Windows 8 Windows 8.1 Wi-Fi doesn't have a valid IP configuration

[Laura G]

My Dell Inspiron laptop running Windows 8.1 will no longer connect to our home network, and diagnostics produce the error "Wi-Fi doesn't have a valid IP configuration". All our other devices are able to communicate with the network and my laptop will communicate with it if booted using ubuntu, so it appears to be a Windows issue.

I have: rebooted the router, performed a clean boot of the laptop, reset winsock and TCP/IP using netsh, set the laptop to not turn off anything in an effort to save power, released and renewed the laptop's ip address, manually assigned an ip address to the laptop and checked to see if Bonjour was installed (someone posted that removing it fixed their problem, but it already wasn't installed on my computer). Have you run into this before, or do you see something "obviously" wrong with the configuration results below?

Thanks,
Laura


Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DellInspiron
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 5:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 60-36-DD-3C-A3-5D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Centrino(R) Wireless-N 2230
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 60-36-DD-3C-A3-5C
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.170.91(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : <value removed because screening tool marked it as sneaky url>
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Qualcomm Atheros AR8162/8166/8168 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.30)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 78-45-C4-BC-30-D3
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Mobile Broadband adapter Mobile Broadband Internet (T-Mobile):

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 5630 (EVDO-HSPA) Mobile Broadband Mini-Card
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 94-95-9B-53-50-55
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{4489DD2E-8D70-4205-A645-49842DC08990}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #5
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

 

[Laura G]

Resetting all firewall properties on the laptop to their default values solved the problem. Obviously there are many possible causes, but hope this post helps someone else solve their issue.

 

[ussnorway]

Hi Laura,
Thanks for the update.

 

[MFPTech]

Yeah the firewall willl do it. I was wondering If it's a home network why is the subnet mask 255.255.0.0 Thanks for the update.