Can't run ipconfig

[Charlie]

I have a newly acquired laptop and changed the router to a wireless one to
be able to use it around the house.
The LAN has two wired PCs and a wireless printer as well as the laptop.

I have been chasing down a problem in trying to access files on one of the
wired PCs from the laptop.
As part of this task, I was checking all the IP addresses using ipconfig.

When I try this from the laptop it fails. The message is: An internal error
occurred. A device attached to the system is not functioning. Contact
support etc. Additional information: Unknown media status code.

The laptop connects to the network and can go online. I haven't tried today,
but it has sent files to the printer OK.

Right now I just want to resolve the IP address issue so I can try pinging
etc.

Charlie

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

I have a newly acquired laptop and changed the router to a wireless one to
be able to use it around the house.
The LAN has two wired PCs and a wireless printer as well as the laptop.

I have been chasing down a problem in trying to access files on one of the
wired PCs from the laptop.
As part of this task, I was checking all the IP addresses using ipconfig.

When I try this from the laptop it fails. The message is: An internal
error occurred. A device attached to the system is not functioning.
Contact support etc. Additional information: Unknown media status code.

The laptop connects to the network and can go online. I haven't tried
today, but it has sent files to the printer OK.

Right now I just want to resolve the IP address issue so I can try pinging
etc.

Charlie

What happens when you run the same command while "Safe Mode with
Networking"?

 

[Charlie]

What happens when you run the same command while "Safe Mode with
Networking"?

Same results when trying to run ipconfig. And still cannot open a folder on
another PC even though it shows up on the netework list of places.

Charlie

 

[Lem]

I have a newly acquired laptop and changed the router to a wireless one to
be able to use it around the house.
The LAN has two wired PCs and a wireless printer as well as the laptop.

I have been chasing down a problem in trying to access files on one of the
wired PCs from the laptop.
As part of this task, I was checking all the IP addresses using ipconfig.

When I try this from the laptop it fails. The message is: An internal error
occurred. A device attached to the system is not functioning. Contact
support etc. Additional information: Unknown media status code.

The laptop connects to the network and can go online. I haven't tried today,
but it has sent files to the printer OK.

Right now I just want to resolve the IP address issue so I can try pinging
etc.

Charlie

Are you using ipconfig /all ? If so, try just ipconfig. Ipconfig /all
reports information from all network adapters bound to TCP/IP. If you
are successfully connecting to your network, at least one adapter is
working and the error may be coming from an adapter that aren't
currently using.

If you go to Network Connections, you should see all of the adapters.
You can check to see which are bound to TCP/IP from the connections
Properties sheet under "This connection uses the following items."

Also check the status of your network adapters in Device Manager.

 

[Charlie]

Are you using ipconfig /all ? If so, try just ipconfig. Ipconfig /all
reports information from all network adapters bound to TCP/IP. If you are
successfully connecting to your network, at least one adapter is working
and the error may be coming from an adapter that aren't currently using.

If you go to Network Connections, you should see all of the adapters. You
can check to see which are bound to TCP/IP from the connections Properties
sheet under "This connection uses the following items."

Also check the status of your network adapters in Device Manager.

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

Apollo 11 - 40 years ago this month:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html

I have been using plain ipconfig. Not every device on the LAN is turned on,
but that did not bother the two wired units. The inability to get the IP
address is only on the laptop run in wireless mode. I have not tried wiring
the laptop into the router to see what that produces.


Charlie

 

[Lem]

I have been using plain ipconfig. Not every device on the LAN is turned on,
but that did not bother the two wired units. The inability to get the IP
address is only on the laptop run in wireless mode. I have not tried wiring
the laptop into the router to see what that produces.


Charlie

I didn't mean other devices on the LAN but other network adapters in the
same computer. If you have a wireless adapter, chances are you have at
least two more: a wired adapter and a FireWire (IEEE 1394). Did you look
in Device Manager to determine that *all* of your network adapters are
functioning properly?

Have you ever used the wired adapter?

You said that the laptop was "newly acquired." That suggests that it is
not actually new (only new to you). Did you do a clean install of
Windows (you should have done so)?

 

[Charlie]

I didn't mean other devices on the LAN but other network adapters in the
same computer. If you have a wireless adapter, chances are you have at
least two more: a wired adapter and a FireWire (IEEE 1394). Did you look
in Device Manager to determine that *all* of your network adapters are
functioning properly?

