Vista - Can't Connect to Wired Network!! Please Help!!

So this doesn't make any sense to me. I have vista home premium x64 installed on my custom desktop pc and I've always used a wired connection to a netgear router and cable modem to get it on the internet. Recently, I unplugged the ethernet cable WHILE THE COMPUTER WAS OFF and reconnected it WHILE THE COMPUTER WAS STILL OFF and now I can't connect to the network. It calls it an unidentified network and it only gives me local access. I've tried the diagnose and repair, reinstalling network drivers, and resetting my router. What's my problem here? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi BigSexy,

This doesnt mean something about just cause u removed the cable and reconneted this happen. its most liky that there may be a problem with the cable or the Network Card. So What you can try is try connecting the cable to another computer and check to see wheter that computer works. if It does then you could check your network card by replacing it with another card. Also Check the router wheter Its working propely by connecting it to another pc,.

Hope this helps
Cheers !!

Thanks for the advice. The ethernet is an nForce networking controller built into my motherboard so I can't try a different card, and I have other computers hooked up to the router both wired and wirelessly which work fine so I'll check to see if its my cable. It could be since its crammed under some wood trimming on the floor lol.

UPDATE: Hooked up a laptop running XP to the ethernet cable and it connected instantly with no problems.

Can I please get some help? This is urgent

Hey -- I don't know how advanced your knowledge is, so I am throwing stuff out there:

Three things to try (Will keep an eye on this thread for your replies):

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You mentioned that you are able to "local only" resources. Are you able to connect to your router? Generally, this would be at 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1

If so, you could try release/renew your DHCP license on the router to get it to connect to the modem. Although this is unlikely since you mentioned you were able to connect to the router/modem combo using a laptop.

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Next step would be to try to renew your computer's conncetion to the router.

1) Open a command prompt window (Start-->All Programs-->Accessories-->Command PRompt)

2) At the command prompt, type:
ipconfig /release

3) once done, at the new command prompt, type:

ipconfig /renew

4) close the command prompt window and try to connect.

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If that doesn't work,

(READ ALL OF MY NEXT TWO POSTS FIRST -- THESE IDEAS WILL NOT WORK IF YOU CANT TRANSFER THE TXT FILES TO THIS SITE). IF YOU CANT THEN SKIP TO THE LAST IDEA IN MY MOST RECENT POST. IF YOU CAN THEN PROCEED WITH THE FOLLOWING)

open another command prompt window and type:

route print > c:\route.txt

It will look like nothing happened. That's okay. Close the command prompt window and browse to your C:\ drive root. There will now be a file there called route.txt

Double click that file to open it in Notepad, copy and paste the contents into a reply post on this thread. That can give us information on what is happening and what to do next.

Good luck!!

Oh, and make sure you can't connect to the internet. My network has shown local only when things are really fine.

Try opening a command prompt window and typing:

ping google.com > c:\googping.txt

and

ping 209.85.171.100 > c:\googipping.txt

Then opening the text files and copy/pasting the contents to a reply post here. These results could give insight into the issue.

FINALLY -- just realized you can't be posting TXT files from a computer that has no internet access. Typical of how quickly we learn to rely on such stuff.

If you have already set up a network, you can try to browse it from your desktop to see if you can transfer the files to the computer you are using to read this thread. If so, transfer the TXT files to the PUBLIC folder and access them that way.

If there is NO WAY to get the text file contents to us, then try the following:

Open a command prompt and type:

ROUTE -f

then

ipconfig /release

then

ipconfig /renew

Essentially, these three commands will re-initialize your NIC and clear any persistent static routes.

Then, make sure IE matches your router's settings with respect to DCHP or static LAN IP. If you don't know what I am talking about, then it probably does.

Finally, open a command prompt and type:

ping google.com

and

ping 209.85.171.100

and let us know if it gives you a reply or an error message.

This will ALSO help if you happen to have two NICS on your puter and accidentally plugged the ethernet cable "back" into the other NIC than you used to be using. If you do have two NICS then you can try plugging the cable into the "other" NIC and restarting. Ockham's razor and all....

