Windows 7 - LAN NIC > Unidentified network, no internet access

Having trouble with my Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) wired LAN connection. Yesterday evening everything was fine, I was connected and doing some remote work into the office - I was playing with OpenVPN connections. I left the machine for a few hours logged on, came back and now the NIC appears dead.

I have restored windows to the point just before i installed Open VPN.

I get "Unidentified network" and "no internet connection" for my LAN connection in Network Centre. There's no gateway or ip assigned looking at ipconfig /all, just the self assigned 169.* ip

The ethernet cable is connected directly into my cable modem (note, not a router).

I have googled a lot and have tried (not necessarily in this order):

1. Ensured its not the WAN/RJ-45 cable - have connected successfully with an older laptop's LAN NIC. When switching machines i turn off both the machine and the modem for 30 secs, and typically tun network troubleshooter to reset the LAN.
2. Tested the internal NIC by pinging 127.0.0.1, loopback successful.
3. Uninstalled the LAN NIC and reinstalled it.
4. Removed all clients & protocols from the NIC's properties bar IPv4 and Microsoft Client for windows i.e. specifically removed IPv6.
5. Reset TCP/IP using netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt.
6. Have removed the wireless adapter. The only network connection is the internal NIC.

All forums I've scoured suggest one or more of these things, so I'm exhasuted of ideas.DCHP-Client issue:

"Your computer was not assigned an address from the network (by the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 0x88AE1D72F6F2.
The following error occurred: 0x79. Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server."

There's a new wireless router in the post. That's not the point for me though since this is a brand new machine, it should be working and I want it working. Even though 2. above was successful, seems to me to be a prob with the card.

Any pearls of wisdom out there would surely be appreciated.

Thanks!

Edit: ipconfig /all result




Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : AGILE-LAPTOP-01
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR8131 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Con
troller (NDIS 6.20)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 88-AE-1D-72-F6-F2
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.74.163(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{FB731CBB-3B9E-491D-BAAB-4DA756998F51}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter 6TO4 Adapter:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

If you need to switch between different machines with your modem then you would best off adding a router to your network.

Sometimes you need to shut the modem down for longer than thirty seconds, it's usually best to shut down the modem and wait a few minutes, then plug in the modem "with your system unplugged from the modem" after you plug in the modem wait till the lights settle which usually takes a few minutes.

While the modem is booting up run this batch file which will reset winsock, reset the TCP/IP stack and release renew your IP.

OK thanks for the heads up, although its missing the point a little.

I've had my puter and modem off all night and came back in the morning and booted up and still i've event viewer error messages saying dhcp is failing.

This is the root of the problem.

Yes i can get a router, its not the point. its a new laptop and this should work. sometime down the line i will need my ethernet to work. i am only switching now so i can post on here