cannot get an IP address

twanda

Hi all.
My sister is having problems connecting to the internet on her DELL desktop pc - We had a look and the Eircom router seems to be installed fine - the wireless connection can be made, but shows up as having 'little or no connectivity'. The problem seems to be that the PC cannot get an IP address. If I choose to repair the connection, it says
'windows is taking the following steps to repair connection - disabling wireless adapter - enabling wireless adaper - getting IP address' then it fails and says ' windows was unable to repair the connection as an IP address could not be given' or something similar. The same thing happens when we connect the network cable.
My own laptop can connect to the internet wirelessly, using the same router.
My boyfriend tried troubleshooting with IPconfig/release/renew commands, (but I'm not too clued in on those so I don't really know what the result was). I think he said he could ping the router, but that was about it.. He couldn't find the cause of the problem.
I was looking at it again today, and I wonder if it would be a good idea to uninstall and then reinstall the TCP/IP protocol in Windows? The only problem is that my sister doesn't have any of the repair/ windows cd's anymore - would I need these in order to reinstall the TCP/IP protocol?

Does anyone have a clue as to what the problem could be?

BTW. Dell told her that it's only a software problem but they need €50 by credit card to fix it. She would have gladly paid it except for the lack of a credit card, so us girlies are trying to fix it ourselves..Thanks

Hoops1888

twanda wrote:

so us girlies are trying to fix it ourselves..Thanks

That might be unwise

I'm not great with computer's but isnt the IP address on your computer? Why is it searching for one.

Did you try ringing Eirocom?

formatman

can email you a program for repairing TCP/IP stack

irlrobins

Moving to wireless forum.

Make sure you don't have MAC filtering enabled on the router. If you have any encryption set (WEP,WPA) turn it off and see if that works.

If router has DHCP enabled, then set the laptop to get an ip address automatically. If it doesn't, you need to set the ip address manually.

You can also try the winsock fix here.

If none of this makes sense, just post back and we can take it step by step.

twanda

Hi there,

Thanks for the replies.
IRLROBINS -
We experience the same problem with a cable connection, so I don't think that WEP/WPA has a lot to do with it.
We tried the automatic IP addressing option but no joy (
I will try the Winsock fix when I have a chance. thanks

FORMATMAN - can I PM you my email address if I am still having problems so that you can send me the fix?

HOOPS1888- My sister rang Eircom who rang few diagnostics tests and confirmed the problem was not theirs ( The router works fine with my laptop also) Eircom told her to ring Microsoft - who said everything was fine on their end also. Microsoft told her to ring DELL - and Dell said they know how to fix it, but as the insurance/warranty she paid for is only for hardware,and this is a software problem, it will cost €50. My worry is that they will probably ask her to use some of the recovery discs she got with the PC, and since moving house she hasn't been able to locate these.

BTW - does anyone know if uninstalling and reinstalling TCP/IP protocol will require the windows CD, or whether doing this will make a difference? Thanks

irlrobins

I know in WIN98 it did, can't say for sure in XP or VISTA as I've never had to do it. I'd run the winsock fix first before trying to reinstall TCP/IP.

MS has info on resetting TCP/IP stack here.

twanda

Grand so, thanks

twanda

well it's taken a while, as i havn't been in my sisters house since last posting, but I ran the winsock fix on her PC today and hurray - it worked!:D
Thanks very much Irlrobins

irlrobins

You're very welcome. Happy easter!