help from softies required

my laptop xp pro sp2 not download an ip address
if give an ip address it will see pcs on local lan but wiull not see the proxy server
cable os ok
light on lan card
all firewalls turned off
this did work at one stage (ie) conecting to proxy and then to internet now it does not
my it folks want to reinstall the networking software

any softies with ideas

No offence but it's very difficult to understand that post.

my laptop xp pro sp2 not download an ip address

What do you mean? It doesn't get a dynamic IP address from your DHCP server or something like that? Did this work before? If so what has changed since between then and it failing to work?

if give an ip address it will see pcs on local lan but wiull not see the proxy server

What do you mean "see"? Can you ping (open a DOS command shell and type ping 192.168.0.1 or whatever the IP address of the target host is) the proxy server? Are you sure that any manually allocated IP address is not clashing with others (e.g. those allocated by DHCP)? Do the other PCs have dynamically or statically allocated IP addresses? Have you compared their IP configuration details to yours (e.g. on Windows 2000/XP - not sure about W9x/Me - open a DOS command shell and type ipconfig /all).

xp

it will not take a a dhcp address
it can see (network neighd) local pcs
but not the proxy server

it worked before and now does not
nothings changed
it grp baffled
they want to load nw sw of install cd
else
they think it might be my ip hw

Re: xp

You're not posting from a mobile phone by any chance? :\

it will not take a a dhcp address

I presume that in this case the DHCP option in Windows has been selected for the relevant interface? For example:

Start -> Settings -> Network & Dial-up connections -> My network connection -> right click -> Properties... -> Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) -> Properties... button -> Obtain an IP address automatically/Obtain DNS server address automatically radiobuttons enabled

When DHCP mode has been enabled on your PC have the DHCP server logs been enabled and checked in order to ensure that it is actually requesting a DHCP lease? Have you tried ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew to manually release/renew the DHCP lease and see what messages you get on your PC and/or at the DHCP server?

it can see (network neighd) local pcs

It may be able to do this through NetBEUI/NetBIOS even in the absence of TCP/IP functionality depending on how your network/PCs are set up. Can you ping any other PC/server on the network at all as explained above?

nothings changed

Hmmmm ... that's what they all say!

Re: xp

unintentional bad spelling is excusable but this is ridiculous.

Re: xp

Try Ping ing the IP address of the proxy server
Your IT GRP should be able to provide this address.

check the Default gateway setting - sometimes set to the proxy server ip

IN Explorer the proxy server is usually set up
under tools > internet options > connections > lan settings

Mobile phone

AAM on our mobiles? When did brendan start a WAP service?

Seriously, Id try Clubmans suggestion.
Start a dos prompt Start > Run > cmd and then type ipconfig /release
...and then
ipconfig /renew


then run ipconfig on its own to see if you got an ip address. If you didnt then yes, the DHCP aint working right so then you need to go to you network settings in control panel and call thme out to your I.T. guy.

Apples.
Oranges.

First of all, I take softies to refer to software people and this is not a software issue it is a networking issue.

Next, if you give it an IP address and you can see local hosts but not one particular host - maybe that's because it is not local. You need to establish what your local network is and what network the proxy is on. Check the subnet mask. Check the default gateway.

Do an ipconfig (not /all or anything else) and compare the results with a working PC. Doing a plain old ipconfig gives you sufficient information to establish that the base configuation is OK or not.

Has your DHCP server run out of assignable addresses ? Does your DHCP server need to know MAC address before it will issue an address ?

The IP stack on most OS's is reasonably straight forward - it is safe to delete and re-add it since there's not a whole lot of configuration to be done, so re-installing the network elements isn't really a biggie. It certainly doesn't need a whole OS re-install.

Is your machine significantly different than the others on the network ?

Get your IT people to check whether your card is set to auto-sense, 10m or 100m and full or half duplex. There are some situations where the auto sense doesn't work and some weird things happen.

z

Doing a plain old ipconfig gives you sufficient information to establish that the base configuation is OK or not.

If you want to see DHCP information then you need ipconfig /all. The query seemed to relate to DHCP problems and this is the reason that I suggested ipconfig /all (and ipconfig /release, ipconfig /renew).

Has your DHCP server run out of assignable addresses ? Does your DHCP server need to know MAC address before it will issue an address ?

As I said - enable and check the DHCP server logs and configuration to see what's going on.

If you (or your IT people) want to get more down and dirty then install something like Ethereal with [broken link removed] to do network packet sniffing to see what's going on under the hood on the LAN.

My IT grp want to reload my networking software from my install disk

The system says that my connection has limited or no connectivity , the card light is on and blinking.

Could it be my hardware (lan card)?


Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\ Documents and Settings\tom>ipconfig
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.195.165
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\ Documents and Settings\tom>ipconfig /all
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : hplaptop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : National Semiconductor Corp. DP83815
/816 10/100 MacPhyter PCI Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0B-CD-86-62-52
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.195.165
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\ Documents and Settings\tom>ipconfig /release
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\ Documents and Settings\tom>ipconfig /renew

Windows IP Configuration
An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection : The requested
service provider could not be loaded or initialized.

C:\ Documents and Settings\tom>ipconfig
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.165.66
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\ Documents and Settings\tom>ipconfig /all
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : hplaptop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : National Semiconductor Corp. DP83815
/816 10/100 MacPhyter PCI Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0B-CD-86-62-52
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.165.66
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

C:\ Documents and Settings\tom>ping 169.254.165.66

Pinging °ÿ with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 169.254.165.66: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.165.66: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.165.66: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 169.254.165.66: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

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

C:\ Documents and Settings\tom>ping 212.16.56.2

Pinging °ÿ with 32 bytes of data:

Destination host unreachable.
Destination host unreachable.
Destination host unreachable.
Destination host unreachable.

