Windows 8 Network Adapter Troubles

By Dot Matrix
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
Posted

So, I had Windows 8 blow up in my face yesterday. Still not sure what happened or what caused it, but the test system self destructed forcing me to do a disk scan and "Refresh" (More on that later). Everything is back to working order, however Windows 8 is and isn't connected to my network... I'm not sure what's going on here, but I have Windows telling me it is, but isn't connecting to my Ethernet LAN. I tried IPConfig, reseating my NIC, and re-installing the drivers to no avail. Any ideas?

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Grand Master

ObiWanToby

Posted
Posted

I'd do a reinstall. If you system "self destructed" it is likely something got corrupted.

If you did an ipconfig /release and a rewnew, did a /flushdns , reinstalled your drivers, tried resetting the nic, and are indeed getting a valid IP from your ISP or router, I am not sure what else you can try.

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Well, at this point, a re-install would be more trouble than it's worth. If there's nothing else I can do, it would be more worthwhile to blow the installation away and use it for storage. :/

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
  • Author
Posted

What exactly were your issues before, what was the symptom of "self destruct".

Try manually assigning all parameters of the connection. Manually assign the ip, gateway and dns servers.

There were no symptoms. I had to restart my machine so I could boot into Windows 7, and when I booted back into Windows 8, nothing worked, nothing started, and Windows was telling me my drive needed scanned for errors.

what's the IP address that gets assigned to it? is it in your expected range?

192.168.1.2.

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
  • Author
Posted

have you tried a system restore? I don't know if it would help much more then your system refresh did, but it's worth a try.

I cannot for the life of me find System Restore anymore. I think (Don't quote me on this though) that the new "Refresh your PC" feature replaces system restore. But get this, it totally reformats your system and removes your x64 apps. :angry: However, it did nothing for my issue, and left me with a even more busted Windows 8 installation.

Experienced

Matthew_Thepc

Posted
Posted

I cannot for the life of me find System Restore anymore. I think (Don't quote me on this though) that the new "Refresh your PC" feature replaces system restore. But get this, it totally reformats your system and removes your x64 apps. :angry: However, it did nothing for my issue, and left me with a even more busted Windows 8 installation.

ouch...

System Restore is still there, search for "System Restore" on your Start Menu, then go to Settings and click "Create a restore point." then click the button that says "System Restore..." :p

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
  • Author
Posted

ouch...

System Restore is still there, search for "System Restore" on your Start Menu, then go to Settings and click "Create a restore point." then click the button that says "System Restore..." :p

Well this sucks. I have ZERO restore points! Why the **** is Windows 8 not making restore points automatically?

Experienced

Matthew_Thepc

Posted
Posted

Well this sucks. I have ZERO restore points! Why the **** is Windows 8 not making restore points automatically?

yeah, I've noticed this ever since the DP...it seems to be some kind of space saving feature -.- in the DP or CP (I don't remember which one) even to get to system restore you had to enable it in the add/remove windows features window. oh well, there goes my only suggestion :\

Veteran

siah1214

Posted
Posted

I'm sorry to say this but you lost your restore points at the refresh. Windows 8 does create restore points when you add or remove software (I have several and I've never changed a restore setting)

Unfortunately, it seems "refresh" is the default answer to fix people's Windows 8 PCs. If you ask a question on the forums about Windows 8 problem, you're going to get told to refresh the PC. That's great for your metro apps, which will automatically reinstall, but desktop apps get wiped, with little warning (other than a "Your apps will be removed)

Windows 8 does create restore points when you add or remove software (I have several and I've never changed a restore setting)

I don't have any pointers to fix your network adapter, I'm sorry to say :-\

What IP address are you getting?

Grand Master

xendrome

Posted
Posted

check to see if Windows 8 is still installed on C drive, if the bootloader has messed up then it can cause problems like you are having

The OS isn't going to automagically change which drive is installed on, and if it did it wouldn't boot at all. Especially if the boot loader is messed up like you are thinking.

Proficient

dafin0

Posted
Posted

The OS isn't going to automagically change which drive is installed on, and if it did it wouldn't boot at all. Especially if the boot loader is messed up like you are thinking.

i have seen this happen a few times to be sure. windows makes a small hidden partition in front of the main OS partition, for whatever reason sometimes that hidden partition can become unhidden and C drive. yes most of the time it will just blue screen on boot if this happens but sometimes it will boot to windows just with lots of problems.

