Vista - Local Access Only

My friend, who now does not have a connection to internet with a wired router, has asked me for help. His connection is showing "local access only" . He runs Vista Premium on his desktop and was connected yesterday. Vista updates installed automatically, and after restart he only had " l. a . o. " connection.
He did a system restore but to no avail. Any suggestions for a beginner please.
Mike.

Problem solved. A.O.L. were out of action for about 14 hours.

I have just realised that this local access issue is a big problem with many users do you have instructions as to how to fix this I have tried to disable the IV6 network nothing works for both the wireless and wired. The laptop was working perfectly for the last year and now this happens to it.

"Local Access Only" doesn't really indicate where the problem lies. It could indicate that your gateway is down, dhcp server can't/won't issue you an IP address, your NIC is on the verge of nuclear meltdown, etc. If you can ping 127.0.0.1 then your NIC is functional, it's either got a bad configuration or the distant end cannot establish communication with you.

yes I can ping 127.0.0.1 the NIC is working fine. Thanks

I just tried to ping my router having plugged in the ethernet cable from the router to the laptop and transmission failed. I tried to ipconfig /release and /renew it released fine but would not renew said it was unable to contact your DHCP server. Request timed out.

Is there another computer connected to the router to confirm it's dhcp server is running?

yes I am working perfectly off an acer using vista business. it works fine. What has the DHCP server got to do with the whole issue? How do I test to see if the DHCP server is running? I am sure it is as internet on the acer is fine

It's troubleshooting my friend, the DHCP server is what gives you your IP address if you haven't set your computer to run off of a static IP. I had you check another computer simply because if no computer connected was able to access the internet it makes it that much easier to pin down where the problem lies, in which case we've verified its your computer. Is your computer set to use a static IP or DHCP? You can find out by going to network and sharing center > view status (for your local area connection) > click details > click view properties > choose internet protocol version 4 > choose properties > ensure obtain an IP addresss automatically is selected.

If it is, open a cmd prompt and type in

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

This will release your IP address (which is stuck on 169.x.x.x) and attempt to establish communication with the DHCP server again. My guess is you've tried resetting multiple times with no luck. If this is the case and you still don't get connectivity, in a cmd prompt type in

netsh ip int reset netshlog.txt

This will reset two keys in the registry that TCP/IP uses and log it in netshlog.txt. Essentially it reinstalls the TCP/IP suite, which we're going to assume is corrupted and is preventing you from obtaining an IP address. Reboot and see if you're up and running. If not, then your winsock key may be corrupted. Open cmd prompt and type in

netsh winsock reset

For good measure reboot. This will reset Winsock to it's default state. If memory serves me correct, this will also remove exceptions in window's firewall, but to be honest I use a third party firewall and XP at work so I can't confirm this for sure. You can verify your firewall settings after you run this command through the firewall control panel. If they are removed, you would probably be best off reinstalling the security suite of your choice (your antivirus and malware protection) to ensure you haven't somehow affected their ability to provide protection. You may also need to create exceptions for any programs you use that access the internet (games, instant messengers, etc). Again I'm not a subject matter expert on the inner workings of windows firewall.

If none of the above has you at least able to obtain an IP address, then by all means say so. You may end up having to backup your personal files and doing a clean install. The other immediate things I can think of that may be causing this:

MAC filtering is enabled on your router
Your computer is infected with some sort of malware

Keep me updated.

I am also having the local only issue on my other laptop.
ipconfig/release is currently giving me the error:

No operation can be performed on Local Area Network while it has its media disconnected.

The netsh command you listed gives me this error:

The following command was not found: ip int reset netshlog.txt

I was able to reset winsock but still no internet.