No internet (wired or wireless), even when "connected" [Win XP]

Hi all,

After one very frustrating week, I've realized I really need some professional help on this!

I recently dealt with a virus by restoring my registry, and ended up reinstalling Windows XP entirely (still keeping my docs/photos/music, etc & programs). After doing so, my wireless connection gave me a "Limited or No Connectivity" message when I tried to get onto my home wireless network - I had been connected to it less than 5 hours before (before the virus crash). Also, we have a 3 other computers in the house that have remained connected throughout this time, so I know I can rule out the router itself.

I then tried connecting via ethernet and received the same "Limited or No Connectivity." I upgraded Windows XP to Service Pack 3 [via another laptop and a flash drive] and still saw no change. I noticed I was getting "168.254.xx.xx" addresses for both the wired and wireless connections and tried winsockxp fix and clearing the DNS cache, but had no luck. [I was able to ping the 168.254 IP address but could not connect to the internet].

I unplugged the ethernet to focus just on the wireless for the time being. I tried "netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt," and suddenly my wireless connection had a proper IP (192.168.2.6 with subnet of 255.255.255.0 and DNS of 192.168.2.6), but still could not connect to google.com or any other website. I was able to ping 192.168.2.6 properly, but could not ping 4.2.2.1 or any website - this is where I am running into trouble, as most fixes I've seen have gone from a jumping off point of being able to ping 4.2.2.1.

Other information: I've done my best to disable Symantec Anti-Virus and whatever other Norton Anti-Virus that was on there, but with the XP reinstall only 5 or 6 of my programs are showing up in the Add/Remove programs list (making it difficult to fully uninstall any potentially problematic programs while dealing with this). I've checked the services list multiple times and everything that should be automatic and started is. I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling both NIC cards, updating drivers, etc. - no luck.

Lastly - I've had this computer for about 3 years. I connected to the internet ONLY via an ethernet cable for the first few months, but the connection began to slow down, and after a week I had no connection and was getting the "Limited or No connectivity" error. It could have been a virus, but I couldn't seem to locate it, so I gave up and bought a wireless router and have since relied on that (while every other ethernet connection I had tried still gave me the same error). This is the first time I have seen that "Limited or No connectivity" with my wireless connection, so I wonder if the two errors are one in the same or if the ethernet connection may be its own, isolated problem (in which case, I don't care! I've lived without it and just want the wireless back!).

I hope I've provided enough information - thank you thank you thank you in advance!

Hello,

Try this:

Please start Internet Explorer, and when the program is open, click on the Tools menu and then select Internet Options.

• Now click on the Connections tab and then the Lan Settings button
  
• Under the Proxy Server section, please uncheck the checkbox labeled Use a proxy server for your LAN. Then press the OK button to close this screen. Then press the Apply button and then the OK button to close the Internet Options screen. Now that you have disabled the proxy server you will be able to browse the web again with Internet Explorer.
  

If it doesn't work,

Download this zip file with the patch, registry file, and instructions by going here:

http://www.ausconnect.net/files/sp2connectivityfix.zip

1) Download the patch from Microsoft's site
2) Run the update to install it
3) Run this short Registry fix to complete the update. Copy the following
lines in Notepad and save the file as FixReg.reg on your desktop, then
double click on it to install into your registry.



4) Reboot your computer

If you experience the error message again, reboot your computer first. In
most cases this will solve many connectivity issues that are not
associated with this SP2 bug.


Microsoft patch (KB884020):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=17d997d2-5034-4bbb-b74d-ad8430a1f7c8&DisplayLang=en

Thanks for the quick reply! I did not have a proxy server enabled - I had checked this before actually because I noticed that when I was "connected" and opened Internet Explorer, the status bar stuck on "Detecting proxy settings" for about 20 seconds before it switched to "Finding site: http://www.google.com."

As far as the fix, I am running SP3 and got the error there was "no need to install the update" - I ran the FixReg.reg and restarted, but now have a new problem. I was asked to activate Windows ("This copy of Windows must be activated with Microsoft before you can log on") before anything on the desktop loaded and explorer started up - I still had 20 something days left to activate, so I'm not sure why this is a problem now! Obviously the activation did not work, even with the ethernet cable plugged in, so I'm going to have to activate by phone...

I'll get back to you once I've done that, but I thought I'd give the update in case there's something else to try. Given the lack of ability to connect for activation, I think it's safe to say the problem isn't yet fixed. Should I be rolling back to SP2 in order to apply the update, or would it automatically have been applied when installing SP3?

Thanks again.

So the activation is done, but I have a new problem - I got a notification that my wireless card (intel 3945) was not installed correctly and the system was "missing a file." I had previously uninstalled the card, then reinstalled the card with drivers and software from Intel and the whole thing was working fine up until the FixReg. When I tried to uninstall the card, I was told it could not be done and that a file was in use. Strangely, when I opened regedit to reverse the FixReg edit, suddenly the wireless card disappeared from Device Manager, so I reversed FixReg, restarted the computer and the card was fine...

...but I'm back to the start in terms of my connectivity problem.

Hello,

What is the brand of your computer?

It's a Dell Latitude D630

Hello,

Go here, download and install the drivers and see if it works.

Ah, we think alike - I had the drivers waiting on a flash drive when I posted the first entry. I checked the site to see that they all were downloaded, installed each of them into the computer and restarted... but again, no luck.

Now I'm getting a couple problems with the wireless. After restarting the computer a couple times for the driver installs, my wireless connection has started showing up as "Limited or No Connectivity" with a 168.254 address. I tried the netsh fix again, restarted, but no luck. I've noticed that the SSID of my network does not show up when hovering over the wireless icon on the task bar - instead it simply says "Wireless Network Connection," signal strength: excellent, etc. Could this have something to do with it?

Hello,

Do you have SSID broadcast enabled in your router settings?

Yes I do. The SSID shows up on both a second laptop and my iPod, so I do not think it is an issue with the router settings.

Hi there - It's been a while, should I continue trying to repair this myself? I'm not sure what other options I have but calling (shudder) Geek Squad (since I don't know who else to go to for this kind of thing)... or, I suppose, to back up my files and restore the whole computer - but how do I know that will fix this problem?

Any advice would be appreciated...