Limited or No Connectivity Error

Published 29 October 04 04:57 AM | jld

Today, I spent a few hours helping to clean up a friend's computer that hasn't been serviced in over 2 years. The first thing I did was uninstall the user's non-functioning antivirus program (the definitions had expired several months prior), booted into safe mode and removed a handful of virii using Symantec's Automated Support Assistant. I then installed Norton Antivirus and did a complete scan of the system.

Next step was to check and remove all unwanted startup programs in the registry, in the Startup folder and running services. Silent Runners does a great job of identifying and reporting all Windows startup programs (it's a small effective VB program that uses the WMI). I then installed two spyware removal tools, AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy. I finished up by cleaning up the Temp and Temporary Internet Files folders and defragging the system using VoptXP (a very fast defrag utility - much faster than dfrg.msc).

After I was done, the internet connection stopped working and I started receiving a "Limited or No Connectivity" error. I tried a variety of strategies including re-installing the network card, checking the physical connections, ect. The culprit was corruption in Winsock and the TCP/IP stack (undoubtedly caused by the spyware). I used the Winsock XP Fix tool to do the repairs (it's actually a VB implementation of the information provided in Microsoft KB article 299357 - How to reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in Windows XP).

Here is a link to the repair program:
http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html

Filed under:

Comments

# Cyriel said on October 29, 2004 06:40 AM:

In a alternative way, there is also some app called netsh supplied with xp which is also able to fix the Winsock/TCP stack

# Jean-Luc David said on October 29, 2004 09:28 AM:

Thanks for the info Cyriel!

# john brio said on November 5, 2004 12:50 PM:

Guys Thanks Alot!!!! A handful of thanks

# ken said on November 7, 2004 12:04 AM:

windows firewall was causing my problem
this solved it

Step 1: Winsock reset

================

1. Go to the command prompt and then type the command "Netsh winsock reset"

# Rock said on November 7, 2004 09:16 AM:

try this link
http://weblogs.asp.net/jld/arc...2004/10/29/249491.aspx
it fixed mine and did the reinstall and everything I could find on the net but this worked.

# boozzter said on November 9, 2004 09:02 PM:

Ive been experiencing this for how many hours now.........resetting the winsock really works!!!!!!!!Thank a lot man!

# Mike said on November 11, 2004 11:30 AM:

Man you save me thank you so much

Mike
DSL repair

# Larry said on November 12, 2004 11:29 PM:

I was having the same problems as everyone else... applied hotifx, registry patch, stack reset.... nothing worked.

Then, I changed the name of my wireless network using the router utility. Following this, I ran the wireless wizard on my laptop. I entered the new wireless network name. Whaddayaknow! It worked.

I changed the wireless network name back the way it was previously, re-ran the wireless wizard on the laptop and everything is still working.

HTH
LT

# Gideon said on November 18, 2004 12:35 PM:

You made my day. I could not have asked that tool to work better than it did.

Thank you.

# Geoff said on November 19, 2004 03:44 AM:

I came upon this problem today, and after searching through much of the same advice came upon this thread. Worked like a charm, thank you for being knowledgable and helpful.

# Lalo said on November 21, 2004 12:01 PM:

This problem started happening to my laptop weeks after I installed Sp2 - there had been no problem and then one day it got sick. I have tried hours of fixes, including ones posted here. My laptop can connect to wirless networks - it is the CAT-5 cabled NIC that will not resolve an IP address!
Any more thoughts on this matter?
Thanks.

# boonting said on May 23, 2007 09:51 AM:

thx, thx, thousand thx from bottom of my heart.

it already took me few days,

reinstalling the driver, downloaded tools to fix.

The command that you share is very very very useful.

Really appreciate yourhelp.

have a nice day

# cookie said on May 29, 2007 10:56 AM:

i sit in my room all the time playing on my laptop with wireless and  connect to my router and it always work........2day i went on it and it says that no connectivity or limited and it has always worked before i tried rebooting i tried reinstalling nothing is working the error always comes up ?????

can u help me?

# asphalt said on June 12, 2007 06:45 PM:

i got hp laptop and when i connect to my wireless router i can access the internet..but when i disable the wireless and connect to the router with cable ..i have no internet  i get the error "limited or no connection" i don't get it i have tried everything that worked for you here guys..still doesn't..

# fowlerh said on June 18, 2007 09:53 PM:

After I downloaded the patch and added the IP address download, I ran a virus scan.  Connectivity still did not work.  As you can see I don't know much about computers and fixing this error.  I  left the computer and started it back up later to try again and SURPRISE... connectivity was reinstated.  Don't know how, but it finally worked.

# vc1523 said on July 4, 2007 06:43 PM:

try selling your computer/laptop.... and buy a new one.... it really works trust me.......i just tried it last week

# rok3269 said on August 20, 2007 02:34 PM:

I'm having the same problem but with the wireless side of the router, if I connect hard wired, I have no issues, but when I connect to a wireless router all I get is the 169 address, then that goes away & I am left with no connect message.

I'm going to try the winsock & netsh fixes & c if either works for me.

# Jeremy said on August 23, 2007 03:38 AM:

Tried both of that...still doesn't work.  Any other ideas?

# Adrian said on September 3, 2007 08:21 PM:

OMG I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT FOR MONTHS! THANKS A LOT MAN !! FIXED MY LAPTOP RIGHT AWAY AWESOME!!

# Shell said on September 29, 2007 10:32 AM:

I have pc that connects to the Internet without a problem.... however if i plug the ethernet cable into my hp laptop i get the limited or no connectivity error? any thoughts?

# sohail said on October 27, 2007 05:40 PM:

Thanks to Ken. Resetting winsock solved my limited connectivity problem

# Alex said on November 26, 2007 04:10 PM:

Netsh Worked for me!

great help!

