# Solved: Wireless 169.254 Limited or No Connectivity



## sickskillz14 (Feb 28, 2009)

Ok so I currently have the infamous 169.254 ip address situation on my laptop when my wireless is trying to connect. The weird part is how it all started. I was actually connected to the wireless network here at work and everything was fine until AIM cutout and firefox stopped loading pages even though it showed I was still connected to the wireless. A minute or so after that is when it began showing the limited or no connectivity error along with the 169 ip address.

I've tried the winsockxpfix program along with all of the ways microsoft suggests using netsh winsock reset and netsh winsock reset catalog and i even reinstalled tcp/ip using netsh commands. I've also tried resetting the wireless network here to no avail and my buddy's laptop right next to me is connected just fine although he did get disconnected around the time mine started giving the error. I've also tried numerous registry edits like the one to disable the IPAutoconfiguration which also didn't seem to work. My wired connection that I am on right now also gave me an error at first with connectivity but worked after using the repair function for the connection but however didn't have the 169 error.

The drivers I had on here were fairly old due to testing out the WEP cracking method with this built in intel wireless, so I uninstalled them and upgraded to the latest also with no success. I've ran out of ideas and suggestions that I could possibly look up on google since the usual winsockxpfix and netsh commands dont seem to work for me.

Can anyone figure out why my built in wireless card just out of nowhere stopped working?

My next try is to get linux onto my usb drive and see if the card atleast works through linux and is not gone, which I think is the case right about now.

Help anyone? Thanks

-Sick


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Please supply the following info, *exact make and models* of the equipment please.

Name of your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
Make *and* exact model of the broadband modem.
Make *and* exact model and hardware version of the router (if a separate unit).
_Model numbers can usually be obtained from the label on the device._
Connection type, wired or wireless.
If wireless, encryption used, (none, WEP, WPA, or WPA2)
Version and patch level of Windows on all affected machines, i.e. XP (Home or Pro), SP1-SP2-SP3, Vista (Home, Business, Ultimate), etc.
The Internet Browser in use, IE, Firefox, Opera, etc.

Please give an exact description of your problem symptoms, *including the exact text of any error messages.*


If you're using a wireless connection, have you tried a direct connection with a cable to see if that changes the symptoms? 
For wireless issues, have you disabled all encryption on the router to see if you can connect that way? 
Have you connected directly to the broadband modem to see if this is a router or modem/ISP issue?
If there are other computers on the same network, are they experiencing the same issue, or do they function normally?

On any affected computer, I'd also like to see this:

Hold the *Windows* key and press *R*, then type *CMD* (*COMMAND* for W98/WME) to open a command prompt:

Type the following commands on separate lines, following each one with the *Enter* key:

PING 206.190.60.37

PING yahoo.com

NBTSTAT -n

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose *Select All*, then hit *Enter*.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.


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## sickskillz14 (Feb 28, 2009)

Well this is a tough one. See, the problem I'm having is at my job with the Wireless internet, yet when I go home and use mine, it connects fine and goes on the internet and what not. Yet, when I went to my friends house last night to try it out I get the same error as at work, so currently only my home wireless is working on my laptop.

I'm not too sure what internet provider my job has, and the wireless here are a couple of linksys and netgear routers spread about.
The connections are not encrypted because it is the public wifi that is used here in this hotel

The exact router at my house that works with it, is the Linksys WRT54G v8 wireless router, my ISP is Comcast, and the cable modem i'm pretty sure is a small motorolla box, but I dont have the exact model since I am currently at work, sorry.

It says im running on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002 SP3, but I do remember installing some kind of add on for the media center edition, and im pretty sure I installed xp pro on this after it first crashed awhile ago, so I'm gonna have to say XP Pro SP3 with a media center edition add-on that makes it look like its a media center pc.

The exact text of the problem is just Limited or No Connectivity, and I get an IP Address of 169.254.228.19, and a Subnet Mask of 255.255.0.0 which you'll see later in the IP Config.

I'm connected right now with the wired internet, so the wired is atleast still working.

My friends laptop also works on this wireless network here so it seems to be me only.

