I cant connect to the internet via ?

Question

Ok.
At my girlfriends, she had two computers connecting to the internet through a wireless router.
One computer used a wire, the other used a USB Wireless Card.

But, the computer connecting via the wire, RJ45 (ethernet) has stopped working, and the Wireless USB card has snapped and no longer works.

So i tried to connect the computer which used wireless with a wireless bridge. I connected it, computer says connected to the internet at the bottom of the desktop.

However, it does not have an IP, it uses a reserve IP of 169.. bla bla bla.
DHCP is enabled, DNS is all correctly configured and i cant for the life of me figure out why the pc wont connect.

I have also tried to connect this pc by using a wired connection, and not using the router at all but the same problem.

my girlfriend tells me that she also tried to do this, only when she connected the RJ45 cable, it came up with a screen saying PCI Express install or something along those lines.
She then said it asked to Browse for something, or look automaticaly, so the only thing i can think of that this could be is maybe a driver for the ethernet cable to work correctly? but being as she has no internet, she cannot connect to get one and i am not entirely sure on how to locate something when i dont really know what it is im looking for.

anyone who had the patience to read this and understood me and KNOWS the solution please reply.

thanks.

Answer 1

First go to device manager and see if your card is working properly. If it is, then connect the Ethernet cable directly to the cable modem but you have to power-cycle the modem (just unplug it and plug it back in) Once the modem is back online (all lights functional), turn on your computer. If you're still getting a 169....ip address, that means you have no connection to the outside world. Try another Ethernet cable.

Answer 2

Hi William!



I don't know the answer but, if I were you, I would firstly concentrate on the computer that connects via the ethernet cable as, obviously, a wireless connection gets more complicated.



You say 'I have also tried to connect this pc by using a wired connection, and not using the router at all but the same problem.' I don't understand that bit! May be me being less expert than you but I thought you ALWAYS need a router even if it is an ethernet connection??



You also say 'But, the computer connecting via the wire, RJ45 (ethernet) has stopped working'. What do you mean here? That the computer will not work at all or that you can start the computer but not connect to the internet.



You are obviously quite expert as you talk about DNS addresses which I know about vaguely but not much in detail.



If you do not get any better answer here try http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk and post your question in their Helproom bulletin board. However, make sure your question is as clear as possible. Another good site to try is http://www.tek-tips.com and similar remarks apply!



Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Answer 3

this happened to me and my roommate periodically at his house. I don't think its a driver because your computer wouldn't even see the ethernet card if you didn't have the proper drivers. Sounds like the router just isn't providing addresses for connected devices. Reset the router you are connecting to and unplug the ethernet cable coming from your cable/dsl modem. Power up the router and plug the modem back into your router. This should force the router to get a new ip address from the modem, and hopefully send new ip addresses to your computers. This happened enough that we eventually had to get a new modem from the cable company which turned out to be the problem in the first place.

Answer 4

I think u r correct in thinking that it could be the driver for the card. Do u have another computer/laptop u can try...





Is there a drivers disc that came with the PC...also XP and Vista both have generic ethernet drivers on their install discs, try placing an install disc in the drive and then plug the RJ45 cable in and direct it to search for drivers on the disc.





Edit: I would say just troubleshoot one piece of equipment at a time.



Edit: Yes, there r drivers needed for the ethernet card to work, but the operating system comes with generic drivers so you don't even know that they are there since it just works. I am really not sure as to why it just stopped working but if u plug it in and it starts searching for drivers then it probably needs to reinstall them.

Answer 5

I would buy a USB wireless adapter and connect via that.



alternatively the wired PC should have come with a CD with the ethernet drivers on it so you may be able to install them from there.



Go to control panel system and device manager and look for any yellow exclamation marks by the network port. If you rt click there should be an option to update drivers



If you have a CD with drivers insert it and click on update. It should find the drivers and you should be able to connect via wired ethernet

Answer 6

if you're confident that you've not replaced something your self, then only attempt reducing the skill on your router for 20 seconds or so ( Pull the plug from the skill furnish ). this may seem stupid.....yet you'd be surprised at how many times this may treatment a web connection concern...