Ping statistics for :
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),


Edited by ClubMan to remove extraneous emoticons.

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Why is there no default gateway specified? You generally need one specified if you want to contact hosts other than those directly connected to your LAN. Without one your PC will probably not know how to direct traffic for anything other than your LAN for onward routing. When using DHCP the default gateway is one of the configuration details normally provided by the DHCP server. If you can ping hosts on your LAN but not those external to it then (a) I can't imagine that there are any fundamental problems with your network hardware and (b) I would immediately suspect that lack of a gateway configuration for onward routing purposes is fundamental to the problem.

gateway

Hi Club,
I only need use the proxy for internet access

C

Re: gateway

cerberus - and what can you not do ?

If you are worried that Windows reports you have limited connectivity but you can do everything you need to do then don't worry . . .

If you can't connect to your proxy server then what IP address is it ? If it is not in the 169.254.x.x address range then don't be surprised you can't connect to it.

Among other things it looks like you aren't connecting to your DHCP server. I know it says you have a lease but the 169.254 network is typically (ab)used by the MS IP stack when it can't find any DHCP server.

For example part of ipconfig on my machine gives the following -

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 09 December 2004 20:57:44
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 09 December 2004 21:57:44

You will note the "DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254" line indicating that I got my address from the .1.254 machine. The equivalent of this line is missing from yours.

z

Re: gateway

212.16.56.2

is my proxy server

Re: gateway

Well there's your problem then.

If your IT people can't get the hang of subnets (or even physical network connections) then you may need to get some new IT people.

Here's the non-science bit :
Your desktop is in the 169.254 subnet (think 01 area code).
Your proxy server is in the 212.16 subnet (think 021 area code).
Your desktop has no means of contacting a host in another subnet if it has no default gateway (or no specific route, but if they can't diagnose this far they are unlikely to be adding in specific routes).
To go back to the area code comparison - say your phone number is (01)123-4567 and you are trying to contact (021)234-5678 - what you are trying to do without having a default gateway is ringing 234-5678 and wondering why something magic doesn't work out that the number you are dialling is in a different area code (subnet).

Point your IT guys at some *basic* subnet and routing references and see if that helps.

There may well be a problem with the network card, but re-installing the drivers is as likely to do nothing at all as it is to solve the problem entirely. They really need to think about the basics first.

z

Re: gateway

Your desktop has no means of contacting a host in another subnet if it has no default gateway (or no specific route, but if they can't diagnose this far they are unlikely to be adding in specific routes).

Yes - based on what I said earlier I would agree with this diagnosis.

If your IT people can't get the hang of subnets (or even physical network connections) then you may need to get some new IT people.

And I would certainly agree with this too!

Re: gateway

Appreciate the help guys and will follow up.

One more Q.
I moved from win98 to XPProf at home and gave the
kids logins which is great.

Basic Q, is how does one load on an application that downloads stuff, such as Warez, etc, and give every one the permissions to use it properly, i.e. download onto their own directories without giving them Admin rights

C

Re: gateway

Basic Q, is how does one load on an application that downloads stuff, such as Warez, etc, and give every one the permissions to use it properly, i.e. download onto their own directories without giving them Admin rights

If you have different logins/accounts and want to do this with an application which is not specifically designed to allow for the choice of installation for a single user or installation for users, then you can end up having to tweak the NTFS file permissions (using Windows Explorer) and registry key access rights (using regedt32) so that all users can gain the appropriate access to the required files/registry settings. This is a matter of trial and error in my experience (on Windows 2000 anyway) and is largely caused by applications not adhering to the Windows installation guidelines. It is not for the faint hearted or the technically inept and tweaking things in this way always involves an element of risk that you will screw things up.

Apart from that I would be wary of installing anything related to Warez since most of it is illegal and it's difficult to vouch for its trustworthiness.

Re: gateway

zag, it probably has nothing to do with subnets. That ip indicates it is probably a broken cable, nic, faulty patch in the comms room or similar etct etc..
The box isn't getting assigned an ip address from a dhcp server, windows is assigning that ip to the nic itself. The ping replies were from the local interface, not some neighbouring pc

Re: gateway

jd - as indicated here - "Among other things it looks like you aren't connecting to your DHCP server. I know it says you have a lease but the 169.254 network is typically (ab)used by the MS IP stack when it can't find any DHCP server"

Perhaps I summarised it a bit, but I reckon he can't find a DHCP server because he's not connected to anything usefull. If we assume that the DHCP server works, and we assume that his machine is correctly cabled to the same network that the DHCP server is connected to then *bingo* the DHCP server will assign an address when asked. That's its job.

The fact that it is not assigning an address kind of indicates that one of the above assumptions is incorrect. We are told earlier that the DHCP server works, so this kind of leaves the cabling - or more accurately the entire physical infrastructure including his network card, cabling and intermediate devices.

There are so many possible things that could be wrong with this picture that I couldn't go into them all.

There seems to be a link light, so there seems to be connectivity - but what is it connected to ? A switch that isn't connected to anything else, or a switch that connects hosts on a DMZ, or something else entirely. It really could be anything.

Arising from the inability to connect to a DHCP server he can't get assigned an address in the correct subnet so it is to do with subnets. As I said (a few times now) it could be any number of things but they are all pretty much stand alone issues which can all be addressed and fixed by themselves. Electing to fix one of them (re-installing the drivers) may well get him back on line, but it might just as easily be a waste of time. It's worth a try, but there are plenty of other things to check too.

Some basic physical troubleshooting on site would most likely solve this in less minutes than people have spent writing about the problem.

z