Windows 7 No Internet Access

mikegreaves

New Member
I have a network of XP computers connected to an SMC hub/router which works without problems, mainly using ethernet cables but occasionally on wireless. I am trying to connect a new Windows 7 laptop with a Realtek PCIe GBE controller and an Atheros AR9285 WiFi adapter.

The laptop connects to the correct wireless network without any problem. I can see all the XP computers and the router (and I can see the laptop from other computers too), but I have no internet access. I have no previous knowledge of Win7 but I have set the network to WORK and entered the workgroup name. Windows firewall is set to private network. I have tried connecting an ethernet cable but this doesn't help.

Network diagnostics can only suggest a DNS problem, but both adapters have TCP/IP v6 and v4 set to obtain IP and DNS automatically.

There is probably something very silly that I've forgotten to do, so please could someone put me right? Thanks, Mike
 
I have a network of XP computers connected to an SMC hub/router which works without problems, mainly using ethernet cables but occasionally on wireless. I am trying to connect a new Windows 7 laptop with a Realtek PCIe GBE controller and an Atheros AR9285 WiFi adapter.

The laptop connects to the correct wireless network without any problem. I can see all the XP computers and the router (and I can see the laptop from other computers too), but I have no internet access. I have no previous knowledge of Win7 but I have set the network to WORK and entered the workgroup name. Windows firewall is set to private network. I have tried connecting an ethernet cable but this doesn't help.

Network diagnostics can only suggest a DNS problem, but both adapters have TCP/IP v6 and v4 set to obtain IP and DNS automatically.

There is probably something very silly that I've forgotten to do, so please could someone put me right? Thanks, Mike
It's probably not something you forgot, but rather a seemingly persistent problem with Windows 7 and some routers.
You can manually assign static values for the DNS entries for both your network cards to use public DNS servers like 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Type ncpa.cpl into the search box and hit enter
Select and then right click on each interface card and choose properties
In the properties dialog box uncheck Internet Protocol Version 6
Select Internet protocol Version 4 and click the properties button
Near the bottom select the radio button that says
"Use the following DNS server addresses:"
Enter 8.8.8.8 for Preferred and
8.8.4.4 for Alternate
OK your way back out of there and see if that helps at all.
 
quote_icon.png
Originally Posted by Trouble
It's probably not something you forgot, but rather a seemingly persistent problem with Windows 7 and some routers.
You can manually assign static values for the DNS entries for both your network cards to use public DNS servers like 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Type ncpa.cpl into the search box and hit enter
Select and then right click on each interface card and choose properties
In the properties dialog box uncheck Internet Protocol Version 6
Select Internet protocol Version 4 and click the properties button
Near the bottom select the radio button that says
"Use the following DNS server addresses:"
Enter 8.8.8.8 for Preferred and
8.8.4.4 for Alternate
OK your way back out of there and see if that helps at all.
Thanks, Trouble - that worked.
Mike
 
Glad to hear it and thanks for posting back with the follow-up.
I see you are a new member so first let me welcome you to the forums and thank you for posting your problem here. And invite you to hang around, there's a lot to be learned here, share your experiences and possibly help other members with similar problems.
Thanks again
Randy
 
Same issue, seemingly no solution

Okay, I've just completed a new build and installed Windows 7. It's a desktop and, unfortunately, I'm unable to connect directly to the modem so I've installed a PCI WiFI card. It's just a cheap-o for temporary use and could be the problem, but I suspect it's something more. I've tried installing updated drivers/utilities and I just tried the above solution all to no avail. I saw one solution last night suggesting changing a registry file to adjust a timing issue but can't seem to find my way back to the link.

System:
Intel Q8400 Core 2 Quad
Asus P5E Deluxe
4GB Gskill
Nvidia 8800GT

Network:
Comcast cable modem
Lynksys by Cisco model# WRT400N wireless router
TRENDnet TEW-423PI - 54Mbps Wireless G PCI Adapter

Currently there are three laptops connected to the network: one running XP, one macbook and another running Windows 7. I've been told they had alot of difficulty with the initial network setup as well. I can connect to the network with "Fair" signal strength but it says "No Internet Access" and shows "Unidentified Network" when I hover over the network bars in the task manager. I'm fairly proficient with computers but networking has never really been my "thing". While this seems to be a fairly common issue with Windows 7 there's still a decent possibility that the wireless card is just garbage. Any and all help would be much obliged. Thanks in advance!
 
