I can't talk for every Router out there but it should be standard that the router act as a relay. The PC will get the Gateway address of the router and the router will forward the request to the DNS-Server. That is how it should work with the majority of home routers. The only thing a router does is that it has a cache to store some of the DNS resolved addresses. So the PC if using DCHP doesn't know the IP-Address of the provider's server and the PC doesn't need to. The router does and will act as a relay.

That is how it works with routers from Dlink, Netgear, Sphairon, AVM etc.

Jump out to the command prompt and type

ipconfig /all

and report back what it says. It should look something like this:

http://i30.tinypic.com/309sbx3.jpg

I'm betting the gateway or DNS servers are missing. Based on the info the machine thinks it has, we can probably solve it from there.

Okay, that's easy because it was one of the first things I did this morning.

At startup (when I'm getting the "little or no connection" message), the gateway, DHCP server and DNS server addresses all start with 169.xxx as does the IP address for my laptop.

After I right-click the wireless icon in the taskbar and repair the connection, the gateway, DHCP server and DNS server addresses are all the 192.xxx for the Netgear router.

And the IP address for the laptop is the one that I set in the router settings last January.

Is that what you needed to know?

I think the issue is the DNS settings as JClishe suggested above. I don't think they should point to the router, they should point to a dns server.

You can try going directly by an IP address in the address bar, for example 67.201.16.68 for flyertalk, if that works, it's the DNS settings, you are not picking up any DNS to tell the machine that flyertalk is 67.201.16.68

I have the same problem as the OP on occasion with a desktp running XP. Right clicking the wireless icon in the tray and selecting repair fixes the problem but every once in a while, for no apparnt reason, I have to "repair" again. All of the settings are correct. I've checked, re-checked, and checked again. I've resigned mself to just having to do the "repair" thing every few hours. My point is, considering what the the OP says, it doesn't seem like the DNS settings at all, since they didn't change any settingts when it started. It seems like it's just one of those Windows gremlins that we learn to live with.

reset tcp stack
 

Go to your command prompt and type the following:
netsh int ip reset log.txt

The 169 address is the local address windows assigns when it can't connect to the dhcp server. OP said if he does a repair, then it works. He also said he has the router set up to give it a fixed address anyway. So, if he can't talk to the router and he gets 169 IP and gateway address, what difference does it make what's in the DNS server IP address fields? Since the gateway IP is set to the local 169 IP address, it can't get to the router anyway.

JC: The OP said that this laptops travel days are over. He made a point of that. So what's the problem with letting the router forward DNS in this case? Unless his router is from the year 1. Oh wait, in OP, he even said it's a netgear router so all the other computers on his home network have the DNS and Gateway IP address set to 192.168.0.1 unless he changed those settings on his netgear router. Anyway, if he uses a static IP and a global nameserver, he still has to change that setting back to "automatic" if he travels, so I guess I don't see the point of getting pedantic on that one point.

Tennis guy: Do what you said in the first post. It will be fine for your situation. Use the same IP address for the DNS server that it gives that computer (when dhcp is working) or it gives the other computer on your home network. Or just live with it and do a manual repair after you startup, or diagnose the problem and fix it. Anyway, did you try it yet? If it doesn't work, it's easy to re-check the other box so it uses dhcp.

That's it for me. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

It's a damn shame the way this thread turned out.

-David

David, thank you for your careful reading and advice, not to mention your kind offer to answer any other questions I may have. (You may not realize how dangerous it is to make such an offer to techno-neophytes like me. :D)

Actually, from my perspective, this thread has turned out to be more interesting and educational than I expected. I appreciate how many of you have taken the time to try to help (and commiserate with others who also struggle with the MS gremlins).

Fran

Who are you directing this statement at? My recommendation was to use DHCP (automatic) on all client settings, specifically to avoid having to change settings if he ever travelled.

Did you do this?

Start -> run -> CMD <enter>

type netsh int ip reset log.txt

Not yet. Yesterday morning the problem spontaneously resolved, and I've had 2 startups with entirely normal internet connection.

I'm waiting for the gremlin to reappear before I start tinkering, but I've printed out everyone's advice.

