network question?

Question

My internet connection works on both computers my desktop and my laptop. The problem with my laptop is it says aquiring the address and if I put the network key it, which is the correct key, it will say limited or no connectivity. What does that mean? and what can I do to fix the problem? Do I have to change my router settings? I have it set to automatically find the ip.

Answer 1

this sounds like a wireless issue, which makes a difference.

if you have the correct key, make sure you're using the same authentication (psk, wep, etc) as the router, there may be a mismatch.

if this isn't a wireless thing, then maybe both boxes are getting the same IP address? that can cause major issues... try hard-coding it's IP to something you know isn't being used, and see if that helps.

Answer 2

If the above suggestions don't work, it's possible you just have a bad card or is on it's way. Happend to me, but it was a new D-Link USB adapter which came with my D-link router. I've used it 4x and each time it can't maintain it's connection while my laptops built in wireless adapter, that's 4 years old, has no problem staying connected to my D-Link router.

Also my girlfriends laptop stay's connected to my D-Link router without a problem, she's using a Linksys card in a pcmcia slot.

If you have access to another card, see if that makes a difference, or buy a new one, return it to the store if you still have the same problem, this eliminates the card as the problem.

Answer 3

Sounds like the laptop isn't getting an IP address. I assume the desktop is working fine? You can check the IP address on the by using the "ipconfig" command from the command line.

Where does your laptop get it's IP address from? Do you have a router running DHCP?

It sounds similar to a problem I have with my network. In my case the wireless access point I have periodically goes to sleep. If I reboot the access point it will work fine for awhile.

Answer 4

You are probably putting in the wrong key. Browse into your router and check the wireless security for the correct key. The limited connectivity message comes up anytime the NIC gets an APIPA (automatic private IP address). APIPA's start with 169.254.xxx.xxx and will not work on a network unless the entire network is using this addressing scheme. Most routers use the 192.168.xxx.xxx scheme. I hope this helps.

Answer 5

I encountered a similar problem on a client wireless. The problem was McAffee's wireless security. It insisted on taking over wireless security (even changing the router's settings). With all the right settings, all the right keys, it still showed "limited or no connectivity"; all due to the McAffee security suite.
If you have some type of wireless security suite such as McAffee, consider disabling it to see if that is the issue.

Answer 6

I will try and help you troubleshoot, everyone thinks its your wireless which it could be. Below are some commands to type to test simple stuff.
Here is how to find out:

Start >> Run >> cmd

C:\WINDOWS>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : xxxx.com
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.11.2.194
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.11.0.1

C:\WINDOWS>ping 10.11.0.1

Pinging 10.11.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.11.0.1: bytes=32 time=131ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.11.0.1: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.11.0.1: bytes=32 time=9ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.11.0.1: bytes=32 time=10ms TTL=64

OK, so first type ipconfig and then try pinging the Default Gateay IP. This is what I did above. If you see 'Reply from ...' then it is NOT a network problem.

At that point, try pinging 4.2.2.2 - if that works your network is set up just fine.

Answer 7

Maybe your router are set with limited number of dynamic IP addresses. You should go to that router and reconfigure it.