According to this http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Details.aspx?type=Hardware&p=Trendware%20TEW-423PI%2054Mbps%20Wireless%20Network%20Adapter&v=Trendware&uid=TEW-423PI&pf=0&pi=40&c=Networking&sc=Wireless%20Network%20Cards&os=32-bit
and this http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/Details.aspx?type=Hardware&p=Linksys%20Simultaneous%20Dual-Band%20Wireless-N%20Router%20Wireless%20Router&v=Linksys&uid=WRT400N&pf=3&pi=48&c=Networking&sc=Wireless%20Routers&os=32-bit
both your wireless adapter and your wireless router is compatible with both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 7.
At a command prompt type
ipconfig /all
paste the results specific to your wireless adapter into your next post so we can have a look at what type of DHCP information the wireless card is getting from the router. You may also want to try disabling IPv6 in the properties of your wireless adapter for the time being, just to see if that might help.
The problem may very well be an issue with some type of third party software installed on the Win7 machine, like a firewall (Zone Alarm, Comodo) or an Internet Security Suite with a firewall type applet (Norton, McAfee, etc)
Typically the "Unidentified Network" is a result of insufficient DHCP information (missing default gateway). See if you can change the unidentifed network to home or work, see if you can use the "Set up a new connection or network" wizard or possibly Use the network trouble shooter from within the Network and Sharing Center.
 
Sorry, I forgot to mention I've tried disabling the IPv6 and thus far the Troubleshooting hasn't been able to fix or allow me to change anything. As I mentioned this is a fresh custom desktop build. There is no 3rd party software installed other than miscellaneous programs like itunes/fiefox/skype/etc.

I think this is what you were looking for?? And the default gateway is indeed blank.

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek 8185 Extensible 802.11b/g Wireles
s Device
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-D1-A4-DD-49
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::2a:2ba8:6016:3358%13(Preferred)
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.51.88(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled
 
Yep, that's what I was looking for, you are not receiving DHCP information from the router the 169 address is an APIPA (A so called feature, within Windows 7, which I have yet to see prove useful....just my opinion) and of course no default gateway. Couple things you can try
from a command prompt type
ipconfig /release
then type
ipconfig /renew
see if that produces an ip addressing scheme with anything that doesn't start with 169.254.nnn.nnn
try a complete network reboot down computers, router, and ISP provided device, then bring them backup in reverse order. ISP provided device wait for stable green lights, router again wait for stable green lights, then the problem machine by itself. See if that produces any better results.
At your descretion...a hard factory reset of the router, using the recessed reset button on bottom or back of router.
Or manually assign static values in the properties of IPv4 for your wireless card. If you can provide the IP information from a working computer on the network then I can give you a suggestion of where to start, but typically it will be something like
192.168.1.169 = ip address....the last number (octet) in this case 169 needs to be unique, which means no other node on the network can have the same address. Generally speaking if it is duplicated elsewhere on the network, you'll promptly receive an error, if so just change it to another number somewhere between 1 and 254
255.255.255.0 = subnet mask....typical class C subnet, must be the same as all other nodes on the network
192.168.1.1 = default gateway....this is the address of the inside edge of your router
8.8.8.8 = preferred DNS server....(Google Public DNS server) seems to work well just about everywhere.
8.8.4.4 = alternate DNS server....(Another Google Public DNS server)
Of course your schema may begin with 10 or 172 in which case just post back an example of a working address and we'll help further
hope this helps
 
Lame

Upon typing "ipconfig /renew" into the command prompt I was given this result:

Windows IP Configuration

And error occurred while renewing interface Wireless Network Connection 2 : unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.

I did try shutting down the modem and router for roughly 30 seconds earlier, and when nothing changed I tried hitting the reset button on the back of the router, the macbook lost it's connection but when I disabled and re-enabled airport it connected just fine. I'll try what you suggested and shut EVERYTHING down for a few minutes and boot them back with only my problem PC, which I have now dubbed "The D-Machine".
 
Well I did a complete network reboot and nothing changed so I went through and manually entered the IP/subnet/gateway in the IPv4 properties. I made sure to change the octet to something other than what was given for the XP laptops's IP. While the problem machine now recognizes the network's SSID properly I'm still not getting any internet access. To get a working address I ran an ipconfig /all on the XP laptop and got this back:

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1370 WLAN Mini-PCI Car
d
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.87.74.166
68.87.68.166
192.168.1.1

I removed the DNS suffix and physical address. I'm a little uncomfortable as it is pasting my IP on the internet. Not even sure what within all of that is potentially dangerous anyway. But if you need those I'll post them up as well.

