Ethernet NIC Problem

[fineshot1]

I have an interesting problem with my pc at home that developed recently
after the last round of Macrosuck XP updates on 8/11/2011.

I discovered I lose network connectivity after 2 or 3 hours of rebooting the pc.

If I look at the ipconfig /all there is absolutely no ip address data in the network config address box
when the problem manifests itself. If i reboot the pc all returns to normal for several hours and then
it starts all over again - no connectivity.

I suppose it is possible that it may be a router problem and its just a coincidence it happened
at the same time but i find that to be strange.

I tried updating my ethernet nic driver but no change. The nic is built into the mother board.

NOTE: This also occurred after I had to clean off a worm from my hdd. It was the AutoIT.GBG worm.

I have another router coming but I wont get it for a few days. I suppose it could also possibly be
a DSL modem problem as well and I am hoping it is not cause I hate dealing with verizon.

Any other ideas from you pc and network experts would be appreciated. TIA......dan

 

[lgentle]

I would make sure the worm is COMPLETELY removed:

Full description

 

[fineshot1]

I would make sure the worm is COMPLETELY removed:

Full description

That is an older version of the worm that i did manage to clean from my hard drive.

It was spread via the use of yahoo messenger which i do not use(or any messenger).

AVG was the only app that found and cleaned it.

 

[CapStar362]

does the problem persist if the router is removed from the setup? use the modem directly and see how it runs, if it is normal for longer than the time you stated then the Router and/or cable is your culprit. if it persists, then either the Cable, PC NIC, or DSL Modem is the culprit. try another cable if the cable is the culprit.


thing about hardware diagnosis is that you have to one-by-one diagnose each component

 

[talkpair]

If I look at the ipconfig /all there is absolutely no ip address data in the network config address box
when the problem manifests itself. If i reboot the pc all returns to normal for several hours and then
it starts all over again - no connectivity.

You might run that same command "ipconfig /all" when things are working right.

Jot down the date and time that the "lease expires", and see if it coincides with when you lose your IP address.

 

[fineshot1]

You might run that same command "ipconfig /all" when things are working right.

Jot down the date and time that the "lease expires", and see if it coincides with when you lose your IP address.

Yes - i did note that. The expiration is always 24 hours after the reboot and the problem happens
approx 3 hours later after reboot.

does the problem persist if the router is removed from the setup? use the modem directly and see how it runs, if it is normal for longer than the time you stated then the Router and/or cable is your culprit. if it persists, then either the Cable, PC NIC, or DSL Modem is the culprit. try another cable if the cable is the culprit.

thing about hardware diagnosis is that you have to one-by-one diagnose each component

Yes - this is one of the next things i will try. I am going to pick up a wireless router which I need
anyway ($0) and was going to try running just the DSL model, will try this weekend when i get the time
to try these suggestions.

Thanks fellas

 

[talkpair]

You might look at your physical cable connections.

Sometimes we overlook the simple stuff.

Also, you might try looking over the log file(s) to see if they offer any additional clues.

In older Windows systems, look for "Event Viewer"

 

[mike_s104]

As a test, use a bootable Linux version and see if it does the same thing. If it doesn't, just reinstall Windows.

 

[talkpair]

As a test, use a bootable Linux version and see if it does the same thing. If it doesn't, just reinstall Windows.

Excellent idea.

If Linux works okay, you know it's an OS problem.

Knoppix is very handy for this.

 

[fineshot1]

ok folks sorry for the delay - i had several things going on that demanded my attention
and then Irene came into the picture and delayed me further.

It is definately not a cable issue - always happens approx 4 hours and 10 minutes
after reboot regardless of cables i have swapped out.

I can plug my work laptop into a spare router port and it is not effected by the problem
so its not a router or dsl modem problem.

I am totally unfamiliar with linux so i am not sure that is a wise idea to get me involved
with another os i know squat about but i am strongly suspecting this is a core xp
problem as it effects the ip stack and i noticed that if i unplug a PnP device once the
problem manifests itself the xp PnP does not detect that device has been removed
from the config.

I am going to try uninstalling some unnecessary apps like verizon in home agent and
some others one at a time to see if any one of them is causing this problem and any
other suggestions are welcomed. I really do not want to re-install xp if i can avoid it.

Thanks.....fineshot1

 

[mike_s104]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2.1; en-us; ADR6400L 4G Build/FRG83D) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

Save yourself the headache and just reinstall WinXP.

 

[WayneH]

Since it sounds like a possible DHCP lease issue why not pick an IP from the subnet the router is assigned and enter it in statically for your problem XP machine? Make sure it's not one from the pool the router assigns. And ya never know, there could still be remnants of that worm so a fresh install isn't a bad idea.

Or find someone to borrow a router from and see if it still happens. I upgrade mine every few years just as I do hardware. Good practice.

 

[questnz]

Not yet, dont wipe your HD !
You can try this:
Login to windows in SAFE mode with F8, go to control panel/ system/ hardware/device manager
highlite your NIC's and uninstall. Restart computer, Windows should find all network devices and reinstall drivers and TCP/IP stack. Just make sure that you have NIC drivers somwhere on the HD in case system can't find it!. If this will not fix the problem, download with other PC TCP/IP Fix software eg XP TCP/IP Repair - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com
Run it. Not sure it will work in your case but I used many times and it definately Fix the network problem, it may not be NIC but problem but Winsocks and TCP/IP

Google for "fix tcp/ip" plenty solutions there, worth trying.
Good luck Chris

 

[lgentle]

How to fix a corrupted TCP/IP stack:


How to determine and to recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and in Windows Vista

I've done this many times in the past and it's always worked wonders!

 

[mike_s104]

We used to use this at work on the WinXP PCs

WinsockxpFix v1.2.zip

 

[KB0VWG]

Have you tried doing a system restore back before you installed those updates?
Michael
73's

 

[fineshot1]

I have tried almost all of the suggestions from above but to no avail.

I can not do a restore due to an unrelated data deletion problem
which was of my own doing which I did not realize until too late.

I have run updated Norton AV, AVG, Walware Bytes, Spy Bot and
CC Cleaner and can not find any evidence of more worms, or virus,
or register problems.

I was thinking of upgrading to windows 7 prof soon so i think this
may move my time table up rather than wasting my time trying to
fix xp prof.

Thank you folks for all the help.

 

[datainmotion]

FWIW - I had a similar issue on my daughter's Vista 64 machine. Turns out a trojan was changing the IP settings from Automatic to a proxy.

 

[fineshot1]

FWIW - I had a similar issue on my daughter's Vista 64 machine. Turns out a trojan was changing the IP settings from Automatic to a proxy.

What did you use to detect and clean the trojan?

I keep running the ones above that I listed and find nothing else
since the one AVG cleaned off my hd.

 

[CapStar362]

thats more along the lines of Malware/Trojan.... AVG would have picked that up. along with SAS ( Super AntiSpyware ) Spybot, and all the other tools he used


IIRC you cant do a upgrade from XP to 7, you have to be Vista to goto 7 without formatting the drive



yup....

Taken from MS Technet....

To upgrade your PC from Windows XP to Windows 7, you'll need to select the Custom option during Windows 7 installation. A custom installation doesn't preserve your programs, files, or settings. It's sometimes called a "clean" installation for that reason.

ur gonna have to back up everything you want to save and then format and run a clean install of 7. its better to do it this way anyways. it just causes the headache of having to reinstall all the apps you had, and resetting all the custom features you had set for the GUI Environment. either way either stick with XP or wipe the drive and get 7 up and running