different "limited or no connectivity" issue

I have not seen this particular aspect of this issue discussed here.

I have a neighbor that uses Windows XP with Internet Connection Sharing to share her DSL connection with a second computer. Since I work in tech support, she asked me to help resolve a vexing network issue. She recently upgraded to SP2, but I think that the issue actually started before installing SP2 on the XP machine.

Her setup is as follows. Her DSL modem connects to the Ethernet port in her Dell 8300. She runs a model F5D4050 USB Powerline adapter from Belkin to connect the two computers because she has a 2.4 gigahertz phone and I did not want to deal with problems between a 2.4 gigahertz phone and a 2.4 gigahertz wireless network when she bought the second computer.

The built in ethernet port is indicating "Limited or no connectivity" however she has no problems connecting to the DSL and Internet with this computer. The second computer (which runs ME) gets a 192.168.0.154 connection on the powerline connection. She can browse to shared folders on the XP machine with it, but it has no Internet connectivity.

I have also disabled and reenabled the sharing of the connection on the PPOE connection.

The XP machine has assigned the 192.168.x.x IP address to this card. Since it indicates that it has a 10 mB connection to the Speedstream 5260 DSL modem, I have changed the speed from automatic to 10 mB both half and full duplex.

I have tried repairing the ethernet connection, and removing it from the Device manager. I even used NETSH to reset the network settings. I booted into safe mode in XP and found several items under the Network adapters in the Device Manager that do not show up in normal mode and removed as many of them as XP would allow, but it did not help.

What frustrates me is that the XP machine can connect to the Internet and appears to share the connection, but the ME machine has no connectivity beyond the local LAN.

Any and all ideas would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Jeff

 

Three thoughts for right now.

- is the ME machine using the internal (198.162.x.x) address of the XP machine as it's gateway address?

- have you tried using a different USB port on both PCs? And on the newer one, if it has USB ports both front and rear, have you tried moving from front to rear set or vice versa?

- have you tried putting an ethernet NIC into the ME machine and connecting it to the modem?

 

Newt can probably tell you better than I can But'

I would DUMP the problematic XP's ICS and install a Router. Then each machine becomes independent of the other. At least as far as the Internet goes.

I do have a Router and I can plug any machine that is equiped with a NIC ( Network Interface Card ) and BINGO I am on line. Nothing on any machine is shared or depends on any other machine.

I have Cable Internet but I believe ( but do not know for sure ) that DSL will work the same.

BillyBob

 

BB - DSL does work the same as cable and can use the same router/switch.

And as usual, I agree that the device is the best $50 you could spend for hassle-free home and broadband networking.

 

thanks so far

Yes the ME machine shows the XP machine as the gateway. I believe that the XP machine is even dialing the PPOE connection when ME tries to connect.

I initially thought it was the Powerline adapters, but I do not think that is the case since the computers can see each other. I have also tried moving the ME connection to a different USB port.

I brought the ME machine to my house and had no problem connecting to my LAN and the Internet with the NIC in it.

I am considering installing a second NIC in XP to see if it makes any difference.

 

j1greene

Thanks for the Info.

I think you are headed in the right direction.

BillyBob

 

new NIC does not make a difference

I just installed an additional NIC because the other NIC is part of the motherboard. The new NIC came up with "limited or no connectivity" until I assigned an IP address manually, but it still does not route the connection.

Does anyone have any other ideas.

 

Since the ME box works on your LAN it sounds like something strange with the XP setup.

On an older OS version I'd suggest removing all the networking software pieces and loading again to get a clean start but XP won't allow that.

You can do pretty much the same thing with a command string though.

From a cmd prompt

Code:

Netsh int ip reset C:\iplog.txt

(and note that you must use the text file for the command to work). You can get more detail Here if you want to.

The command will set all the IP values back to the defaults. Try setting up again after that and see if you have more luck. You might also want to look thru the log file to see if things worked as they should. Good example in that article.