Have you ever used the wired adapter?

You said that the laptop was "newly acquired." That suggests that it is
not actually new (only new to you). Did you do a clean install of Windows
(you should have done so)?

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

Apollo 11 - 40 years ago this month:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html

It was a used laptop that had been refurbished by the company that made it.
It had been restored to the out-of-box condition at the time of its original
manufacture. I have downloaded and installed all of the applicable MS
updates so that it now has SP3 installed.

I am not using it for these posts (I am not in love with laptop keyboards
and the I using my "usual" system with a nice big LCD display.

I will go fire up the laptop and check on the wired network adapter.

Charlie

 

[Charlie]

It was a used laptop that had been refurbished by the company that made
it. It had been restored to the out-of-box condition at the time of its
original manufacture. I have downloaded and installed all of the
applicable MS updates so that it now has SP3 installed.

I am not using it for these posts (I am not in love with laptop keyboards
and the I using my "usual" system with a nice big LCD display.

I will go fire up the laptop and check on the wired network adapter.

Charlie

Device manager reports two network adapters, one wireless and one wired ,
both functioning properly. I have to do a small rearrangement of the
physical space to accommodate the laptop as a wired unit.

If ipconfig works when the laptop is used as a wired unit, is it the same
value as the wireless configuration?

Charlie

 

[Charlie]

I didn't mean other devices on the LAN but other network adapters in the
same computer. If you have a wireless adapter, chances are you have at
least two more: a wired adapter and a FireWire (IEEE 1394). Did you look
in Device Manager to determine that *all* of your network adapters are
functioning properly?

Have you ever used the wired adapter?

You said that the laptop was "newly acquired." That suggests that it is
not actually new (only new to you). Did you do a clean install of Windows
(you should have done so)?

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

Apollo 11 - 40 years ago this month:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html

OK Lem, I got the laptop wired in. It recognizes the folders on the PC that
I want to access via the network while denying permission. That's a
different problem.

Now when I run ipconfig, it reports back two IP addresses. One wired and a
different one wireless as if there were two separate machines.

Now I have a list of all the addresses on my little network. Still no
explanation for why I could no access ipconfig wirelessly, but that becomes
moot I think. Now to pursue the sharing and access issues.

Thanks for the direction to get me this far.

Charlie

 

[Lem]

Device manager reports two network adapters, one wireless and one wired ,
both functioning properly. I have to do a small rearrangement of the
physical space to accommodate the laptop as a wired unit.

If ipconfig works when the laptop is used as a wired unit, is it the same
value as the wireless configuration?

Charlie

I'm not sure what you mean by "the same value."

The default for Windows XP network adapters is to obtain an IP address
automatically from the router, so it will have the same first 3 segments
as the IP addresses of your other computers (e.g., 192.168.1.x). The "x"
that the wired adapter might be the same as the one assigned to the
wireless adapter (assuming that you turn the wireless adapter off), but
probably won't be.

BTW, entirely apart from why ipconfig isn't working, you should be able
to determine the IP address of the laptop (if it is really connected to
your router, either wired or wireless) by looking in the router's DHCP
table.

Have you tried to reset TCP/IP on the laptop? See
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357 (I suggest using the manual
method rather than "fix it for me").

Also see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259

 

[Jose]

OK Lem, I got the laptop wired in. It recognizes the folders on the PC that
I want to access via the network while denying permission. That's a
different problem.

Now when I run ipconfig, it reports back two IP addresses. One wired and a
different one wireless as if there were two separate machines.

Now I have a list of all the addresses on my little network. Still no
explanation for why I could no access ipconfig wirelessly, but that becomes
moot I think. Now to pursue the sharing and access issues.

Thanks for the direction to get me this far.

Charlie

There could be many reasons, but before continuing any
troubleshooting, you should first check for malware:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

They can be uninstalled later if desired.

 

[Jim]

OK Lem, I got the laptop wired in. It recognizes the folders on the PC
that I want to access via the network while denying permission. That's a
different problem.

It is the remote computer which is denying permission. You need to verify
that the account on the remote computer which you are using to mount the
remote resource has the ability to read the files on the remote computer.
Jim