Limited Connectivity on Wired Local Area Connection

I recently have not been able to connect to the Internet using my wired Ethernet connection. When the computer starts it shows "Limited or No Connectivity" and nothing I do seems to be able to change that. I've read a lot of things online about this but can't seem to find anything that works so I'm trying my own thread with details specific to my system. I'm connecting directly into an Ethernet port in my dorm room. My wireless works fine and I can access the Internet through it but it is much slower than my wired connection would be.

I'm running Windows XP Professional with SP 3. I did a clean reinstall/format of all my data about 4 days ago and reinstalled some software and it has worked fine up until now. I don't recall any changes that actually made it stop working but I tried to uninstall the most recent Windows Security updates I installed. I'm running Ad-Aware and avast Antivirus but I don't think either of those have caused the problem because my Internet was running fine with both of those before.

I have a Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller as my Ethernet card and its drivers are up to date and it is not listed as having any problems in the Device Manager. I've uninstalled and reinstalled it once but that did not fix the problem. I did "ping localhost" and it came back fine which from what I've read means the Ethernet card is working.

Things I've tried:

1. Repairing the connection: gets stuck at "Renewing the IP address" and eventually says it can't finish this step and fails

2. ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew at command prompt: Release works fine but when I renew I get the error message "Unable to contact your DHCP server: remote time out. "

3. Updating drivers: didn't help

4. Uninstalling and reinstalling card: didn't help

5. netsh int ip reset reset.log, netsh winsock reset catalog, reboot: both operations work but when I reboot I have the same problem

6. WinSockFix.exe: ran it and rebooted but didn't fix the problem

7. LSPFix.exe: says I have no problem

This is what my ipconfig/all shows:

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : vanderbi-fb3415
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : vanderbilt.edu

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-C5-44-72-99
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.164.135
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : vanderbilt.edu
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-02-C2-74-18
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.16.66.219
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.16.64.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 129.59.9.162
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 129.59.1.10
129.59.2.10
72.3.249.55
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 129.59.1.15
Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 129.59.1.17
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, December 11, 2009 7:56:58 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, December 11, 2009 9:56:58 PM

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

Poplock,
Looking at the read out for the IPconfig on Broadcom NetXtreme the Default Gateway: is Blank
Try this:

useing (ipconfig)

start
then select run
then type in cmd
press enter
then type in ipconfig /flushdns notice the space between ipconfig & /
press enter
then type in ipconfig /release
press enter
then type in ipconfig /renew
press enter


then reboot

start
then select run
then type in cmd
then type in ipconfig
then type in netsh winsock reset
press enter
now reboot your system

providing that the (os) is installed on the c drive /you drive letter may be differnt

then reboot

check your connection

Sometimes it take several reboots

 

I did the ipconfig /flushdns and ipconfig /release and both worked but I still had the same problem when trying to do ipconfig /renew. I got an "Unable to contact your DHCP server: remote time out" error.

After rebooting I did the netsh winsock reset and it went through and I rebooted again. Still didn't work. I've rebooted 5 times now and still haven't been able to connect through my wired connection. I also tried a System Restore to return my computer to settings when I know the connection worked but that hasn't fixed the problem either.

 

I've tried the steps on there and it hasn't helped. I'm looking into trying to set up a static IP to check where the problem is. What I did was plug in my friend's computer to my cable, run ipconfig /all, copy down his IP address, default gateway, subnet mask, DNS servers, WINS servers and manually set my computer to those values.

After I did that it said my connection was fine (no more "limited or no connectivity ") but the Internet didn't actually work. Is that the proper way to manually set a static IP or is there some other way? I also varied the last part of the IP address some from his to see if that affected anything but it didn't.

Is there any way to check for hardware problems on my Ethernet card? The lights still function properly and the card is recognized but I don't see what else could cause the problem. I'll try repairing my installation of Windows XP soon but I have doubts it will do anything.

 

From what you have said, I’m assuming that you have entered the IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway and DNS Server(s) correctly for static addressing.

Now do a further check. Right-click LAN > Properties > General Tab, click Advanced > WINS Tab and make sure there is a check mark in Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

 

Try the following:
Go to Start -> run -> msconfig -> check whether it is in normal startup under the . general tab. Make sure it is set to normal startup.

Then Go to start -> Run -> Services.msc and check the below mentioned services are started or not
1. DHCP client
2. DNS client
3. Non Plug and Play
4. Network connections.

Then Try to login to safemode with networking and see whether it works.

If all the above steps dont work, then try to do Power Drain

Make sure you disconnect any external services connected to computer like printer or any devices for that matter. Then Disconnect the ethernet chord connected to the computer from router/modem. Then hold the power button on the computer tower and simultaneosly remove the power cord from the back of the computer and then keep holding it for 45-50 seconds. This is the procedure for Power Drain. Then do powercycle the modem , router and then connect the cables back to the computer from the modem/router. This should get you automatically connected to the internet with a valid ip address.