Hi all. I have two computers both connected with a Cat 6 cross-over cable, one running Windows XP Pro SP2, the other with XP Home SP2, both have been running flawlessly up until I had to restart the XP Home computer (which shares my DSL connection to the XP Pro machine) after restarting, the XP Pro machine won't obtain an IP address automatically and defaults to a 169.254.*.* private address, and displays the "Limited or no connectivity" exclamation over the connection, I had heard that there was a bug in SP2, where it displays that message even if the connection is functioning, and although my connection WASN'T functioning regardless of the message, I tried the bug fix which had no effect, doing the "netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt" command does not work, the "ipconfig /release" and "ipconfig /renew" commands do not work, restarting both machines do not work, shutting down both machines does not work, the connection can work with static IP's just fine, however - in order for me to use internet connection sharing, I must be assigned an IP address by the DHCP server variation built into ICS....I've no clue how to fix this one, anyone have a suggestion? Let me know. Thanks in advance.

from what i remember you can assign static IP's via the ICS server... define the IP you want, subnetmask and the gateway, and your ICS server should hook you up... other than that, you could try right clickng the adapter, and go to repair.. or, disable the network device all together, then enable.. or, remove ICS from your server, then add it back.... alls i can think of, sounds like another 1 of Xp's wierdo problems Jaydiocity.co.uk

Hiya Jamie, Thanks for replying, apart from trying to assign a static IP through the ICS server, I've tried everything else, "repairing" the connection, disabling then re-enabling, but nothing works, even if I *completely* remove the NIC and re-install it, nothing changes, however! it's not a hardware issue, otherwise it wouldn't have worked before.....and it wouldn't work with static IP's....which it does.. so I'm lost..

Hi Stu Mckay, ...recently had the same problem...I tried everythimg I know, but no luck. Finally solved problem by using System Restore... Hope this helps.

hi , The answer for limited or no connectivity is.... as u told in the above email the lan is set to default to Obtain the ip address automatically. Instead of that, Select Specify an ip address. and in ip address give the ip address of ur DSL provider but dont give the default gateway , I am 100% sure that this resolve the problem. Regards, Hari

Thanks Hari! What you suggested worked for me to get rid of the "Limited" message. Now I am left with a "Data Frame Errors - Check WEP Settings" message using a NetGear MA401 Wireless card and a Toshiba Laptop. Clean install of Windows XP Pro w/SP2. Everything worked fine on this same machine using Windows XP Home w/SP2. Upgraded...got error messages...clean install...still have messages. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Alright. Here is what needs to be done, I am not sure which one of these weapons is what does the trick but After doing this a few times now on 2 different computers you need to use all of the tools. This has been an reoccuring problem and I believe it to be spyware related because after I thought I fixed it on one computer (which I didnt) my computer on the same network got the problem the next day. It was working fine and restarted before I left to fix the first one working fine. Anyways it sucked. You need to get HiJack This, Winsockxpfix, Adaware SE, WindowsXP-KB884020-x86-enu.exe (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=17d997d2-5034-4bbb-b74d-ad8430a1f7c8&DisplayLang=en) First run the Windows XP Connectivity Fix (Last one) and follow the directions exactly, then restart and run Winsockxpfix. After it restarts run Hijack This. After you scan and delete the bad files run it again to see which ones come right back. Then Run Adaware SE full system Scan. Now restart in Safemode and run both again twice. Now restart normal and run both one more time and restart one last time. If you still cant get on run either winsockfix or SP2 Connect fix again. I know that both of these programs fix the registry but I needed to run both of them in order for my computer to run. Maybe you dont need both but it doesnt hurt. Some signs that this problem will occur soon is some mouse functions going bad and lack of ability to open files. I dont know how these problems are in connection with this connectivity issue but these symptoms occurred on both computers before this connectivity issue. Let me know how it goes. It is a real pain.