Problematic Laptop

[aimo3]

I was given a post of IT administrator on 2 sites, but an old laptop. Sometimes the wifi doesn't work(showing acquiring address) and sometimes it works. I thought it was an AP issue. But since yesterday, the RJ45 port couldn't acquire IP address too! I did the cabling troubleshooting plus re-installing the driver, but I couldn't get it to work.

Do you think it's physical thing or reinstalling Win XP can do?

 

[Bregadon]

I was given a post of IT administrator on 2 sites, but an old laptop. Sometimes the wifi doesn't work(showing acquiring address) and sometimes it works. I thought it was an AP issue. But since yesterday, the RJ45 port couldn't acquire IP address too! I did the cabling troubleshooting plus re-installing the driver, but I couldn't get it to work.

Do you think it's physical thing or reinstalling Win XP can do?

If re installing Windows is no trouble for you, I would say give it a try. But it could be something went bad on the chip set itself.

 

[MillField]

Yep I agree with the above post. If it is no issue to you then attempt a re-install.

 

[aimo3]

I've reinstalled Win XP and downloaded the drivers starting from the chipset driver. At home I was able to connect with both the wifi and rj45, but in the office, the former never worked so far, and the latter worked for a couple of seconds and then died!

Now they both show limited connectivity.

 

[RubeSmench]

How long did you remain connected at home with each network interface, and did you perform any sort of diagnostics while connected to make sure everything was copacetic? As far as the office goes, so WiFi never works and the RJ45 dies almost immediately? Does your network assign the laptop an IP when you connect it (if only for a few seconds) and have you tried manually configuring the IP? I would suggest doing some basic pings with the RJ45 at work, start with the interface, 127.0.0.1, then try a router and finally the internet. Have you tried different cables/jacks as well? Only other thing I can think of, install wireshark and capture the packets to see how far along the communication gets before it dies. Hope one of these works, keep us updated. - Rube

 

[aimo3]

How long did you remain connected at home with each network interface, and did you perform any sort of diagnostics while connected to make sure everything was copacetic?

At home is was perfect. I use the internet to download drivers and and applications access to this laptop from my personal laptop. First I used rj45 for couple of hours and then switched to wireless for a longer time.

As far as the office goes, so WiFi never works and the RJ45 dies almost immediately? Does your network assign the laptop an IP when you connect it (if only for a few seconds) and have you tried manually configuring the IP?

That's a good idea. I assigned static addresses to both and they are working now.

I would suggest doing some basic pings with the RJ45 at work, start with the interface, 127.0.0.1, then try a router and finally the internet. Have you tried different cables/jacks as well?

I did the basic homework before opening this thread.

Only other thing I can think of, install wireshark and capture the packets to see how far along the communication gets before it dies. Hope one of these works, keep us updated. - Rube

Thanks rube.

 

[RubeSmench]

Glad the static IP idea worked. However, if you are interested in looking further into the problem, I would start with the wireshark. I am not familiar with what the DHCP requests should look like, but you could collect sample packets from a working machine and compare to what the laptop is sending/receiving. Also, you said the laptop was working with internet connection prior to this at work? Maybe your IT department implemented some sort of a MAC address filter for security reasons to prevent outsiders from connecting to the network. - Rube

 

[aimo3]

I have this test report from Wireshark. Could you advise about it?