Stuck on "Acquiring Network Address"

[Leonhart621]

We just moved to a new house. Verizon DSL wasn't available here so we got Comcast cable.

Now the problem is my PC can't connect to the Internet. I checked my local area connection and it says "acquiring network address" forever. This has happened before in my old house. What I did though to get through the internet was to setup a internet connection using broadband (we got DSL in my old house) w/ password. Did the same thing here but doesn't work, probably because thay step doesn't work for cable connection.

Now I tried my laptop and it just works fine so I figured out it's the PC's problem.

Oh sorry if this doesn't belong here. New to this forum and my PC is pissing me off.

[mjc]

Windows version, how you are connecting (USB/ethernet/other) to the cable...

[Leonhart621]

windows xp. PC is directly connected to the cable modem using a ethernet cable (a USB cable is availabe though)

[mjc]

Ok...your network card may be acting up. You can try uninstalling it and reinstalling it if you don't want to give the USB a shot.

Also what are the results of running ipconfig? Start a command prompt then run ipconfig. (if you run ipconfig /all > ipconfig.txt) it will create a txt file with the info in it, then you can paste that info here.

[Leonhart621]

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : leonhart621
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : myhome.westell.com
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-6E-82-92-BB
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 192.168.1.1

*EDIT*
connection-specific DNS Suffix . : myhome.westell.com

Westell is the brand of the DSL modem I used in my old house

[mjc]

Try ipconfig /renew

[Leonhart621]

It says:

An error occured while renewing interface Local Area Connection : The RPC server is unavailable

[mjc]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q224370

[Leonhart621]

Still getting the same thing

[mjc]

Ok...it isn't going to let you try to change it.

Have you tried using the Repair under Network Connections?

Right click on the connection and select Repair from the menu.

If that fails, you may need to just start over and create a new connection.

[Leonhart621]

when i try repair, it says it can't renew my ip address

[mjc]

Have you done the uninstall/reinstall on the network card?

[Leonhart621]

okay, i'm not good in computers. If I uninstall it, how do i reinstall? Do i need the cd that came with the comp when I bought it?

[mjc]

No, XP should just find it when you reboot.

[Leonhart621]

Just finished uninstalling and rebooting. Still giving me the same thing

[mjc]

Ok, go to Start => Accessories (I think...may be elsewhere)=> Communications => New Connection Wizard...and then delete the old connection.

[Leonhart621]

That's the very first thing I did (with the username and password). It works when I was in my old house since we have DSL. Doesn't work for me now since I got cable connection.

[Leonhart621]

Finally got it to work. What I did was reinstall Windows XP. Everything works smoothly once again.

[mjc]

Sorry about having to reinstall...:( but, sometiemes, I guess there is no other way.

[jlreich]

Well, there is always the 12ga shotgun way. :D :p :D

[Leonhart621]

I meant repair, not reinstall. I still have everything on my computer.

[Flipside]

Hmm. Ive tried all that I know of. But still Im having the same issue myself. I cannot get Connection specific DNS suffix to change. I have tried changing the hardware (nic). But the DNS/Dhcp address still remains at 192.xxx.
I can set those but not able to pull an Ip. I also have rebuilt all winsock files, flushed dns, set all RPC to auto, assigned a static (router). Tried USB direct (with and without pci nic installed). I have removed all Verizon software and even run the ever so popular XP limited connectivity fix. So the real question Id say is. If I dont go the XP install repair route is there another possible fix? Has anyone gotten a fix via new connection manager?

[Variable]

It is either a firewall or a needed service is disabled. If you are on DHCP and you get a default gateway but not an IP I would look at the services mmc and compare what is set to manual or disabled with your laptop that you know works. Right click My Computer, Manage, Expand Services and app.., Click services and expand the right window pane. You could also look for odd firewall rules if you have one running. Sounds like somone tweaked the services though. You may be able to get around it with static addressing.