Network connection works once, then never again

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Guest

I just built a new 64-bit system based on an ASUS A8V motherboard and an AMD
Athlon 3500+. I've got WinXP x64 installed on a SATA drive (no small feat,
apparently), and everything works great, except…. I'm seeing a very weird
problem with my network card. The motherboard has onboard LAN, so I tried
that first. The drivers installed just fine and I got onto the
Internet…once. I connected to Windows Update and downloaded all the latest
updates. Then I rebooted, and the network connection never worked again.
WinXP reports that the device is working normally, but the card fails to get
an IP address from the router/dhcp server. (This is a home network.) I have
another computer that is also hard-wired to the router and it consistently
obtains a network connection, so I'm pretty sure it's not the router.

I thought it might be a problem with the motherboard, so I bought a wireless
card (Lynksys) and installed it. WinXP didn't recognize the card at first,
but I'd read online that if that fails you should try drivers from Ralink
whose chipset is used in some Linksys cards. I downloaded those drivers and
used them to install the device. WinXP complained that it couldn't verify
that the drivers would work with this device, but I tried it anyway. The
device was recognized, and it worked great…once. I chose to use my newly
re-established network connection to download more updates from windows
update, and after the reboot the network connection was lost (again). In
this case the wireless card would not even locate the wireless router, which
is sitting right next to the new computer. WinXP reports that the wireless
card is working correctly.

It's very strange that I would essentially the same problem with two
different network cards. I'm trying to pare this problem down to common
denominators, but it's pretty tough. Motherboard? OS? Router? My next step
is to connect the onboard LAN directly to the cable modem to try to eliminate
the router. Do you have any insight on this problem?
 
It could be the connection issue or hardware settings issue. What's the IP address?

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
I just built a new 64-bit system based on an ASUS A8V motherboard and an AMD
Athlon 3500+. I've got WinXP x64 installed on a SATA drive (no small feat,
apparently), and everything works great, except…. I'm seeing a very weird
problem with my network card. The motherboard has onboard LAN, so I tried
that first. The drivers installed just fine and I got onto the
Internet…once. I connected to Windows Update and downloaded all the latest
updates. Then I rebooted, and the network connection never worked again.
WinXP reports that the device is working normally, but the card fails to get
an IP address from the router/dhcp server. (This is a home network.) I have
another computer that is also hard-wired to the router and it consistently
obtains a network connection, so I'm pretty sure it's not the router.

I thought it might be a problem with the motherboard, so I bought a wireless
card (Lynksys) and installed it. WinXP didn't recognize the card at first,
but I'd read online that if that fails you should try drivers from Ralink
whose chipset is used in some Linksys cards. I downloaded those drivers and
used them to install the device. WinXP complained that it couldn't verify
that the drivers would work with this device, but I tried it anyway. The
device was recognized, and it worked great…once. I chose to use my newly
re-established network connection to download more updates from windows
update, and after the reboot the network connection was lost (again). In
this case the wireless card would not even locate the wireless router, which
is sitting right next to the new computer. WinXP reports that the wireless
card is working correctly.

It's very strange that I would essentially the same problem with two
different network cards. I'm trying to pare this problem down to common
denominators, but it's pretty tough. Motherboard? OS? Router? My next step
is to connect the onboard LAN directly to the cable modem to try to eliminate
the router. Do you have any insight on this problem?
 
Well, there is no IP address because in both cases (wired and wireless) the
network card never receives an IP address from the router/DHCP server. In
the wired case, you can watch the status icon in the system tray and it will
indicate that the card is requesting an IP address, but then the icon changes
to the red 'x' and a balloon message is displayed which states "a network
cable is unplugged". In the wireless case, the card never locates the
wireless network, so there could be no attempt to obtain an IP address.

I have two other computers, one wireless and one wired, and neither has any
problem obtaining an IP address from the router, so I'm pretty sure it's not
the router. I've tried the same network cable that I used for the other
wired computer on the new computer so I don't think is a physical connection
problem either.

It's a little troubling that the wireless card can't even see the network
(I'm broadcasting the SSID) now. It had no trouble whatsoever finding it on
the initial install and configuration.

The wireless card is Lynksys, the router is Lynksys (WRT54G) flashed with
the latest updates. The wired card is some well-supported (on the HCL)
brand, I don't recall the name. This just doesn't make any sense.
 
lorenjerickson said:
I just built a new 64-bit system based on an ASUS A8V motherboard and
an AMD
Athlon 3500+. I've got WinXP x64 installed on a SATA drive (no small
feat,
apparently), and everything works great, except.. I'm seeing a very
weird
problem with my network card. The motherboard has onboard LAN, so I
tried
that first. The drivers installed just fine and I got onto the
Internet.once. I connected to Windows Update and downloaded all the
latest
updates. Then I rebooted, and the network connection never worked
again.
WinXP reports that the device is working normally, but the card fails
to get
an IP address from the router/dhcp server. (This is a home network.)
I have
another computer that is also hard-wired to the router and it
consistently
obtains a network connection, so I'm pretty sure it's not the router.

I thought it might be a problem with the motherboard, so I bought a
wireless
card (Lynksys) and installed it. WinXP didn't recognize the card at
first,
but I'd read online that if that fails you should try drivers from
Ralink
whose chipset is used in some Linksys cards. I downloaded those
drivers and
used them to install the device. WinXP complained that it couldn't
verify
that the drivers would work with this device, but I tried it anyway.
The
device was recognized, and it worked great.once. I chose to use my
newly
re-established network connection to download more updates from
windows
update, and after the reboot the network connection was lost (again).
In
this case the wireless card would not even locate the wireless router,
which
is sitting right next to the new computer. WinXP reports that the
wireless
card is working correctly.

It's very strange that I would essentially the same problem with two
different network cards. I'm trying to pare this problem down to
common
denominators, but it's pretty tough. Motherboard? OS? Router? My
next step
is to connect the onboard LAN directly to the cable modem to try to
eliminate
the router. Do you have any insight on this problem?
Click to expand...

Google winsockxpfix.exe and lspfix.exe. Both will repair a broken
TCP/IP stack. On my five networked computers, your problem pops up from
nowhere about once per month, for whatever reason - and almost always
when connecting a new NIC on an older computer.

Q
 
Have you tried disabling the software firewall and then pulling the plug
on the router for 30 seconds? Then plug the router back in and see if
both connections work.

Fred
 
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