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Resolved Invalid IP address error, fixed but questions

Discussion in 'Networking (Hardware & Software)' started by jseabolt, 2014/08/20.

  1. 2014/08/20
    jseabolt

    jseabolt Inactive Thread Starter

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    For some reason yesterday I could not get my father's laptop to connect to my router. Neither wireless or with an Ethernet cable. Using both I had "limited access" but was connected. It wouldn't connect to the internet.

    Then I discovered my wife's laptop was doing the same thing!

    Seems like Windows 8 went through some sort of update and messed something up.

    I tried everything I found on the web but nothing worked. I finally went into the router and just selected "reset defaults" and finally my wife's laptop will now connect to the internet.

    Everything seems to point toward the computer itself but in this case it seemed resetting the router to default settings fixed the problem. Yet have not went into the router settings in months.

    Any idea?
     
  2. 2014/08/20
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Hi jseabolt. As you discovered the router was to blame and NOT the computers connected to your network. The fact that you could connect to the router but couldn't get on the Internet before resetting the routers settings indicates that there may be an issue with the router.

    I would look for an update to the routers firmware and update that if you haven't done so already. Then modify the settings accordingly and make sure your network is secure and is using WPA2 encryption. When done, save the changes and see if the computers can connect to the Internet.

    If everything is working as it should then keep an eye on the router to see if the issue crops up again.
     

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  4. 2014/08/21
    Bill

    Bill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    This could just be a symptom of a small power fluctuation you had in your home. If using NAT (where the router assigns new IP addresses to connected devices) and the router (perhaps whole house, including connected computers) lost power for a few seconds, those assignments may have been lost. Then when power was restored, new IP assignments may have been issued, depending on what was connected at the time. There could have then been a IP address conflict and resetting the router corrected it.

    I suspect you could have just reset your network - unplugged the router, modem and computers for 15 seconds or so, plug the modem back in and wait for lights to settle down, then plug in the router and again, wait for lights, then each networked device and be good to go.

    Note that this is why I have all my network gear (modem, router, WAP, and switch) on my UPS, along with my computer and two LCD monitors.

    Also, understand that Ethernet RJ-45 connectors are not very robust. They cannot take much abuse from yanks and tripping over. If it happens again, you might consider replacing the Ethernet cable between the router and Internet "gateway" device (typically served by the DSL/Cable modem in SOHO networks).
     
    Bill,
    #3
  5. 2014/12/27
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    From a PM:

    Thanks for letting me know but you could have told me sooner. Anyway since this issue has been concluded I am marking the thread as Resolved.
     

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