# ehm jhay said on December 5, 2007 09:14 PM:

Many thanks to you guys!!!! and merry xmass...

# lucija said on December 9, 2007 01:19 PM:

does it work for vistA also?

# callmejeef said on December 11, 2007 10:30 PM:

fixed my problem.

many thanks.

# steve said on January 17, 2008 08:49 PM:

This program worked

Thanks alot

# d said on January 20, 2008 01:38 PM:

netsh hasn't worked for me.... nor has the winsock executable

# michael said on February 2, 2008 10:37 AM:

The combination of removing the old anti-virus programme (Panda, yugghh) and fixing winsock did the trick for me !

# Jordan said on February 2, 2008 12:48 PM:

does the winsock work for vista ??

# Michael F said on February 23, 2008 11:40 PM:

Thanks so much!!!!

Fixed it up right!

# Mitch said on March 9, 2008 04:09 PM:

how are you guys doing this ?? because if you havent limited / no connectivity surely you cant connect to the internet and surely you cant download this ??

=\=\

# jim said on March 14, 2008 11:54 PM:

blew out old panda    reset winsock in command

downloaded software file to another machine and loaded and ran

NOTHING   any other help

# jim said on March 14, 2008 11:58 PM:

something new.......tried to disable and renew connection..........says cannot renew IP address

# sleepr said on March 28, 2008 06:57 PM:

Spent many hours getting an insane malware infestation off a machine only to have the networking refuse to work when it was all done. Winsock XP Fix fixed it! Yahoo!

# Tom said on April 4, 2008 05:35 AM:

Tried the netsh winsock reset and hasn't work. I am only accessing this on my computer which is cabled however the laptop is wireless and will not connect.

I know many people will be tellign ppl thank you for information but would be nice for the people who still having problems to get some feedback on how to solve their dillema.

Thanks

# Matt said on April 7, 2008 11:50 AM:

I agree with Tom. I have tried everything and still no luck. :-(

# Mike said on April 14, 2008 06:05 PM:

thanks, best advice ever

# Rumman said on April 19, 2008 07:59 AM:

I have suffered with this shits! for several days. My net service provider coudn't solve this problem. Thanks bro for this wonderful solution. I should kick their asses [my net service provider's engineers] for making me stupid

# steve said on May 7, 2008 11:02 PM:

Hey im having the same problem i have 2 computers both emachines the one im on works and they are both ran with ethernet cables from a lynksys hub and the other computers connection one day just started saying limited or no connectivity, tryed the netsh and a whole bunch of other solutions, i even rebooted my whole computer with the system disk still nothing , i need help bad please

# AMDtech said on May 8, 2008 07:15 PM:

Thanks a lot for you help!  Spent two days trying to solve this limited connectivity issue. The WinSock tool worked great.  Thanks again!

# Dano said on May 13, 2008 11:04 AM:

I had the same problem and eventually found the solution on answers dot com. If it helps anyone else here it is:

"If connecting to your network using Wi-Fi and using wireless security, your WEP or other security key may not be set properly. Check the wireless security configuration on your computer's network adapter and update if it necessary."

# CHRIS P said on June 21, 2008 12:13 PM:

netsh worked for me, Cheers pal.

# Michael said on June 23, 2008 05:07 AM:

I had the problem of the computer losing connection to my DLINK G604T after about an hour. Both Wireless and LAN would both go at the same time, and the only way to fix it was a reboot.  After spending about 2 weeks trying to find a solution on the web I found a mention from another site that it might be the memory overloading in the router/modem. It said to try setting network card IP address (mine was on automatic). faq.dlink.com.au/.../DisplayTemplate.aspx

This appears to have done the job. Now my ISP is TPG so not sure if the setting are generic for other ISP, but thought I would pass this on, as I know how frustrating it was to resolve it. Cheers

# THAT GUY said on June 30, 2008 03:09 AM:

I have been using a LAN cable from my computer to my brothers ....it works on most games but it always seems to say "limited or no connectivity" this stops it from working on Battlefield 2 but a few others games still work .....does anyone no how to fix this .its annoying the !@#$% out of me!

# PC Security said on July 19, 2008 10:18 PM:

Good info and well presented, for more quality free info on pc security related issues have a look here.

# registry mechanic 5 0 said on August 3, 2008 03:32 PM:

Pingback from  registry mechanic 5 0

# Dave said on August 8, 2008 12:33 AM:

Thank you sir. I really didn't want to format and start over. This worked great!!

# Patrick said on August 17, 2008 07:20 AM:

Tried Winsock fix and I did briefly get a connection but it was dropped. Now have removed security software (Panda 2007) and have connection again. Updating with Panda 2008 hopefully this will work better. But the problem seems to lie in the security software in my case, even if turned off no connection is possible. Suspect security software has corrupted something.  

# ToPo said on August 28, 2008 12:43 PM:

OMG it DiD Fucking Works!!!Finally

# hildo said on September 3, 2008 06:04 PM:

thanks ken

help me a lot..

# Salem said on September 13, 2008 07:23 AM:

Thanks a lot, it has fixed it immediately! :)

# Nabil Jaffar said on October 6, 2008 03:06 PM:

remove the dsl jack for 30 secs > disable the WIFI and LAN connections > restart the laptop/PC > remove the ETH cable > restart the router (keep off for atleast 30 secs) > after all LEDs are back ON >  connect the ETH cable and Enable the LAN connection > aquires the IP address > then enable the WIFI connection (before this plz remove the eth cable) > aquires the IP address.

Hopefully the connections should work now.

Leave a Comment

(required) 
(required) 
(optional)
(required) 

This Blog

Blogroll

Links

Team System

WinFX

Syndication