 

I believe you have already spent more time ( $ wise ) than it would cost to get a Linksys Router. ( I suggest Linksys cause that is what I have. )

YES. And one that has worked very well for me.

Plug a Cat5 cable between each NIC and the Router.

Run a Cat5 cable from the Router to the Modem.

Let the DHCP of the Router take care of the addressing.

I have 3 machines and a printer plugged into the Router and I have as yet had no address problems. Today my machine may be XXX.XXX.X.101 but tomorrow it may be XXX.XXX.X.102. Depending on which machine get turned on first.

The printer is on all the time so other machines can use it. MUCH UNLIKE the USB ( pain in the butt SHARED ) printer which required this machine to be on at all times. And only worked 1/4 of the time even then.

And right now all three machines are on line.

I myself prefer to keep all machines like me. Independent as all hell

BillyBob

 

I forgot something about the Router.

It also keeps the LAN and the WAN separated.

BB

 

thanks for the additional suggestions

I agree that a router would be best if they did not have a problem stringing cable through the house. i would have gone that route myself if cabling had not been an issue.

Newt, thanks for the netsh clarification. I was not aware that you needed the text file part of the command to make it work. I will try that.

 

Re: Windows ME networking problem

You should get rid of ME if you can. It is the worst software ever written and is a nightmare for technicians i can tell you.

Sounds like you have a DNS problem with the internet.

Windows ME and 98 do not auto detect DNS servers like 2000 and XP do, and that may be your problem.

If you must keep ME, on the PC it is on you need to put your ISPs Primary and Secondary DNS server settings, and other settngs in the DNS settings tab, in the network cards TCP/IP properties. This is also the case for Win 98.

So do this:

Right click on Network Neighbourhood on the desktop then Properties

Go into the TCP/IP properties that are bound to your network card.

On the DNS config tab you need to add these things:

>In Host put your computers name as it is on the LAN
>In Domain Name put your ISPs domain ie abc.net.org
>IN DNS Servers put your ISPs Primary and Secondary DNS server IPs, this you should be able to get from your ISP, often on thier web page
>IN Domain Suffix you also put your ISPs domain name ie abc.net.org, and press the add button.

Other things to note:

ON the gateway tab in TCP/IP properties you should put the routers IP address or your XP machines IP if it is sharing its net connection.

You should turn OFF DHCP in the router if present and assign static IPs for your LAN machines, making sure they are in the same subnet. ie 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.2 and so on to 255. It works best if you assign the static IP 192.168.0.1 to the XP machine if it is sharing its internet connection.

The subnet mask on both PCs should be 255.255.255.0

Make sure the workgroup names are the same on both PCs

If the XP machine is sharing its net connection, it should have nothing in its gateway field or in its DNS server fields. It should have 192.168.0.1 as its static IP and 255.255.255.0 as its subnet mask.

Make sure under Control Panel-Internet Options-Connections, that it says "Never Dial a Connection ". Go to the LAN settings button on this page also, and check that "Automatically detect settings is UNCHECKED.

Hope this helps!

 

I ahve made some Progress

I used netsh a few times last night and managed to get rid of the "limited or no connectivity" messages, however Internet Connection Sharing does not work now.

I tried to disable and reenable it and got the following error:


Network address translation (NAT) is currently installed as a routing protocol, and must be removed before enabling Internet Connection Sharing and/or Internet Connection Firewall. To remove Network Address Translation, open the Routing and Remote Access Manager snapin and expand the router's entry in the left pane. Delete the Network Address Translation routing protocol from the list of routing protocols.

According to Microsoft's knowledge base, it appears that I can use netsh to remove NAT as a routing protocol, I am just not clear on the syntax.

The article is here:
URL: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/netsh_routing.mspx

Title: Netsh commands for Routing

Thanks,

Jeff

 

netsh routing ip nat uninstall

 

Thanks Newt

I will try this and let you know if it resolves the issue.