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
  • Author
Posted

check to see if Windows 8 is still installed on C drive, if the bootloader has messed up then it can cause problems like you are having

I can boot into it no problem. It recognizes all my drives, but it just has trouble with going online to some sites. Metro apps don't even work at all.

Experienced

Matthew_Thepc

Posted
Posted

I'm sorry to say this but you lost your restore points at the refresh. Windows 8 does create restore points when you add or remove software (I have several and I've never changed a restore setting)

Unfortunately, it seems "refresh" is the default answer to fix people's Windows 8 PCs. If you ask a question on the forums about Windows 8 problem, you're going to get told to refresh the PC. That's great for your metro apps, which will automatically reinstall, but desktop apps get wiped, with little warning (other than a "Your apps will be removed)

Windows 8 does create restore points when you add or remove software (I have several and I've never changed a restore setting)

I don't have any pointers to fix your network adapter, I'm sorry to say :-\

What IP address are you getting?

ah, this is good to know :D yeah, I'm pretty unhappy with how now the default answer to all Windows problems is "try a Refresh" (which is replacing the slightly less destroying Reboot answer :p)

Mentor

cybertimber2008

Posted
Posted

can you ping your gateway?

Seriously surprised it took this long for someone to mention that...

Can you post the results of these commands...

ping 192.168.2.1

ipconfig /all (from Windows 8 and Windows 7)

route -print (from Windows 8 and Windows 7)

Also, have you installed an AntiVirus or Firewall? And have you tried to disable your firewall to see if that makes any change?

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
  • Author
Posted

can you ping your gateway?

Seriously surprised it took this long for someone to mention that...

Can you post the results of these commands...

ping 192.168.2.1

ipconfig /all (from Windows 8 and Windows 7)

route -print (from Windows 8 and Windows 7)

Also, have you installed an AntiVirus or Firewall? And have you tried to disable your firewall to see if that makes any change?

Too late. I found myself with some extra time and forced myself into a re-install. I'm assuming since I had partial Internet connectivity that I could ping my gateway, but I never bothered trying. I know I did do a IPCONFIG /RELEASE and IPCONFIG /RENEW.

Experienced

DJGM

Posted
Posted

OK ... I appear to be having a very similar problem to the one Dot Matrix has been experiencing, and it's only just kicked in

this evening. Ironically, on the very day that thousands of internet connections are due to go belly up because of the FBI

throwing the kill switch on the DNS servers they seized from the DNSChanger malware muppets!

I don't want to have to refresh/reset/reinstall Windows unless all possible solutions are tried and don't resolve the issue.

The situation is this ... my main OS on my main PC is Windows 8 Release Preview, on a dual boot, alongside Windows XP.

The internet, and all network connections on my media centre PC downstairs are fine. The same goes for our webserver.

All three computers (and my XBox360) are set to static IP rather than DHCP. The router is on 198.168.1.1, my main PC

is on 198.168.1.3, the webserver is on 198.168.1.4, and the media centre PC is on 198.168.1.7.

The network settings on the main PC:

IP address: 198.168.1.3

Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Default Gateway: 198.168.1.1

Preferred DNS server: 198.168.1.4

Alternative DNS server: 198.168.1.1

These settings have always worked with no problems, adverse or otherwise, ever since they were first setup.

Now ... the network connection with Windows 8 on the main PC is live, and says there is internet access. Indeed, the Activity

section of the connection status window, shows data is being sent and received. I can access all the shared folders on the

other computers on the network from the main PC, and can access them via Remote Desktop Connection.

Yet not one single web browser or internet application on this install of Windows 8 can get any internet action!

With the Windows XP installation on the main PC, no problem. All systems go. Full, unfettered, internet access.

I could, for the time being drop back to Windows XP for a while. While it does work fine for such a long in the tooth OS,

it is still very old, and to be honest, I do prefer Windows 8 ... much like quite a few other folks around here.

Grand Master

TEX4S

Posted
Posted

Guys, on a side note if you're not using 3rd party DNS server(s) - you should start.

Whether it is Google's (8.8.8.8) & (8.8.4.4) or OpenDNS (208.67.222.222) & (208.67.220.220)

There are DNS testing utilities that can tell you what the fastest ones are for your specific connection also.

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