Fix for "Unidentified Network" / No Internet Access

Yes, thanks, it's great to have all these trouble-shooting tools and the overall context, including now knowing there is no "magic" fix from someone else from me to instantly pass on. It's easy to become disheartened and to lose clarity, let alone not knowing which way it might be best to focus. Thanks for all of this!! I am so pleased there are people and this forum helping. Over the past week I have spent all my available time on this, excluding work and existing commitments, that's at least 40 hours, much more probably. I haven't been slack! It is strange that my first ideas of restoring back using Windows system restore didn't fix it, I have other avenues such as eRuNT it now occurs to try plus yes, I do back up my data and create images. Anyway, am here now again this Sat morning bright & early to make another go at it and study and act on the system files as to what loads and will let you know.

About 6 or 7 hours on this today, once again confirming first that a boot with no services and no startup items does not yield the internet, then loading only the Microsoft services but no others and no startup items, again no internet, but for reassurance doing an F8 safe mode with networking, this does give the internet. This is what has beeen called a clean boot, but same result as tried and reported several days back - no internet.

Made a copy of msinfo32 of the clean boot and the F8 boot and identified 21 drivers which did not load in F8 compared to clean - then booted clean and tried to stop the drivers but found that it would have been better to compare the services running as once the drivers are loaded they can't exactly be swirched off obviously, what a nanna, oh well. Into the right tab of the 2 msinfo32 files and compared the services. Then booted into clean but followed up by starting and stopping services, one at a time to match, as far as possible, the F8 boot, trying for network connectivity by resfreshinbg the network map after each change. No joy. Also changed the network cable, a long shot, no change in connectivity as a result.

Also re-inserted the wireless network USB network adaptor and in a normal boot one can see the 2 network connections trying to get to the internet - the public network of each has several goes, but it stays public and the homegroup, which I turned on at some point in all this as it is a reference as to how close the PC is to connecting properly, the homegroup originally seen, then becomes unavailable although the membership is still stated.

So, went in normal mode with the usual services running again there is no internet and yet the shared resources, including the music on an NAS drive and sight of the other PC / laptops persists, as does Skype telling me who is online and my RSS feeds displaying material. Just no internet.

I am back at an F8 w networking. There is, I suppose, some mileage in determining when in normal mode just how well the network allows browsing of shares and whether Skype actually makes a call, not just displays contact status, but can't do that this minute, when in safe mode with networking and internet working.

Checking the e-mails, taking a break. Might need to do something major soon, to get my work back on track, clients are unwittingly hanging about as the days of troubleshooting go on. 7 hrs today then and still no joy, going out for the weekly food shop. They sell hammers in the supermarket thse days, don't they? Tee hee.

Please boot into safemode with networking and examine the IPv4 addressing information that you receive as it applies to the specific adapter that you are using and that works while in safemode with networking. Write it down, IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, dns server address(es).
Boot into normal mode and statically assign those IPv4 values to the same network adapter and reboot to make sure that those values are preserved through a reboot.
Any positive results when values are manually set?

Thanks, when I did that the other day the DNS server became unset. Suring the approx 60 secs of connection I imagine it was OK, but the unsetting of the server occurred, as di the transition from named to unidenrified network and it changing to pulic. I guess that all 3 events coincided and it is this that I have been wrestling with, i.e. what unseta my default gateway. You may remember that I can recreate that gateway by running the NIC diagnotics or by uninstalling the NIC and re-installing it, but only for about 60 secs, then the internet goes.

I did mention today that I had connected i.e. plugged in my w/l adaptor and this was both with and without the wired networ.

At the moment, in SM w N via F8 I have both internet connections. The LAN connection is a Home network, I see, named 120120 (in the network map of this PC) which relates to what I call the network connected to my Cable modem, router and switches. The w/l connection, I see, is a Work network named (in the network map of this PC) 120120o2 and uses my phone line's ADSL2+ w/l router. This broadband redundancy of supply stems from when the cable provision became unreliable a couple of years ago and I mean to stop using one but like the security of having - but not the cost of! - both.