Well that was totally uncalled for.

I apologize if my 20 plus years of IT experience in IP settings helped to make this thread a damn shame.

Not that it matters, my comments were referring to this

After I right-click the wireless icon in the taskbar and repair the connection, the gateway, DHCP server and DNS server addresses are all the 192.xxx for the Netgear router.

where the OP clearly stated that he was getting settings from the router.

I will stand by earlier post, the DNS settings should not be pointing to a router, but to a set of DNS servers someplace.

And I'll spot my 20ish years of working on computers (though only the last 14 in the TCP/IP world ;)) and say that this is not 100% necessary.

There are several routers - the NetGear among them - that give out the gateway as their DNS server and it works perfectly fine. I've been using one at home this way for months.

The OP's problem is that they are not getting a response from the DHCP server within the timeout that the Windows stack allows, not that they are unable to resolve hostnames into IP addresses. Suggesting changes to the DNS settings would not help the OP at all.

If the OP really wants to set static entries they should use the same DNS server settings that are listed when it is working properly and pick an IP address outside of the DHCP scope that the router has in its DHCP pool. That would provide results most consistent with the functioning version of the network they currently have.

Using 3rd party/external/ISP DNS servers would also work just fine but it would not directly address the issue that the OP is experiencing so going down that route seems to be a bit of a red herring.

Managing different profiles in the Thinkpad Access Connection utility is pretty easy. So just setup a profile called Home with the following:

Fixed IP address: 192.168.1.50
The first two terms should be same as your router. Normally DHCP address assignments start at xxx.xxx.1.100 or xxx.xxx.0.100 and runs 50 addresses to e.g. 192.168.1.149. So setting an address outside of this range is safe.

DNS addresses: 192.168.1.1
I agree with abm12.
The Gatway router should have DNS forwarding function. So you can just point to your Gateway router address and not to the actual DNC server the carrier gives you. Sometimes this can be 192.168.0.1

In my network, the DNS addresses are actually held by the DSL modem. So I can point to the GW router address or DSL modem address in each client DNS address field entries.

Gateway and Subnet Mask: Same as your router settings.

WAN address:
Because my DSL modem can hold the PPPoE log on function, there is no need for my router to do so. The WAN port (internet) is set to Obtain an IP automatically.

Additionally, in my network, all network devices such as routers, wireless access points are assigned in the range 192.168.1.1-10, fixed client IP addresses in the range 192.168.50-99, DHCP addresses in the range 192.168.1.100-149, printers 192.168.1.200-220, and NAS storage devices 192.168.1.250-254. Each device has its IP address marked.

In my network, the functional split amongst the different devices are as following:

DSL modem: PPPoE and DNS address holder
Main router: DHCP server, GW address, VoIP phone function, top level switch
WiFi access point: WPS-PSK authentication
8 port Gigabit switch: main network switching

The WiFi AP and GB switch actually are high thermal devices so removing these functions from the main router had reduced network crashed to negligible level in my network.

Network devices should have web access administrative function turned off and WiFi access points with authentication turned on for security.

First use of ethernet was actually when "cheaper net" thin wire ethernet got started in the mid-eighties. The thin coax cables were much cheaper than the thick coax and taps but was very unreliable and a single connector can bring down the entire network. The star topology in hubs and switches were a god send.

Like many routers, netgear routers give out their own IP address for DNS. They forward them to a nameserver on the WAN side. Or you can configure whatever you want to use in the router, for example, if you prefer to use opendns or something else than what the ISP provides. That way when your configuration changes from the ISP or you change it manually in the router, the clients continue to use the same local address.

My Linksys router, running DD-WRT does the same thing.

The only issue Fran was having was that DHCP was failing at startup. When DHCP was successful after Fran did a "repair", it was working fine.

The thread devolved somewhat on the topic of what IP address to use for the DNS server if Fran did, in fact, go the static method.

My off-topic comment wasn't directed specifically at you, Cordelli. It was directed at the thread. In other words, I didn't mean it to be personal. So I'll apologize for the off-topic comments.

Maybe sbm12 did a better job than I did in explaining all that in post #28.

-David