Windows XP does not recognize LAN change

[Michael Moser]

I have a question re. the detection of LAN/location changes in WinXP
(using ethernet):

when I suspend my Laptop in the office, bring it home and attach it to
my home LAN (Cable-modem + router with integrated DNS server) it does
not automatically recognize that it has been attached to a network.
Thus it keeps its old IP address and consequently remains unreachable
(and thus the network unusable) until I go through an ipconfig
/release & ipconfig /renew cycle. Only after the network is working
again.

If - however - I do the inverse, i.e. suspend the laptop at home,
bring it to the office, attach it to the network there and wake it up
it always recognizes within seconds that it is attached to a new
network, obtains a new IP adress and works smoothly without any manual
fidddling.

What is causing this? Can I somehow teach or configure this thing, to
recognize network changes in the other direction as well? Could my
firewall be causing this?

Michael

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

I have a question re. the detection of LAN/location changes in WinXP
(using ethernet):

when I suspend my Laptop in the office, bring it home and attach it to
my home LAN (Cable-modem + router with integrated DNS server) it does
not automatically recognize that it has been attached to a network.
Thus it keeps its old IP address and consequently remains unreachable
(and thus the network unusable) until I go through an ipconfig
/release & ipconfig /renew cycle. Only after the network is working
again.

If - however - I do the inverse, i.e. suspend the laptop at home,
bring it to the office, attach it to the network there and wake it up
it always recognizes within seconds that it is attached to a new
network, obtains a new IP adress and works smoothly without any manual
fidddling.

What is causing this? Can I somehow teach or configure this thing, to
recognize network changes in the other direction as well? Could my
firewall be causing this?

Michael

I'm sorry, but I don't know how to get the computer to do what you
want.

It's always dicey to make changes in a computer's configuration, like
switching LANs, while it's in Suspend mode. Hardware changes (like
adding or removing a peripheral) are especially risky.

I recommend releasing (or disabling) the LAN connection before
suspending and renewing (or enabling) the LAN connection after
resuming.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Michael Moser]

...
I recommend releasing (or disabling) the LAN connection before
suspending and renewing (or enabling) the LAN connection after
resuming.

Well - that's even more consuming (in terms of user-interaction -
already the time and clicking it takes to dig out and open the network
connection and then disabling/re-enabling it). The ipconfig /release &
/renew thingy one can at least put into a .bat file and so this is
only a double-click away.

But I don't quite get, why I have to do that at all, i.e. why the
system immediately and reliably recognizes the network change in one
direction without the slightest user intervention but absolutely not
in the other (i.e. on my home LAN if I don't do anything the system
sits there for hours without requesting a new IP address...).

Michael