No network connection found

[mediaman09]

Out of the blue, I lost my Network and Internet connectivity

Windows 7 gave me excellent troubleshooting tips like to check if I have a cable connected..

Device manager tells me that my network adapter is working properly (Realtek GBE)..

When I try to connect to a network it tells me no network connection found.

Any suggestions? I am dead in the water. The machine is still configured as it was out of the box (relatively new machine - Dell XPS Studio 9100 - Windows 7 Home Edition 64 Bit). It been working fine for almost a year.

I sincerely hope reformatting and reinstalling Windows 7 is not the answer to every windows 7 problem

 

[richnrockville]

Mediaman, can it be assumed that your ethernet cable is plugged in and you can see blinking lights on the jack where the plug is installed? Or is this a wireless? Have you tried to repair the connection by going to the network indicator and selecting diagnose or repair?


Rich

 

[mediaman09]

It's a wired connection

I ran the windows network diagnostics. No luck.

I reseated all the cables and rebooted the router. No luck.

All my other machines have network acesss (one other win 7, many xp's, ipad, apple tv etc, etc.

This brand new win 7 machine simply decided to stop connecting to internet or the local LAN.

The Ethernet port is built in. I don't see any lights, but I don't think any exist.

I am at a loss as to what to do.. I would hate to rebuild any entire machine over this. Inhave made no software changes of late that would explain this behavior.

Control panel, network and sharing, the view active networks section says :you are currently not connected to any networks.

If I try to connect to a network, it says no connections are available. If I select troubleshoot, it tells me to connect a cable.

I am out of options

 

[rogerfour]

mediaman09, control panel/network & sharing center/change advanced sharing settings/ then turn on network discovery and any of the other options that you want to have...... then try to connect to network again.

 

[mediaman09]

Thanks. Tried that but it did not help.

Windows 7 is the gift that keeps on giving. I rebooted the machine and got a BSOD. It flashed just enough so a user could not read it. Then it went into a chkdsk routine, and again flashed by just fast enough not be able to read what it said. Then it said "Welcome" for awhile but no change re the network issue.

To date, between my two Win 7 machines, I have, by far, spent more time fixing them than using them. So that translates to zero enjoyment and zero productivity. I am a professional engineer using pc's since they were introduced in 1983. needless to say I am most underwhelmed with Windows 7.

Looks like I am headed for a rebuild.. Unbelievable. New machine, relatively new operating system and still basic functions are this unreliable.

There goes another 20 hours I will never get back..

 

[mediaman09]

I am into hour 2 now of restoring the drive to an earlier image.

As fully expected, the restore has failed. After all, its windows.

System now won't recognize any user profile (even Admin) as the user files are on D: drive which is hidden and deleted when I restore the c drive. What a day. During the restoration, I booted in safe mode with networking, and still no luck.. So I am going to abandon this brand new machine (with it's 2 TB of disk space, 18GB of memory, fast processor and Win 7 64 bit OS). One day I may reformat it and reinstall from the Dell OEM DVD..but it's going to sit dead for a while as I have no patience for this anymore.

After dealing with two Win 7 machines, I think I am pretty much done with Dell and with Microsoft. I can't afford the total time drain, and worse the stress it causes is extremely unhealthy. I would have thought that by 2011, after seven kicks at an operating system, Microsoft would have built a robust stable rock solid product, but alas, this will never be the case..

 

[rogerfour]

mediaman, sorry to hear of your bad experience. There are so many things that could have gone wrong but I guess at this point the system is now unrecoverable after these failed attempts. Any suggestions now would be useless. Getting BSOD's even briefly is bad every time, there must have been some event that caused this in the first place - Assuming that your cables checked out, It must have been Hardware - Ethernet, RAM, Virus or some combination thereof..... especially if you have other working machines on the same network.
Windows 7 is a solid OS - but I guess you can't win them all - stuff happens. Good Luck.

 

[mediaman09]

After a nights sleep and reformatted the whole thing and started from scracth. Been at it ALL day. I did spend $1000 on this machine so I do want to get 'some' value out of it, desptie the pain in doing so.

I also moved the machine to a different room ( no easy task) direct to the router, to narrow down issues.

After a rebuild, I now have network connectivty again... but this solid OS wont let me install updates. It installed some, but for the big one ( 87 updates), it just sits at 0% for hours.

I searched for some fixes but most just suggest, ahem, resintalling Win 7- the standard answer for any issue. Done than about a two dozen times in the last month.

Saw another suggestion for elevated command prompt to stop windows updates - tried that - no difference.

Saw another one about Microsfot Security Essentials causing the problem. Too much irony there!. Anyway I cant see it Control Panel/Program so there is no way to uninstall it assuming I even have it ( can see it under Start Programs)

Its really is quite a joke the pain one must go thru to get Win 7 to work properly once there is a problem. One step forward, two steps back. Thank heavens for this forum. But it really is a sad statement.

Anyways, how do I get past the 0% download progress on Windows updates??

 

[richnrockville]

Mediaman, It is a shame what you have gone thru.
a couple of questions.

When you say you re-installed windows, Did you reformat the disk or just reinstall windows without removing the existing partitions?

When re-installing windows, I recommend a complete removal of the existing partitions so that any traces of the prior problems are obliterated.

Also, one thing about ethernet connections, there is an option for the OS to turn the power off to an ethernet device both wired and wireless when it detects that the connection is not used, this could do what you described earlier.

