Help! I've lost my Network Connections, and can't get online

[mat205125]

I'm thick skinned enough to take a bit of mocking, and that is a good thing as I'm sure my "user" standard use of technical terms and explainations will leave a lot to be desired.

At home, I use my (very old) laptop for Personal Computing, and it is wired to my BT Router via an ethernet cable (?)

Forever and a day, this has worked just fine until I logged on over the weekend and I couldn't get online. As it tried to open I got back an error prompt showing "Couldn't log into the server. Check connections"

I checked all the physical connections, read the router instructions to check that the correct lights were on, and disconnected and reconnected everything to check all was fine. That appeared all good. I then spent half an hour last night on the phone to a very helpful chap from the southern hemisphere, and it appears that my computer's problem relates to its Network Connections, or more specifically the lack of them!!!



When I open the "Network Connections" folder that is described in the above shot (I tried re-installing the router disc), there is absolutely nothing in there! Nothing at all!

Anyone got any ideas why this might be the case, and what I might be able to do to fix the problem? Your help would be massively appreciated.

[G Man]

Have you turned the router off and on ... a power cycle fixes all

[mat205125]

That was the first thing that I tried. I even tried leaving it turned off for a day, however no luck

[G Man]

I have called BT to test the ADSL connection, not uncommon for BT to accidently disconnect you !!

Edited by G Man on Tuesday 20th April 08:32

Sorry Matt failed to read OP properly ....

Edited by G Man on Tuesday 20th April 08:38

[Taita]

Try resetting IE first -> Tools -> Internet Options -> Advanced -> Reset.

If no joy:

~~

Start - Run -> type 'cmd' (no quotes) and press enter. Black box appears.

Type this:

XP (no quotes): 'netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt'
Vista (no quotes: 'netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt'

Press enter, wait a few seconds. Reboot.

[lestag]

Are you sure its and ethernet cable and not a USB cable??

If so delete the network connection.
start/control panel/network connections.
Disconnect the Network Connection under lan or high speed internet (right click on icon and choose disconnect)
then delete

reboot computer and it should create a new network connection and you should be good to go

Of course I could be wrong...

Edited by lestag on Tuesday 20th April 11:39

[mat205125]

Definitely not USB

[FlossyThePig]

This might not be of any help but I have just removed Zonealarm and AVG from my PC because their latest updates clash causing connection problems. Installed different firewall and antivirus software, connection restored.

[lestag]

mat205125 said:

Definitely not USB

Ok then try what i suggested , I have had this happen with a couple of my clients that had XP boxes. deleting the network connection and rebooting fixed it

[mat205125]

Thanks for the replies so far!

I'll give this a whirl when I get home from work this evening, and therefore either be online and thanking later, or back in the morning sulking

[mat205125]

I'm in a sulk today

Thanks again for the advice so far, however nothing has improved

I've backed up everything of value on the PC, and am planning to take it into the local shop to see what they reckon unless anyone has any final tips for things to try.

It's been "new PC" time for a number of months now anyway as the machine is at least 6 years old, and my iPhone isn't far off the capacity of the hard drive.

[Taita]

Did you also try what I posted?

[mat205125]

Taita said:

Did you also try what I posted?

Yes. Thank you for the tips, however neither resolved the issue

I still ended up without any "Network Connections", and could not get onto the web

[RobCrezz]

Go to your network connections and look at Local Area Connection. Does it show network cable unplugged? double click it and look at 'details' or 'status'. Is it showing an ip address?