I kind of organized things a bit here; this works best since you can'rt easily provide us copies of your command prompt results:

Okay -- scratch my last post -- hit some funky button and screwed it up. Try this:

(almost) complete LAN/WAN reset procedure:
· Always do this with an Ethernet cable plugged into your machine (wired) to eliminate wireless security and compatibility issues; once you get it working wired, go for wireless.
Instructions for “opening a command prompt”:
1) STARTàALL PROGRAMSàACCESSORIESàCOMMAND PROMPT

Now, do the following:
1) CONTROL PANEL à INTERNET OPTIONS à Connections tab

a. Make sure nothing is in the “Dial-up and Virtual Private Networking Settings” box. If it is, then remove it (unless you know what it is and that it applies);
b. Click the “LAN Settings” tab;

i. Make sure “Automatically detect settings is the only box checked.
ii. Click okay to close

c. Click OK to close
d. Click NETWORK AND SHARING CENTER
e. Click MANAGE NETWORK CONNECTIONS

i. Select the first connection in the list, right click, and select properties;
ii. Click on Internet Protocol Version 4 to highlight
iii. Click Properties
iv. Make sure Obtain IP ADDRESS AUTOMATICALLY is selected;
v. Make sure Obtain DNS SERVER ADDRESS AUTOMATICALLY is selected;
vi. Click OK to close
vii. Click Close

f. Repeat this step for every connection in the list;

2) Close all windows back to the desktop;
3) Open a command prompt window (see above for instructions); At the command prompt, type:

a. ROUTE –f (then hit enter)
b. Ipconfig /release (then hit enter)
c. Ipconfig /renew (then hit enter)

4) Perform a COMPLETE LAN/WAN SHUTDOWN:

a. Shut down any machine on the network;
b. Turn off your modem;
c. Turn off your router (if applicable);
d. Turn your modem on, wait for all lights on front to turn green and stop blinking (wait at least 20 seconds to a minute or more if you have some cable);
e. Turn on your router if you have one. Waith about 20 deconds for all lights to stop blinking and turn green;
f. Turn on your computer;
5) When reboot is complete, attempt to connect to the internet using IE (32 bit if you have a 64 bit machine);

6) If it works, you are done!!
7) If nothing happens, open a command prompt and type:

a. PING google.com
b. PING 209.85.171.100
c. If you get “no response” from a but “response received” from b, then it is an issue with your DNS server settings, call your ISP for help;
d. If you get “no response” from both a and b then y7ou still have a problem. Keep going.
e. If you get “response received” from both a and b then you have an issue with IE:

i. CONTROL PANELàINTERNET OPTIONSà”Advanced” tab:

1. Click on the RESET button near the bottom of the window.
ii. Click OK to close;
iii. Close everything to the desktop;
iv. Shutdown like #4;
v. Restart and try #7 again.

8) If nothing happens in #7, and you have a router:

a. Shut down your machine, turn off both router and modem;
b. Plug modem directly into computer (bypass the router);
c. Reboot;

i. If it works, then it is a router issue. Either:

1. Reset your router and try again;
2. Use the machine without the router;
3. Try to get support for your router settings;

ii. If it doesn’t work, you are SOL as far as I can help.

9) If nothing happens and you do NOT have a router:

a. Verify the modem is plugged into the phone/cable line and the proper NIC receptacle in the back of your computer;
b. Call your ISP for assistance;
c. You are SOL as far as I can help.

If any of this results in a working connection with the cable plugged in and you want it wireless, then try it wireless and troubleshoot that once you have a stable wired connection. If you are wireless only and having problems, I may suggest resetting your wireless router. You will have to re-do all your security stuff, but it is a very simple way of eliminating security issues as a concern.

Hi guys.

There are just simply some network cards that absolutely refuse to work with 64 Bit VISTA. Just shows up as "Limited Connectivity" and doesn't get an IP address even if you assign one manually.

I've just come from the Windows 7 Forums (I have the same ID Jimbo45 where you can also read related posts) there is a similar issue.

People have mentioned all sorts of things from registry hacks to disabling IPV6. Most (or usually) none of these work . The strange thing is that in device manager Windows reports the device as working perfectly.

Incidentally don't bother changing the router it's not normally the routers' problem --my card didn't work on at least 3 different networks all with dfferent routers so they all can't be broken.

The only 64 bit OS I got the card to work with was windows XP Pro 64 bit.

Incidentally the card worked fine on all 32 bit OS'es including Windows 7 up to the latest 7057 build.

The ethernet card I have in the laptop that doesn't work is a VIA VELOCITY FAMILY GIGABIT ETHERNET card.

A usb===>lan device (very cheap) works fine BTW if you HAVE to connect to a wired lan with laptop having ethernet wired card problems. I cannot use a wireless lan if I'm connecting the laptop to a corporate lan so if you are in the same position try the USB==>LAN connectors - it's better than "downgrading" back to a 32 bit os - especially if you have 4GB of memory in the laptop.

If you've got a really fast internal LAN (not the Internet BTW) you can use a pci express 1GB/sec (thats 10 X faster than the 100 MB/s with standard LAN's) card -- apiotek (agere systems). This works fine on 64 bit Vista as well as Windows 7 and saves using a USB slot.

BTW most Wireless cards seem to work fine on 64 bit OS'es (Vista and W7). Not all but there seems to be much more of a problem with Wired LAN cards.

Cheers
jimbo