XP Network Problem

[den]

The office has a shiny new PC (Intel 2.4GHz Dual core cpu, 1GB Ram, Leadtek FX1500 256MB OpenGL certified video card.) I can get it to connect to the office LAN and see other PCs/Print/Share files through the DLink router.

I am buggered if I can get it to connect to the net. I've tried all the setup procedures I can think of but I'm not a confident hacker and XP's lack of configureability is beating me. Please throw suggestions at me. ("switch to Mac/Linux" will earn a tongue-poke.)

Comments

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Definitely a DNS problem.

[talvinamarich.livejournal.com]

Then you have narrowed it down. I am at a loss to recall where in XP you set that...I kept having to monkey with it for my wife's computer.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Excellent! These are easy!

Go to Control Panel, Network Connections. Right-click on the network connection (LAN or wireless), hit Properties. Click TCP/IP, click Properties.

Right here, "Obtain DNS Server Addresses Automatically" should be selected. If it isn't, select it and click "OK" or "close" until you're back at the network connections window.

Right-click, choose STatus, click Support, click Repair, and wait for this to finish.

Poof! You should be online.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Note: I'm assuming you use DHCP to assign addresses and DNS on all your machines. If you need to specify an IP address, then you will also need to specify DNS.

Specifying DNS is, fortunately, simple. Go to one of the WORKING machines, hit the command prompt, type "ipconfig /all" the way I mentioned in a previous comment. Write down the two DNS server addresses.

Go back to the new machine, and go to Control Panel, Network Connections. Right-click on the network connection (LAN or wireless), hit Properties. Click "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", click Properties.

Here, select "Use the following DNS server addresses" and type in the numbers you got from the working machine. Once they're in, click "OK" or "close" until you're back at the network connections window.

Right-click on the connection, choose Status, click Support, click Repair, and wait for this to finish.

And you should be online, again.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Can't complete the repair due to "Cannot repair IP address."

I'll try what you suggest below, and force the bastard to accept an IP addy

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

A-ha! Cannot "renew" IP address, right?

That's a DHCP problem. Your machine is possibly getting an address outside the router's allowed DHCP range.

DLink routers usually have an option, under either Status or LAN configuration, to view the current DHCP table. It might be enlightening to check
A) what the valid range of DHCP addresses is
B) what computers the *router* thinks have addresses from it at the moment.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

FIXED! It was MAC filtering on the router.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

See? Routers lie.

Why are you MAC filtering a wired network?

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Wireless laptop has to connect, and I didn't want the bastard neighbours mooching off the company broadband. They did in the early days until I shut that door.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

#1: WPA or even just plain old WEP will be far more effective than MAC filtering. More convenient for when you add new PCs later, too.

#2: What the kind of router lets you set MAC filtering, but doesn't let you choose to set MAC filtering for wireless clients only?

[jamesb]

All the D-Link Routers that I've seen have all or nothing MAC filtering. There's no option for just Wi-Fi MAC filtering.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

How... odd.

One more reason to stick with NetGear, then, hmm?

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

you bet!

[jamesb]

If you'd seen any of my many LJ posts about the random rebooting problems that I had with a series of different model D-Link wireless routers during the 3 year warranty period, you'd definitely steer clear of them. The last replacement they sent me a few weeks before the warranty expired is still sealed in its box.

My current router is an old salvaged Pentium class PC running the Linux based IPCop.