Dear experts, Would like to seek your help to solve my desktop connectivity to the internet. I am real dumb in networking stuff. I couldn't find any similar problems I have in the archives. My Desktop was working fine for 2 years. The last program I downloaded and installed was skype. The desktop is connected to the internet with a cable modem. I am not using any router. I have also verified that the cable modem and the cable is working good because I can connect to the internet when I plugged in my laptop. I am able to do a ipconfig /release. The ipconfig /renew gives the following error: C:\>ipconfig /renew Windows IP Configuration An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection 3 : unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out. The ipconfig/all shows very strange IP address: C:\>ipconfig /all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : yappy Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-85-51-65-9A Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.0.0.0 IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::214:85ff:fe51:659a%6 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1 fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1 fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1 NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5445:5245:444f%5 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled Thanks in advance for any help :) Kim

I haven't tried it but this may help, download and run this fix http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winsoc...

Dear BurrWalnut, Thanks for the help. I have done the winsockXP fix as per your recommendation. It looks like now I have some sensible IP address but still cannot connect to the DHCP: The ipconfig /renew gives the same message: An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection 3 : unable to c ontact your DHCP server. Request has timed out. C:\>ipconfig /all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : yappy Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-85-51-65-9A Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration IP Address. . . : 169.254.122.41 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0 IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : ? Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : ? ? ? Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : ? Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled Any advice for me? Thanks Kim

Have you tried to uninstall and reinstall the network adapter's driver? See whether it helps..

Dear picohat Yes I did but it doesn't help. In fact I reformatted my desktop when the problem happens. Still not able to connect to the internet. Thanks Kim

Can it be faulty network adapter? Maybe you can try to use other network adapter on this PC, see whether it works. Also you should see blinking green light on network adapter if it's working well. As I remember..