Ethernet Connection Not Working

Question

Hey there :) I have a PC and a laptop at home. My laptop has a perfect ethernet connection but my PC doesn't. When I plug the cable the network shows up as Unidentified network. Windows troubleshooting gives me this error "Local area connection doesn't have a valid ip configuration". I've read in several other forums about this problem but non of the solution works for me. I also found out that after I use ipconfig /renew I got stuck at "Windows IP Configuration" and then after 1 minute I get this error:

An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection: unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.

An error occurred while releasing interface Loopback Pseudo=Interface 1: The system cannot find the file specified.

I don't really have many programs on my PC. Disabling Firewall and AV don't make any difference. I'm using Windows 7. Tell me what information do you need and I will provide it.

By the way few months earlier my friend tried to connect with the same cable and got the same error. After 2-3 hours of googling I fixed it. Sadly I don't remember how.

Answer 1

Has this problem always been present or were you able successfully to connect your PC to the router at one time?  If you once were able to connect, what happened to your computer shortly before the problem started?

This part of your question ...

By the way few months earlier my friend tried to connect with the same cable and got the same error. After 2-3 hours of googling I fixed it. Sadly I don't remember how.

suggests that the problem is the Ethernet cable between your PC and your router.  Please do the following diagnostic procedures.  After each step, wait a few minutes to allow the (possible) connection to be established.  After each step is complete, return the various connections to the way they are now. 

1. Disconnect the Ethernet cable from your laptop and connect it to your PC in place of the Ethernet cable currently connected to your PC.  Is the PC able to connect?
2. Disconnect the router end of Ethernet cable that goes to your laptop and move the router end of the cable that connects to your PC to the port on the router where the laptop cable had been connected?  Is the PC able to connect?
3. Disconnect the Ethernet cable from your PC and connect it to your laptop in place of the Ethernet cable normally connected to the laptop.  Is the laptop able to connect?

What is the make and model of your PC?

What is the make and model of your router (look at the label on the back or bottom)?

Do the following on the PC:

Open Device Manager (click Start Orb, type devmgmt.msc in the Search box, and press Enter).

• Expand the "Network adapters" section by clicking the arrow to its left.  Then please list the complete names of all items in this section.
• If any of the items in the "Network adapter" section show a warning icon, double-click the icon and report the message in the "Device status" box; also mention the name of the item with the warning icon.

Open a Command Prompt window (type cmd in the Search box and press Enter)

1. In the black Command Prompt window, type the following and press Enter after each line

ipconfig /all > "%userprofile%\Desktop\ipinfo.txt"

notepad "%userprofile%\Desktop\ipinfo.txt"

exit

Copy the file named ipinfo.txt from the Desktop of your PC to a USB flash drive.  Move the flash drive to your laptop, copy the contents of the ipinfo.txt file, and paste that data into your Reply here.

Answer 2

Do this on your laptop for starters:

1. Click the Start button.
2. Type the three letters  cmd   and press Enter.
3. Type these commands and press Enter after each:

mode  con  lines=40

ipconfig 4. Report what you see against these items:

IP Address

Default Gateway

Answer 3

Thank you for the quick response. Here's the data from the ipconfig /all command:

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Rafy-PC

   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : 

   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Peer-Peer

   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 

   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 10-78-D2-39-77-82

   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes

   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::fc3e:4ece:f09b:a00%12(Preferred) 

   Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.10.0(Preferred) 

   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0

   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 

   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 202406098

   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-1F-60-CF-41-CC-B2-55-02-9B-70

   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1

                                       fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1

                                       fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1

   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{6D534A50-C70A-4859-B7C7-0F08DFC4083F}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 

   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #4

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0

   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

---

Network adapters:

       D-Link DWA-140 Wireless N USB Adapter(rev.B3)

       Realtek PCIe GBE Familiy Controller

---

About the other things you said. I think you didn't exactly understand me. I don't have a router. I live in a student dormitory. There is a slot in the wall where I plug my cable. So here is the thing one more time. I have a laptop that works perfectly with the ethernet. I just got my PC (from my parent's House) and I tried to plug the cable in it. Sadly no internet connection. I hope the information I provided you with will help you understand what's wrong.

Answer 4

About what Frederik asked (on my laptop):

Answer 5

Since you are in a student dormitory you can use the following instructions for testing purposes only. The result will tell you if the hardware (network adapter, CAT5 cable, switch port) are intact.

1. Open the Control Panel / Network and Sharing Center.
2. Double-click "Change adapter settings", then double-click your Ethernet adapter.
3. Click "Properties".
4. Untick the IPv6 protocol.
5. Double-click the IPv4 protocol.
6. Mark "Use the following IP address" and enter these numbers:

IP address: 137.226.29.253

Subnet mask: 255.255.252.0

Default gateway: 137.226.28.1 7. Click OK. 8. Open a Command Prompt with cmd.exe. 9. Type this command and press Enter:

ping 137.226.28.1

Report the result. 10. Return to the panel where you set the IP addresses, then mark "Obtain an IP address automatically". If you skip this step then you are likely to cause a conflict of IP addresses with other machines in the dormitory.