Member Avatar for forresr

I recently re-installed XP home on my old laptop and everything seemed to install ok but now I cannot connect to my internet wirelessly.In my system tray it shows that my network name and conection rate as excellent but it will not actually connect. When I do "ipconfig /all" I find my IP address to be 0.0.0.0. I also get a funny looking address for my DNS servers of "fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1" and then "2%1" and "3%1". I reinstalled my dell drivers from the drivers disc that came with the computer and I did have slow connectivity via wired hookup. I have tried "ping ip_address_of_the_router" and it I got "Ping request could not find host ip_address_of_the_router. Please check the name and try again.". I have a working interent connection on my other laptop (wireless) and through my desktop (wired). I don't know if this is a driver issue or what but I just can't seem to get it figured out. THe status of my wirelss connetion on the problem computer is just aquiring network address. But it never connects. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm afraid I'm in over my head on this one.

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Quick note tied to ’s follow‑up: the repair installation plus applying the Windows service pack before installing vendor network drivers is a textbook fix for the symptoms described. Older XP installation media lack many networking fixes and wireless updates; installing the service pack first (or slipstreaming it into the install media) makes sure the OS network stack and wireless client components the drivers expect are present. (support.microsoft.com)

The odd-looking addresses beginning with “fec0:” are IPv6 site‑local addresses (Windows sometimes shows them with a percent/interface suffix). Site‑local addresses are a local‑scope IPv6 artifact (they were later deprecated) and are generally harmless; their appearance does not mean the IPv4 DHCP client has succeeded. (rfc-editor.org)

An all‑zero IPv4 address indicates the system never obtained a usable IPv4 lease from DHCP — that’s why the connection stayed at “acquiring network address.” If DHCP is absent or fails completely, Windows will normally fall back to an automatic private IP (169.254.x.x) for link‑local comms; both the zero address and the “acquiring” status point to DHCP/driver/stack issues rather than DNS. (techtarget.com)

Practical checklist that complements ’s advice and ’s fix: check Device Manager for driver errors and uninstall any ghost/duplicate adapters; remove stale wireless profiles and vendor wireless utilities that might block Windows’ manager; confirm the router’s DHCP pool and MAC filtering; if reinstalling, apply SP3 (or the Wireless Client Update for SP2) before loading NIC/wireless drivers; disable IPv6 if it’s not needed to reduce confusing entries. Because XP is long past mainstream support, prefer applying SP3 and available security updates or migrate the machine to a maintained OS for ongoing internet use. ()

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Member Avatar for gerbil

It's always a worry when your DNS server comes back with this: "fec0:0:0:ffff::
These machines are getting out of hand....
Anyway... you tried what??!! " I have tried "ping ip_address_of_the_router" "
You mean... ping ? or whatever? I hope.
Because you have just done a reinstallation, I would go with a driver or installation problem. Reload the drivers for your ethernet adapter, if that doesn't work then just reinstall XP.

Edited by gerbil because: n/a
Member Avatar for forresr

It's always a worry when your DNS server comes back with this: "fec0:0:0:ffff::
These machines are getting out of hand....
Anyway... you tried what??!! " I have tried "ping ip_address_of_the_router" "
You mean... ping ? or whatever? I hope.
Because you have just done a reinstallation, I would go with a driver or installation problem. Reload the drivers for your ethernet adapter, if that doesn't work then just reinstall XP.

I will try a new install of XP and my drivers and see what happens. I did a TCP/IP repair and winsock repair and that didn't seem to help my problem. I actually did try "ping ip_address_of_the_router" which I got from another post on this website of a similar problem with XP and IP address not being recognized. It sounds like that could have been bad information. Thanks for responding so quickly to my post and hopfully a new install will solve my problems. I was thinking of that myself but didn't want to try it if this was a quick fix problem. Thanks again for your help!

Member Avatar for forresr

I ran a repair of XP and then updated the service pack from CD right afterward before installing drivers. Everything is now working fine. It must have been either a glitch with the way XP loaded or you really need to update the service pack first before drivers which sounds strange but it certainly wouldn't be the first strange sofware issue microsoft had. Thanks again for your recommendation Gerbil!!

Edited by forresr because: n/a
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