No LAN internet; but wifi works

I've got a strange problem, and I hate to say I think it might be hardware at fault. This is a problem because it's a laptop.

When I got the machine, neither LAN nor wifi would work, despite two different sets of what should be good drivers. I booted into ubuntu, and there the wifi began to work, but not the LAN. At some point I pulled and reset the wifi card; perhaps that accounts for the change, but I'm not sure.

Then, directly back in windows 7 x64, now the wifi also worked, but not the LAN.

I've updated all drivers, including the AMD video (which handles a lot of functions). Device Manager looks very happy.

The LAN says "unidentified network", unless I hard-spec the IPv4 default access point IP. Then it says connected, but no internet access. Windows classifies it as a Public network. Windows Firewall is up, but dropping it did not help.

The wifi seems to be working reliably. But if I toggle it off via the keyboard hotkey while an ethernet cable is plugged in, when I reenable it it, like the LAN, will connect but with no internet access. Then I remove the ethernet cable, re-toggle the wifi switch, and it comes on with internet access. It seems that when the ethernet problem manifests it also hangs the wifi.

I'd rather have wifi than LAN, if I had to choose. But I'd like to get both going. Unfortunately this is onboard LAN and I can't change the card. I'm going to post the IPCONFIG output following.

Thanks,
Paul


eth plugged in, wifi off:

Code:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7065:64c4:4280:becd%19
   Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.190.205
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 4:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.{0346B4E3-1B72-4EEE-92A2-3D5243038D6E}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.{E7FEFC64-373A-4ACF-A7D9-5BFB6A8AA473}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

wifi on, LAN unplugged:

Code:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 4:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::a5c8:8abb:ed0d:be5e%18
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.196
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Tunnel adapter isatap.{0346B4E3-1B72-4EEE-92A2-3D5243038D6E}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:9d38:6abd:28e3:480:3f57:fe3b
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::28e3:480:3f57:fe3b%11
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::

Tunnel adapter isatap.{E7FEFC64-373A-4ACF-A7D9-5BFB6A8AA473}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :

You don't have internet on Ethernet, because the adapter can't contact a dhcp server.

First thing - have you tried a different ethernet cable? Try, if you haven't already.

Second, connect the Ethernet only, in command prompt type

ping localhost

and post the results.

Hello, doctore, and thanks for reading my post.

Yes, I did try a working ethernet cable, pulled it directly off my main tower, and it too did not work.

I physically pulled the wifi card from the laptop, un/reinstalled the ethernet adapter in device manager, with its drivers, and there was no change: "unidentified network".

I did the ping you requested:

Code:

Pinging HP-G4 [::1] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from ::1: time<1ms
Reply from ::1: time<1ms
Reply from ::1: time<1ms
Reply from ::1: time<1ms

Ping statistics for ::1:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

Let's try and assign static IP on the Ethernet adapter to see if it works. Open your Ethernet adapter properties, double click on the (IPv4) line and assign the following IP settings:

Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

The DNS settings will automatically go to manual, but check them back to auto. "OK" everything and see if there is internet.

Hmmm, very cool.

First, I want to say that the ethernet port looks undamaged and is clean.

Now, I did what you said. Previously I had specced the router as the gateway, and that got me connected but with no internet or local. Now, I put in your info. DNS auto was grayed out and I was not able to select it. I left DNS blank, and that again got me connected but with no throughput. So I went back and specced in the router as the DNS server (which I want it to be), and immediately had full connectivity.

The Status dialog, however, still says no IPv6 internet.

This is a major step forward! Thanks.

Well, you won't have IPv6 (except link-local), since we are using a static IP address. You can enter a static IPv6, if you feel adventurous :) (Setting up IPv6 is not that hard, it just could get a bit confusing on a forum).

Now, you router should be both your DNS and your DHCP. Check with your router's setup to see if its DHCP is active. The DHCP is what allocates the IP addresses, so once you have it on - go back to your adapter settings and change the IP to automatic. Then you should have both IPv4 and IPv6.

I wish it were that easy, but the router is working flawlessly on both lan and wifi on various other units, all but one of them DHCP.

When I went back to Auto, it reverted to Unidentified.

I went to ipconfig /renew, and after a few long minutes it came back with "unable to contact your dhcp server", and "error releasing Loopback pseudo-interface: cannot find file specified".

I then manually specced the router as both dns server and default gateway, but still leaving dhcp for the connection. Same result.

The problem seems to be in the DHCP client aspect of the hardware. It manifests both in windows and ubuntu.

Wow, it was easier than I imagined. I never need to reboot the modem or router - so I thought. It's been more months than I can count. But when the third machine in a row began to have identifying problems, I began to suspect. 30 seconds offline, and the router was back in business, and this machine, and another with the same problem, are working fine. I guess the established machines already had their DHCP allotments and thus didn't manifest the problem - yet. So the problem seemed localized to the new machines.

Thanks so much for your attention to this. I've learned a few things, and maybe others have as well.

Paul