The actual connection from this PC is wired to the phone line router o2, plus the w/l adaptor can ppick up either o2 or cable. Earlier today in normal mode only the 02 router seemed to be received, the w/l could not pick up the cable w/l signal, which is unusual. For most of the last 2 years the phone router and cable router supplies were in effect joined near a distant PC near which are the NAS drives and other PC's. All this worked ok, but when troubleshooting I split the two sources and have kept it that way. Now, to simplify the anlysis, I am unplugging the w/l dongle. This means that the only supply right now to this PC is the wired o2 router. It obtains its IP address automatically since I put that back the other day, but it looks like I either forgot to reset the DNS to auto or it has grabbed hold of what I know it should be, which is 192.168.1.254. The moment I go to normal mode that preferred (and only) DNS disappears, i.e. becomes empty. As I write this, it seems quite implasible, but I set 192.168.1.254 many times, and that is what happens. The other stuff is 192.168.1.xxx if done manually (I used xxx = 200) and 255. etc. I'll send this and later I will have a chance to reboot, so I can check then. Thanks. P.S. I did untick the ip v.6, but I see that the w/l dongle didn't have that unticked, yet it was working. It is now unplugged, of course. P.P.S. Do you remember that when the 2 networks were both in place it must have been that which led to different ranges on opposite ends of the home plug which takes the wired signal upstairs for broadcast to the garden - 192.168.1.xxx and 10.0.0.yyy, not that this seems in the equation now, as their is no join of the 2 broadbands. Another thought, though, has just occurred - the 2 w/l keys and channels are the same, but the SSID's are not.. again, I imagine irrelevant as all that is not being connected to from down here, just the one wired ADSL router.

P.S. Sorry about my spelling, I am rushing now, but when I do the work, I do check for accuracy!

Whenever you are dealing with a computer with multiple NICs (multi-homed), especially adding wireless/multiple wireless to the mix, you may very well end up with more problems than solutions as you are likely to have multiple default gateways as well as different DNS resolvers, depending on what is available through the DHCP source. That's why I recommended initialy that you simplify everything as much as possible by removing or disabling other adapters and concentrate on the wired adapter only.
Now if the DNS is truly the problem, which it could and likely is. Than please temporarily stop relying on your router to resolve DNS queries and manually assign a static value for this in the properties of IPv4 for the (only) NIC that you are using. Please use either the same DNS addresses that are being used by the WAN side of your router (open the Router's html/browser page and get them from the WAN setup side, they should be your ISP's DNS servers), or try using a public DNS server like Google's which are
8.8.8.8
and
8.8.4.4
Keep us posted

Yes, I did initially fairly soon after we started on this (i.e when you advised it) simplify everything by relying on the wired adaptor only and by having this onboard NIC card see only the one source of broadband. The other adaptor, the wireless, I put back into the PC a day or so ago to see how it handled default gateway. It is interesting that it maintains the default of 192.168.1.254 gateway and connects in an F8 boot through either that or through the automatic unspecific gateway and works whether ipv6 is on or not. I since removed (again) the w/l adaptor to keep things simple. The wired adaptor acts differently and it was after doing the steps you now propose that I ran out of ideas - I'd been tackling the problem for a while as mentioned at the time - and contacted the forum. Setting the wired adaptor to have a fixed IP of 192.168.1.222 and a subnet mask appears of 255.255.255.0 and a default gateway of 192.168.1.254 and the DNS servers as 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 this will not connect in either safe networking or normal modes. In normal mode I can validate and am told there is no valid DHCP server and the Windows then resets everything to auto, claiming to have fixed it. I do not have my ISP DNS and will call them for the info. When the IP etc are all fixed, in normal mode, there are the first few seconds or maybe one minute of difference - no internet, but the network is correctly named and seen as private. Then, as always, the network becomes unidentified and public. One other thing I will try later is to disable the wired NIC and re-instate i.e. plug in the w/l, then separately also the USB wired NIC I tried earlier with the onboard wired adaptor still disabled, in case the onboard wired NIC card is upsetting things via a hardware fault, though how it could propgate to the rest of this system, i.e the other network adaptors, I do not see. Remember too, that there are several other laptops and towers all picking up the internet wired, wireless or both, from this source of broadband or the other source of broadband or both (by which I mean from either source, at will). It is just this one - but it is my main work - computer.

Soon there will come a time when I can no longer carry on troubleshooting at this intensity, regrettably, after all the forum effort and my own over the 10 days. Iin order to save my work and clients I will need in the next day or two if not solved to build up all the software and data onto another existing or a fresh machine. Lots of work and potentially cost there too, but at least I have done this many times over the years and will have a very definite direction in which to go.

