no network access unless i replug the cable
Community Forums/General Help/no network access unless i replug the cable
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| A couple of days ago I let my PC do a complete defrag, and I unplugged the network cable to the router as well as the router kept losing net access, and I wondered if the defrag was causing a problem. The router problem turned out to be due to the Scotland-wide BT exchange problem in Edinburgh. I have 3 PCs on my home network and net access currently works for all of them. The problem is that the PC that was defragged (WinXP sp3) now shows a little yellow ! symbol over the local area network status when first booted up from cold, something it has never done before. If I remove and replug the cable, or disable and reenable the network adapter, or reboot the router, everything then works fine - the PC acquires an IP address and is then OK. It just seems to have lost the ability to sort this itself when booting. So far as I know I've changed nothing on the PC at all following the defrag. Anyone know how I can sort it? It's been fine for years, now either the defrag or being unplugged from the router for a day seems to have caused this problem. Last edited 2010 |
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| With the yellow symbol showing, do you get an 'autoconfiguration' IP address (or one starting with 169.x.x.x) in ipconfig? (Start -> Run -> cmd -> ipconfig.) If so, restarting the PC or router can help (as you've seen), as it means Windows has assigned itself an address having not been able to get one from the router. Make sure the network adapter is set to 'obtain IP address automatically' and that the router's DHCP server is running. I'd doubt it's anything to do with the defrag, though. |
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| I'll check for the autoconfiguration thing next time I boot the PC. It is set to obtain IP address automatically, and I assume the router is running fine as the other 2 PCs both connect and work first time. |
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| Try resetting the TCP/IP network stack. May solve your problems - I was having something similar here, and it solve it like magic ;) Just google for it and it will show lots of tutorials on how to do it :) |
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| It's unlikely that a defrag is the cause, but it's quite possible that an automated windows update that coincided with the same timeframe is to blame. |
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| I agree this is very unlikely to have anything to do with the defrag but without being able to poke around on your machine, it's difficult to say exactly what the problem might be. It may be worth looking at your router settings, though. |
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| Another option: It could be an issue with the DHCP client service on your machine, having problems retrieving an IP |
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| Thanks for your help guys, after 2 days the stupid thing has now decided it will work perfectly again, despite me doing nothing to it. I'll have to see if it carries on working. Guess I can just file this under "stuff Windows just does sometimes". |
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| I could be the order you turned the three PCs on (bear in mind the defrag would be a PC off). I also have three, and when I turn them on in the normal order everything is sorted, when I use a different order, Log on time goes from 10-20 secs to over 5 mins sometimes not logging on at all |
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| Does your event log contain any messages about a "Master Browser"? I notice from time to time, Windows Firewall turns itself on (with the ICS service) this might mnake the computer(s) think you are using a shared conenction via a computer rather than each PC linking direct with the router as a gateway... Hope that makes sense, I'm not 100% sure of all the jargon with this kinda stuff... |
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