michna's site should pinpoint the problem(s) if you answer
the questions accurately.

http://networking.nitecruzr.net/2005/05/troubleshooting-internet-service.html
http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm



--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[PVR]

Lem, in view of your comments re: item #4, I ran that test again, this
time with a cable I know to be good. This cable is attached to one of
of the PCs which does connect to the 'Net, etc. The result was that
the problem computer was able to connect to the 'Net and e-mail. I
have dumped the first cable I used for the test. However, the icon
representing the wired connection had a small yellow dot moving back
and forward just below the icon. This also occurs when the problem PC
tries to connect to the 'Net. What does this mean?

Would it be wise to run the Windows Wireless Wizard again on all three
PCs?

Peter.

 

[Lem]

Lem, in view of your comments re: item #4, I ran that test again, this
time with a cable I know to be good. This cable is attached to one of
of the PCs which does connect to the 'Net, etc. The result was that
the problem computer was able to connect to the 'Net and e-mail. I
have dumped the first cable I used for the test. However, the icon
representing the wired connection had a small yellow dot moving back
and forward just below the icon. This also occurs when the problem PC
tries to connect to the 'Net. What does this mean?

Would it be wise to run the Windows Wireless Wizard again on all three
PCs?

Peter.

No, don't re-run the Wireless Networking Wizard again.

On the problem computer,open a Command Prompt window and type

ipconfig /all [press Enter]

Copy and paste the results in your next post (to copy from a command
prompt window, click the icon in the upper left corner of the window's
title bar and use the Edit function from the drop down menu).

It would also be instructive to have this same information from one of
the computers that successfully connects (wired or wireless). And
confirm that your other computers don't have the "small yellow dot
moving back and forward just below the icon."

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[PVR]

Lem, do you have any further ideas regarding my internet connection
problem. Following your last set of instructions I did run the
ipconfig/all test on three computers and I posted the results to you
as requested. Hopefully you did receive these(?)

Peter.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Lem" <lemp40@unknownhost>
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: Can't connect to Internet and e-mail.

Lem, in view of your comments re: item #4, I ran that test again,
this time with a cable I know to be good. This cable is attached to
one of of the PCs which does connect to the 'Net, etc. The result
was that the problem computer was able to connect to the 'Net and
e-mail. I have dumped the first cable I used for the test. However,
the icon representing the wired connection had a small yellow dot
moving back and forward just below the icon. This also occurs when
the problem PC tries to connect to the 'Net. What does this mean?

Would it be wise to run the Windows Wireless Wizard again on all
three PCs?

Peter.

No, don't re-run the Wireless Networking Wizard again.

On the problem computer,open a Command Prompt window and type

ipconfig /all [press Enter]

Copy and paste the results in your next post (to copy from a command
prompt window, click the icon in the upper left corner of the
window's title bar and use the Edit function from the drop down
menu).

It would also be instructive to have this same information from one
of the computers that successfully connects (wired or wireless). And
confirm that your other computers don't have the "small yellow dot
moving back and forward just below the icon."

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

Lem, in view of your comments re: item #4, I ran that test again,
this time with a cable I know to be good. This cable is attached to
one of of the PCs which does connect to the 'Net, etc. The result
was that the problem computer was able to connect to the 'Net and
e-mail. I have dumped the first cable I used for the test. However,
the icon representing the wired connection had a small yellow dot
moving back and forward just below the icon. This also occurs when
the problem PC tries to connect to the 'Net. What does this mean?

Would it be wise to run the Windows Wireless Wizard again on all
three PCs?

Peter.

No, don't re-run the Wireless Networking Wizard again.

On the problem computer,open a Command Prompt window and type

ipconfig /all [press Enter]

Copy and paste the results in your next post (to copy from a command
prompt window, click the icon in the upper left corner of the
window's title bar and use the Edit function from the drop down
menu).

It would also be instructive to have this same information from one
of the computers that successfully connects (wired or wireless). And
confirm that your other computers don't have the "small yellow dot
moving back and forward just below the icon."

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm