1 computer in the network not accessable (W2K)

[ubamous3]

Hi,

Yesterday all of a sudden 1 computer in the home network just got disconnected for no reason; i checked the wiring and it looks ok; the light on the linksys router indicates that it is connected, but when i look at the status onthe computer, it says cable unplugged!!! what the heck is that? i dont have a clue as to how to debug that; please help me.
Thank you!

[jdharm]

I almost hate to state the obvious, but...

1 Reseat the cable. Unplug it, plug back in slowly while jiggling around a little.

2 Reboot the computer and the router.

It is possible to get a good link light on the card and router but there be a disabling interuption in the communication path. I have several thousand such lights I deal with every day and that kind of thing happens all the time.

I know this sounds like the obvious answer, but there have been times when I have gone for days without DSL and this was the solution. The one thing I never tried becuase it was so obvious.

Josh

[i]Sorry folks, I'm an idiot. Moose out front shoulda told ya. [i]

[ubamous3]

hi Josh,

thanks for your reply. I did try unplugging and rebooting it. I even tried to connect it to a different port on the router (btw, I have 4 computers connected as a peer to peer network and they all see each other except for this computer).
One thing interesting tho, when i did ipconfig /all, the ip address is not 192.168.1.xx like it should, but it was a different ip, and i tried ipconfig /release and /renew but that didnt help. What else should i do?

[7ate9]

That other IP address, is it a 169.254.x.x ?

7ate9
WinGuides Driver Guide</font color=blue> (http://www.winguides.com/drivers/><font)

[ubamous3]

hi, yes i think it was that number because in the event viewer, i saw a warning message saying :

Your computer has automatically configured the IP address for the Network Card with network address 0010B57E222A. The IP address being used is 169.254.54.190.
Data:
0000: 00 00 00 00
--------
would it help if i list the warning and error messages in the event viewr yesterday?

[7ate9]

Okay, that 169.254.x.x ip address means the Linksys Router is not giving in a good ip address, because the two aren't communicating back and forth. I would check the Router and make sure it's still setup to allow all 4 computer to connect to it. Log into it's internal setup pages and just double check all your settings from within there. You can also try to plug this computer into a different port on the Router, a port you know for fact that is working. That way you can determine if you have a bad port (but I doubt it). You could also try using a different ethernet cable to eliminate the possibility that the cable went bad.

7ate9
WinGuides Driver Guide</font color=blue> (http://www.winguides.com/drivers/><font)

[ubamous3]

hi ,
thanks! well, the culprit is in the cable, not the port :) i tried switching cable, and it works and the other computer doesnt, but it's odd that the greenlight next to the jack is on ; isn't that an indication that the connection works?

[7ate9]

Heh, that's what I thought, but this is just another case I've seen where the light comes on, but nobody is home (so to speak)!

7ate9
WinGuides Driver Guide</font color=blue> (http://www.winguides.com/drivers/><font)

[ubamous3]

hahaha, dont talk about me that way! lol

[ubamous3]

oh one more question, hopefully you can help me. On that computer, I have 4 OS installed (ME which came with the computer, and 3 installations of win2k). The reason for the 3 installs of 2k is because it was the first time I ever installed an OS plus I wasn't home even tho I had the lights on lol. Anyway, so how do I get rid of all traces of the other OS from that computer (to make room on myHD)? I don't know how to delete them and afraid that I mght delete the wrong one. Hereis what is shown in the boot.ini file

[boot loader]
timeout=0
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT1="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /fastdetect
C:\="Microsoft Windows"