Not despondent, as I am receiving the best advice there is - thank you so very very much - and have worked hard and well on this, so I could not have done better to date. But now need a solution and the other direction beckons.

Hi,

It seems that I have a similar problem. :\

It appeared a few days after a clean install. Also a clean reinstall did not solve the problem. I checked the router and cables, but they seem to work. Other computers/devices have no problems with wireless/wired connections. Here is the ipconfig/all output:

Code:

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Altair
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168B/8111B Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-8C-94-A1-7F
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::4c24:2b4f:4808:19b2%11(Preferred)
   Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.25.178(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 234890380
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-F4-50-C8-00-24-8C-94-A1-7F

   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
                                       fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
                                       fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{9C07685B-244B-469F-A86C-8AA7511B8FAE}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP 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

So yeah, the computer can't get an IP address. Static ip didn't solve the problem. Although once or twice it did apparently connect, but pinging google.com results in package loss (average 50%) and actual browser doesn't connect to any site.

Pinging 127.0.0.1 seems to be responding without package loss. Ipconfig/release works but Ipconfig/renew times out with the following message:

Code:

An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection : unable to con
tact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.

I also checked with another NIC but it didn't help, so I guess it is unlikely to be a hardware failure (unless it is something more subtle than a simple NIC...). Also I don't think the drivers are at fault since before it connected nicely after installation with windows default drivers. I'm running a 64bit Windows.

So any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Originally Posted by Garrawar

Hi,

It seems that I have a similar problem. :\

It appeared a few days after a clean install. Also a clean reinstall did not solve the problem. I checked the router and cables, but they seem to work. Other computers/devices have no problems with wireless/wired connections. Here is the ipconfig/all output:

Code:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Altair
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168B/8111B Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-8C-94-A1-7F
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::4c24:2b4f:4808:19b2%11(Preferred)
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.25.178(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 234890380
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-F4-50-C8-00-24-8C-94-A1-7F

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{9C07685B-244B-469F-A86C-8AA7511B8FAE}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP 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

So yeah, the computer can't get an IP address. Static ip didn't solve the problem. Although once or twice it did apparently connect, but pinging google.com results in package loss (average 50%) and actual browser doesn't connect to any site.

Pinging 127.0.0.1 seems to be responding without package loss. Ipconfig/release works but Ipconfig/renew times out with the following message:

Code:

An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection : unable to con
tact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.

I also checked with another NIC but it didn't help, so I guess it is unlikely to be a hardware failure (unless it is something more subtle than a simple NIC...). Also I don't think the drivers are at fault since before it connected nicely after installation with windows default drivers. I'm running a 64bit Windows.

So any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Garrawar;
Hello and welcome to the forums.
First go here Realtek and download the latest driver from Realtek for your adapter (just the driver, it's a small 623k file dated 2011/2/22) to a folder and your computer and unzip it. It contains a Win7 folder, which contains two folder (32 and 64) you need the 64 folder. Then open device manager and force a manual update of the driver for your network adapter.
Expand Network Adpater
Select then right click the correct adapter and choose update driver software, then browse, then let me pick, then click the Have Disk button, then the browse button again and find the folder where you unzipped the files double click the rt64win7.inf file and continue with the driver update.
If that links doesn't seem to work for you, let me know. I have the same card and keep a local copy of the file, I can zip it up and attach it to a subsequent post. Sometimes Realtek's software download site acts a bit strange so let me know.
Reboot
If that still doesn't resolve your issue
Open device manager
expand network adapter
select the right click the adapter and choose properties
select the advanced tab at the top and then
select the Speed & Duplex property in the left box
change the value in the right box by selecting 10 Mbps Half Duplex from the drop down.
OK your way back out of there and reboot again.
If that seems to fix the issue, we will probably want to experiment with other speed and duplex settings like 10 full, 100 half and ultimately ending up with 100 full.
Keep us posted.

Thanks for a quick reply , Trouble.

Setting the Speed & Duplex to 10 Mbps Half duplex seemed to fix the problem (I also updated the driver, but it itself did not do the trick). Here's a quick breakdown of other options

10 Half - Working
10 Full - Working
100 half - not working
100 full - not working