Exactly what version of Windows 7 are you installing? OEM or full version?

Also, before you install any microsoft updates, I recommend you make sure that all of your machine drivers, for motherboard, network and video are installed and up to date.

Hope this helps or commiserates with you.

Rich

 

[rogerfour]

mediaman, sometimes the updates get stuck for some reason and a particular update has failed which prevents it from going any further. Here is a suggestion which seemed to have worked for somebody:
[FONT=&quot]Update install taking a long time[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Applies To: Windows | Windows 7 | Install, Upgrade and Activate [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I downloaded some system updates, but then because some of my programs wouldn't respond I had to force restart it. Now it's installing my updates, but it's been stuck on 20 updates out of 22 for hours which is unusual - it's never taken this long before. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I'm using Windows 7 (I believe its the Home version). I'm not sure if I'm using a 32 bit of 64bit version of Windows. I don't know when the last update was installed - it might have been a month ago. I'm also unsure of the update number of any failed updates.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Norton anti-virus is the only anti-virus I've used, and I'm pretty sure it's up to date.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
Click 'Start' and enter in the search box: (without the quotes) "Windows Updates"
Click on Windows Update in the list that pops up.
Upper left corner of the Windows Update windows is the option to "View update history", click on it.
Your list of updates should be displayed, one of the columns is named "Status", scroll down the list until you find the failed update and write down the KB number.
Google the KB Number as per this example to down the update file and store it in a folder.
KB2534366 download - Google Search=
Then double click on the file you downloaded to install it.
Note: Sometimes a "Clean Boot" helps to insure the update installs.
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7
(Perform Steps #1a, 1b, 1c, 1d and 1e)
Perform a clean startup to determine whether background programs are interfering with your game or program
Perform a clean startup to determine whether background programs are interfering with your game or program
_________________________________________________________________


[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
After the reboot the update I was having trouble with installed, so everything seems to be working. Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.
____________________________________________________


Mediaman, Maybe this will also work for you ?? I HATE giving up on stuff like this !! It’s just a silly machine…….
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]

 

[rogerfour]

mediaman I also saw this in the forum some time ago......

http://www.sevenforums.com/windows-...ates-taking-too-long-install.html#post1465992

 

[mediaman09]

When you say you re-installed windows, Did you reformat the disk or just reinstall windows without removing the existing partitions? When re-installing windows, I recommend a complete removal of the existing partitions so that any traces of the prior problems are obliterated.

Yes clean install/refomat.

Also, one thing about ethernet connections, there is an option for the OS to turn the power off to an ethernet device both wired and wireless when it detects that the connection is not used, this could do what you described earlier.

Good tip - but that was of the first things I checked was the NIC configuration.

Exactly what version of Windows 7 are you installing? OEM or full version?

DELL OEM Version Win 7 64 BIT .

Also, before you install any microsoft updates, I recommend you make sure that all of your machine drivers, for motherboard, network and video are installed and up to date.

Right after the install, things seemed to be working - even the NIC.

Hope this helps or commiserates with you.

Most definItely - misery loves company

Upper left corner of the Windows Update windows is the option to "View update history", click on it. Your list of updates should be displayed, one of the columns is named "Status", scroll down the list until you find the failed update and write down the KB number. Google the KB Number as per this example to down the update file

Thanks for that tip. If I still see Failed items I will do this. Other posta tell me that Windows Update will offer up the update again at time point.

Note: Sometimes a "Clean Boot" helps to insure the update installs.

Yup been there, but its hit and miss

I HATE giving up on stuff like this !! It’s just a silly machine…….

Thats what the humans said about the Terminators, and look what happened to them, so unless your John Connor....

UPDATE
After a few more updates, and just letting in run for hours and hours, I got thru about 88 updates. Then it stopped working. I checked it a but further and guess what I found: "No Network Conectivity Found". That's right. See Original Post!!!!!

So in a moment of sanity it occured to me what REALLY happened 24 hours earlier. I had ruled OUT the machine as when I moved to a new location, connected it direct to the router ...but that was after I started the rebuild ( ie the factory NIC driver was in play). 24 hours later, near the end of the rebuild, update number 87 clobbered my NIC. That was the problem all along. An upadated Realtek NIC driver, once installed clobbered by NIC. So , almost done my rebuild anyway, I did a system restore, to a few updates earlier , started again, avoided that update, and now and I back to a working machine.

I could have avoided the rebuild with 20-20 hindsight, but I'm glad I did it anyway as it eliminated the other problem I had where the Dell config, togother with a tip on this forum re User files, left me with system, boot and user profiles spread over three partitions- they are now on one).

BUT HERE IS THE PART I DONT GET. The update that clobfered me was a Optional update. I dont recall every manaully selecting it. Do the autotmatic Windows updates also install the Optionals??? I have since change my settings from "Install updates autpmatically ( receommnded) to "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them."

Anyway, seem to be on the path again. I have been doing several image bakcups along way. Now neeed to isntall someore software and I should be back in business.

Thanks again for the company !

 

[rogerfour]

Mediaman ! whew... glad to see u up and working again. Windows 7 does not automatically update optionals unless the boxes are checked (or at least - not supposed to). Sometimes you have to uncheck, I always look thrice before clicking. I think the optionals should only come up on first update after install ?
Looks like you were the "farmer in the Dell" oops... sorry.
bye