Alright, here's my setup. I've been running this little home network for over two years without a single problem. I have the whole network wired, no wireless connections involved.
I have my main computer (the one that won't connect right now) and 3 other computers. I have a server computer that serves all the files and music streaming, etc. Every computer in the house has file sharing turned on.
Now every computer on the network is running fine, except my main.
When I restart it tries to renew the ip address and connect to the router but it just wont connect. eventually I get the "limited connectivity" message and nothing works on it, no net, sharing, nothing.
I tried setting static ips on the whole network. *.101, *.102, etc. with no success.
I also tried running the network setup wizard to resolve anything that could have possibly changed to no avail. I did a soft and hard reset on the router with no success. Even though the modem is working fine with other computers I even hard restart that.
I've narrowed the problem down to the router or the main PC, I'm 98% it's that computer.
This will probably sound obvious. Are the drivers for the network hardware installed and the device enabled, and you have checked the network card and the cable by substitution?
Yes, the drivers are installed properly and the device is enabled. It "seems" to be working ok, it just wont find the network, it gets stuck on "renewing ip address".
I just reinstalled windows and the same damn problem, it won't connect to router. Every other PC in the house is behaving normally. I also hooked wireless internet card up to main and it now will connect to the internet. I don't want to be wireless though espicially since the router is a mere foot away from the computer. I do like streaming movies and such, which is almost impossible thru wireless B.
The only thing I can think of left is hardware failure on the network card. Maybe cord failure too. Those are my next things to check.
If you've narrowed it down to either the main PC or the router...you'll know quickly if any of the other computers are having the same issue...it's the router.
You can test your NIC card by attaching a crossover cable between it and another computer's NIC port (direct NIC connection) and testing the network again. If it's the NIC, you won't get a network connection either way.
Tweeder,
Unplug the main PC and plug one of the other PC's into the main PC router port, if that other PC continues to work ok then it is more than likely the network card in your main PC, next plug the main PC into another port on the router if it doesn't connect then it will be the network card (first thing to look at). If you suspect the network card, turn the main PC off and take the side off and remove the network card, then replace it in the same PCI slot or try another it just may need reseating (cross fingers). If it still doesn't fix it get a card out of another machine and see if that will work (try a different slot).
I took the network line out of my server PC and ran it to my main PC (the pc having probs) and it does the same exact thing. That tells me the actual cable is good. So that only leaves the network card or some kind of windows problem. I can rule out windows because it was doing this before the format, and after the format. The network card is the only thing left.
I updated the drivers.
Uninstalled and Reinstalled drivers just to make sure.
Still nothing. I guess I'm just gonna suck it up and buy a network card and see if that resolves it. I have a wireless adapter hooked up temp now and its working fine (another reason I don't believe its windows) so I can use that temp until I get another nic.
I would keep it wireless but a) it taunts me and makes me feel stupid when the PC is 12 inches from the router. b) i transfer too many files throughout the network (large files, sometimes 4.8GB) to wait the 2 hours it takes to transfer them through the air.
Totally off topic, Willy Wonka was totally right (original movie). Are we almost to the point we can transfer people across the television/radio waves? If we can send 5 gig xbox isos, how long till we can send a midget? Then a full sized person. w00t.
