Router, LAN, and everything else...

So, here’s the situation. I shut down my PC yesterday around 2:00 PM, and everything was running perfectly. When I fired it back up later that evening, around 7:00 or 8:00, the internet was completely dead. I use Xfinity for my TV and web combo; the TV works fine and the Wi-Fi is up, but the hardwired connection to my computer is totally unresponsive. Of course, I get that dreaded yellow warning triangle in the corner saying, "Ethernet doesn't have a valid IP configuration." I'm running Windows 8.1, and honestly, it was working flawlessly until this happened. When I went to check the router lights to see what was going on... well, that's when things got interesting. It turns out my cat knocked the router off its perch onto the floor. I picked it up and it looks physically fine—every single light is blinking away—but the internet still won't connect. I tried swapping the cables into different ports, but nothing changes; the TV stays on, but the PC remains offline 😕. Since I don't have a spare Ethernet cable lying around, I need to test if the wire itself is shot, or maybe borrow a laptop to rule out some weird hardware issue with my PC's port. Does anyone have any other ideas? I have a nagging feeling that both the cable and the connector might be the culprits, since I always seem to run into these kinds of random glitches 🙂

fadedsailor17 said:So, here’s the situation. I shut down my PC yesterday around 2:00 PM, and everything was running perfectly. When I fired it back up later that evening, around 7:00 or 8:00, the internet was completely dead. I use Xfinity for my TV and web combo; the TV works fine and the Wi-Fi is up, but the hardwired connection to my computer is totally unresponsive. Of course, I get that dreaded yellow warning triangle in the corner saying, "Ethernet doesn't have a valid IP configuration." I'm running Windows 8.1, and honestly, it was working flawlessly until this happened. When I went to check the router lights to see what was going on... well, that's when things got interesting. It turns out my cat knocked the router off its perch onto the floor. I picked it up and it looks physically fine—every single light is blinking away—but the internet still won't connect. I tried swapping the cables into different ports, but nothing changes; the TV stays on, but the PC remains offline 😕. Since I don't have a spare Ethernet cable lying around, I need to test if the wire itself is shot, or maybe borrow a laptop to rule out some weird hardware issue with my PC's port. Does anyone have any other ideas? I have a nagging feeling that both the cable and the connector might be the culprits, since I always seem to run into these kinds of random glitches 🙂

🙂

Call tech support and ask them to check if the router is actually functioning; they can run remote diagnostics. Also, can you even access the router settings?

If the impact from hitting the floor caused a reset, you might want to go through the settings one by one...

I gave them a call right away, and they insisted everything looks perfectly fine on their end. I didn't bother messing with his settings; I'm not even sure what I'd be looking to change in there anyway. 🤷

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id...n-windows.html

Take a look at this...

Usually, you’re seeing that error because someone messed with the MAC address on the network card. Or, I guess, maybe they just swapped out the whole computer entirely. Honestly, the fix is pretty straightforward—just pull the plug on your modem, let it sit there for maybe 30 seconds or so, and then power it back up. Another way to handle it would be to just revert the MAC address back to whatever it was before, which is usually just the factory default. You can typically find those settings tucked away in your BIOS or directly within the OS under the network adapter settings. If you actually happen to know what the original address was, you could always just grab an app like SMAC 2.0 or something similar to force the change back.

I didn't actually change any settings. I just shut down my PC like usual and turned it back on a few hours later, and then this happened...
Does anyone know how I can download this? 😁