alright...this issue is pretty crazy and is driving me just as insane. its a doozy, so bear with me.

earlier today, after starting up my computer like normal, i was greeted by the little balloon saying "this network has little or no connectivity." i thought things were jsut being a little strange and didnt think much of it at the time, and jsut proceeded to power cycle the modem and router. however, the problem persisted, and i jsut sorta put it out of my mind as i had school. when i returned this evening, and the problem was still there, glaring at me, i started going more in depth into the issue.

it seems that for whatever reason, i cannot connect to my router through a LAN connection. WIFI works fine though. when i set things up for DHCP, i cant see the DHCP server, and when i set up a static IP, the DNS and Default Gateways disappear. when connecting through DHCP, the server times out and i get automatically assigned an IP by windows (169.254.x.x). i've tried a number of things to fix this according to a few hours of searching, including:

- winsock fixes
-reconfiguring the router
-system restore points
-new cables
-different ports on both the pc and router
-starting and stopping the TCP/IP service
-and reinstalling TCP/IP.

right now i'm starting to think that the NIC on the mobo is fried somehow, but i don't know how that would happen so suddenly while booting up like i always do. i really don't know what to do from here on out.

when checking the event viewer, i get Event ID 1007, which just boils down to the DHCP server not responding and windows automagically assigning an IP. all lights for the ethernet port on the PC are lit and happy. my laptop can connect via LAN just fine.

the router is a linksys WRT54GL with default factory firmware.

I really have absolutely no idea what the problem is here, and I can't think of any more ways to phrase what is already a difficult problem. google has been no help, most likely because i don;t know what exactly to say to it at this point.

so if any of you out there have any ideas or need more information, please let me know.

*edited for clarity*

aha! linux distro! i totally forgot i had one lying around.

as for the first suggestion, already tried the static IP thing, followed by driver reinstallation.


trying linux now....

The loopback interface doesn't really deal with your internet connection. Your network devices should be labeled as eth0/eth1 or wlan.

To configure network devices, open up Networking in System->Administration. From there you should be able to set a static IP or DHCP.

in this case though he is connected via ethernet. still, there is no reason to the a WRT54GL with stock firmware when you can run DDWRT, HyperWRT, or Tomato on it and then do all sorts of fun and exciting things like boost signal strength beyond the legal limit.

To me this really sounds like a dead NIC, or possibly dead ports on the router (plug your laptop in via ethernet, does it work?). If wireless works why not just use it instead?

yeah, all the ports on teh router are working. both laptop and xbox are connected. the lappy also worked in every port i plugged in to.

i just wish there was an easier solution than "get a new mobo."

mobo warranty is iffy at best, and im honestly not sure i want to just replace it. might be time to find a new one....

i went over this with a friend of mine, and considering i have more than just this on my list of computer gripes, it might actually be time to get a new mobo. i'll see what happens with the warranty though, and go from there


for those who are curious, here's a few other fun things i deal with:

-constant crashes. not like little quick BSOD restarts, no no no my computer freezes up, any audio that is playing goes on that freaky millisecond infinite loop, and i have to hard reset the machine. it does this when under heavy loads (such as ripping a dvd), or sometimes just for fun.

-i can't boot when in SLI. yep. two cards in the machine means not getting even to POST.

-about a week ago, all my internal HDD's just sorta disappeared. as in, the BIOS wouldn't detect them. then about 5 restarts later, they were back.

yep, checked all of those when the crashing first started (i run at a relatively cool 37 C, tried swapping out PSU's and RAM). all issues point to a defective board at this point.