Limited Connectivity Problem

[pureinsanity]

I saw a guy do a troubleshoot riddle in the automotive forum so I figured Id give you some insight and see if you guys know what the fix was?

My friends dad called me with computer problem. He couldn't connect to the internet. There were two issues here.

He has comcast, the comcast triple play or whatever its called. Voice, cable and internet.

Thus he has a modem for the phone, for the internet and also has a belkin 3g router.

my phone, along with another computer was able to access the internet just fine but his computer wouldn't allow him to get any connection other than limited which in turn didn't allow him to get internet.

I was never able to use windows (vista) to repair the connections or start and stop processes (which posed a problem to see what was causing the confusing for wifi. Even plugging in to he router with Cat-5 wouldn't work.

I did a system file check in DOS. sfc /scannow and came up with error but it wouldn't let me view the event log

I ended up doing a system restore and that allowed the processes to work normally which I was lead to believe that Norton Anti 2009 was the reason it wasn't working. (disabled it and uninstalled it)

Everything was almost fine now! he could connect to a network in no time, I was able to diagnose network issues, and even repair connections, but still limited connectivity.

the first issue of the network processes not starting correctly and not being able to start them manual was fixed with the system restore.

Next I started to try and repair and reset winsock in CMD. Any ideas what the issue is?

So what is the other problem as to why he is still limited? and how did it get fixed?

[upnorth]

One of the first things to check in the instance of limited connectivity is if the PC is getting and IP address. From a command prompt key in ipconfig then hit enter, if the ip address is proper, not 169.x.x.x then key in ipconfig /all and check to be sure it is getting DNS servers from the DHCP server.

Ping the DNS server. no reply there is a problem.

It could also be that that static DNS was assigned(unlikely tho).

I would also look at the router to be sure it is getting all DNS etc from the ISP.

Lastly check the NIC drivers. Could have got a bad driver from Windows update.

I have had all of those cause limited connectivity issues at one time or another.

[Jim43]

Happens here all the time,simple fix with the router. Unplug the power line for 30 sec and plug it back in. the re-boot the computer. Back online in right away. Have gone through 4 cable routers in the last 12 years. Belkin router I use is great, but when it looses its connection to the cable modem it will block all traffic. Simple reset is the fix. Been a cable customer since it came to town. Bought my own cable modem before I found out they give it for free. That modem died years ago, same type they provide.

[upnorth]

Not to get too geeky here, but normally what happens is your router loses it IP info that it gets from the ISP. Meaning it doesn't get an IP address and or not get the DNS(Domain Name Service) routers. I get that and I go check my router before I reboot it. Most often you can tell your router to refresh the info and it will go out ask the DHCP server for the settings again and it will get it all refreshed. But rebooting it will force the same thing.

[pureinsanity]

Jim you were pretty close. after resetting winsock to get the services restarted or try two it still didn't work. The router was causing problems.

The person had their daughter set up the router at their old house and upon moving me resetting it up caused conflict with the way the old settings were. hardwired and wireless would not work because of conflicting issues. After pushing the reset button it did nothing. unplugging did nothing. Going into the router and restoring to factory defaults and setting the wireless back up the issue was resolved!