Here is the info you requested:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings\Doso>ping 206.190.60.37
Pinging 206.190.60.37 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 206.190.60.37:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
C:\Documents and Settings\Doso>ping yahoo.com
Ping request could not find host yahoo.com. Please check the name and try again.
C:\Documents and Settings\Doso>nbtstat -n
Wireless Network Connection 12:
Node IpAddress: [169.254.228.19] Scope Id: []
NetBIOS Local Name Table
Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
MICHAEL <00> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <00> GROUP Registered
MICHAEL <20> UNIQUE Registered
WORKGROUP <1E> GROUP Registered
WORKGROUP <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered
Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [0.0.0.0] Scope Id: []
No names in cache
C:\Documents and Settings\Doso>ipconfig /all
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : michael
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection 12:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-02-1A-47-83
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.228.19
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 169.254.228.19
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0F-B0-FD-8C-03
C:\Documents and Settings\Doso>

Thank you for the help it is much appreciated.

-Sick


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

That ipconfig /all represents an attempt to use what network--work, hotel, friend's, etc.?

One possibility is that you have a non-Windows firewall configured to allow connection only to your home network.


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## sickskillz14 (Feb 28, 2009)

That ipconfig /all was from here at my work place where it doesnt work. 

Another odd note. At my house which has WEP it works fine on windows and on Ubuntu. Yet at my friends house who also has WEP enabled it does not work on Windows, but when i load Ubuntu it can connect. Sadly here at my job it wont connect through Windows or Ubuntu.

I'll keep looking around but windows says i have no firewall installed and the odd thing was that it was just a sudden change from working to not working in a split second without a firewall being installed


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

A non-Windows firewall, even a 'disabled' one or an uninstalled one that didn't go away nicely, can suddenly start causing a problem because it mistakes a Windows update or some other benign action as an attack.

Don't know if this applies to your friend's network, so I'll just lay it out and you can sort it.  With WEP you can use a HEX key or an ascii passcode (that gets translated to HEX). Some devices/utilities translate the ascii passcode differently.

Given that you went from working to not working w/o any visible changes maybe the wireless driver got corrupted. Use Device Manager to uninstall it; reboot the PC and let Windows discover the adapter and install the driver. If you are using something like the Intel Proset utility you could instead use Add/Remove Programs to uninstall the whole thing and then reinstall it.

I know you did some stack/WINSOCK repairs, but if you are not sure that the following is the last procedure you used I suggest you do it again ...

(From a JohnWill post)

*TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2 or SP3.*

*Start, Run, CMD, OK* to open a command prompt.

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: *netsh winsock reset catalog*

Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. *netsh int ip reset reset.log*

Reboot the machine.


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## sickskillz14 (Feb 28, 2009)

Hmm makes sense. I noticed something odd too after the connection stopped working i noticed windows firewall was on which i usually dont have it on. I turned it off after i saw and either way it still doesnt work.

I tried uninstalling then letting windows reinstall the drivers after reboot, but still nothing. I also did those two commands but to no avail, the connection still won't work here in windows or when I load up linux

Im gonna have to say I think i have a mulfunctioning wireless receiver now, but still don't get how it doesnt work at all here, works fully at my house, and partially at my friends house (works on linux but not windows). Very odd


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

FWIW I agree with your last paragraph. Especially the "Very odd" part.


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## sickskillz14 (Feb 28, 2009)

Haha, well thanks for the help TerryNet and JohnWill much appreciated I will try one last thing which is trying to spoof my MAC address through windows and Linux, because there is a slight chance that someone here at work doesn't like the fact I'm using the public wireless and the company blocked my MAC address which would be the least likely thing to happen, but its worth a shot I'll report back if I get any results to see what you guys have to say.

Thanks a bunch.

-Sick


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## Jason08 (Oct 13, 2008)

Have you tried reinstalling any of the browsers?


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## sickskillz14 (Feb 28, 2009)

My internet browsers? Haven't tried really since the connection still works here at home and doesnt at my job


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## sickskillz14 (Feb 28, 2009)

Well it looked like the mac address changing worked. Unfortunately I could not do it through windows, but Linux worked and now that my mac address has been changed I can connect. My guess is one of the routers has somehow gotten screwed up and conflicts with my mac address or someone has really tried to block me lol oh well. Thanks for all the help guys i'll be back shortly with another problem most likely.


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