Cancel that. It's gone back to being labeled as "Unidentified Network" when I run an ipconfig it says "DHCP enabled: No"
 
Last edited:
The DHCP enabled: NO is a product of the static IP address assignment so don't worry about it for now.
Use the ping command from a dos prompt and see what you can ping
ping your local ip address
ping the xp machine 192.168.1.100
ping the inside edge of the router 192.168.1.1
ping an outside address 64.233.169.99
let us know the results
Also third party software sometimes come with added functionality such as Bonjour / mdnsresponder. I-tunes, some Adobe apps, like CS3 and CS4, are you certain you are not using any antivirus presently that may be causing a problem. I've even seen remnants left over, from some antivirus products that have apparently been uninstalled cause similar problems.
You may want to try booting the machine into safemode with networking to see if the problem persists.
 
There are no more third party programs installed. When I ping my local IP I get "bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128" Every other attempt gives me the response "Destination host unreachable." I seem to be having difficulty booting into safemode.
 
There are no more third party programs installed. When I ping my local IP I get "bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128" Every other attempt gives me the response "Destination host unreachable." I seem to be having difficulty booting into safemode.
Is it possible that the ip address information you obtained from the other machine is erroneous. Does the other machine have multiple network cards, is there any other ip address information on the other machine, can you ping the router 192.168.1.1 from the XP machine, can you get into the router's web interface from the XP machine by typing the http://192.168.1.1 into the address bar of a browser? You should be able to ping other network nodes even without a default gateway or DNS resolution.
Type ncpa.cpl into search box and hit enter, in the resultant window, select then right click the wireless adapter and choose properties, near the top of the properties dialog box click the "Configure" button, choose the advanced tab, take a look through the properties box and see if there is anything in there that might shed some light on the problem, believe it or not I have heard of some wireless cards with a default setting of
"Radio Off" or "Disabled" or words to that effect. It's worth a look around.
You should be able to boot the machine into safe mode with networking by slowing tapping the F8 key as the machine is booting up.
 
I can ping the router from the XP machine just fine. Comes back average <3ms. In the adapter's configuration panel I'm looking at the following:

Channel Plan: DOMAIN_FROM_EEPROM (drop down choices are ETSI, FCC, France, IC, MKK, MKK1, Spain, TELEC)
Receive/Transmit Buffers: 64 (both)
Software Antenna Diversity: Enable

When attempting to log into the router's web interface I'm met with an authorization login and I don't have the username or password.

EDIT: It can be noted that it now says Internet Connection when I hover of the task manager network icon. But it still does not connect. And when I press F8 during boot up rather than the boot MODE selection screen I'm given a choice of boot DEVICE. *sigh*
 
Last edited:
In the end it was the hardware after all. I exchanged the PCI card for a Lynksys G adapter and all it took was to assign the DNS manually and it connected just fine. All the help was greatly appreciated and extremely informative and educational. :) Thanks again!
 
Glad to hear you've got it sorted out and are up and running. Thanks very much for posting back with the update / resolution.
 
Re: Lame

Hi,
I'm a new member who stumbled upon this forum having the same dreaded problem: "No internet access". Let me explain:

I have an SMC7908A-ISP router that I obtained from a ISP in Spain (ya.com). I moved to Switzerland now and I'm trying to use it with my current ISP (cablecom) and I can't seem to get it to work. I've two computers: win7 and winvista. Both connect to the router correctly but with no internet connectivity.

I tried the 8.8.8.8 DNS server trick to no avail. Any suggestions are very welcome and appreciated.

Could it be that the router is somehow blocked for use only with the Spanish provider?

Thanks!
m
 
Re: Lame

micdab:
Hello and welcome to the forums.
Most ISPs require a specific device at the terminus of their line on your premises for proprietary reasons to support their particular network infrastructure, and usually provide such a device upon installation. Are you saying that you don't have their (provided) device in place and you are trying to substitute your old one in its' place or are you just trying to add the SMC router after their device to support multiple connections. In either instance I would suspect a call to your Internet Service Provider might provide more insight into a resolution for you, then we possibly could by attempting to guess at what you are attempting to accomplish. Maybe a little more detail as to how you are hooking things together might help us help you further. Typically something like computer to-> lan port on router-> router wan port connected to ISP provided device (in my case a ARRIS Model: TM602G provided, maintained and monitored by ComCast/Xfinity) ISP provided device to-> comcast network / internet.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top