I have Windows XP as an operating system, and Road Runner cable as my internet provider. Windows keeps losing my IP address (not while I’m online, only while the computer is not in use) and I can’t get online. there is a repair program, but it does its thing then says it couldn’t fix the problem. The only remedy is to reboot. Why is this happening, and what do I do to stop it. When the computer is not being used it is not shut off.
More info, please.
Detailed error message - what does Windows say when it fails to “repair” your network connection?
Are you using wireless or wired connection? A router? When the connection is “lost”, can you still “ping” the router? What happens if you go to a command prompt and enter
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
?
What do you mean by Windows “losing” your IP address? Do you mean that you lose connectivity to the Internet? When this happens, what do you see if you go to the Command Prompt and enter ipconfig /all ?
A message pops up that says there is no connectivity to the internet. Theres a place to click on so Windows can search for an IP address, but it always comes back and says it was unable to do so.
Where am I suppose to type these commands?
Did you enable DHCP? (should be: yes) Did you do anything else manually? You shouldn’t need to do much. Setting up cable is a pretty simply advent.
In order to start a utility such as ipconfig you go to start > run > type in cmd > press enter. You’ll then get a command line. You can then type, e.g., ipconfig /release and afterwards ipconfig /renew. But that’s not going to fix your problem itself. Here’s some pretty extensive TCP/IP troubleshooting tips from microsoft. link. Take note that you can also type these commands directly into the start > run dialog, but since you are not in the context of the command line, the window will dissapear as soon as it runs the command.
There are lots of networking problems. If you could be more specific it would help a lot. An ok way to do this without comprimising your system security is to just describe all the networking settings you encounter without exposing any numbers of the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
When I click on my firefox icon on the desktop, I get this. And I can’t get online.
Right, I gathered that from your previous posts…
I used to have this same problem with my DSL connection. The problem was that my network card was automatically powering down after a certain amount of time. I opened Device manager, then looked at the properties of my network card. The “Power Management” Tab was where I found the check box, “Allow computer to turn off this device to save power”. When I unchecked it, my connection problems vanished.
I looked into that. It was already unchecked. But thanks anyway for the post.
This is a long shot, but browse through the Event Log to see if Windows is complaining about anything related to your problem. Start | All Programs | Administrative Tools | Event Viewer.
Check out both Application and System logs. Windows tends to be chatty so there will be plenty of stuff in there, but look for anything network or hardware related.
Ok. I did it. But what exactly should I be looking for? There is a ton of shit listed, a couple with “ERROR” & a few that say “WARNING” on them.
Quite a few of the “ERROR” say “The IP address lease 69.76.xx.xx for the network card with network address XXX has been denied by the DHCP server.”
What? 
Looks like you’re not alone. Is this perchance a Linksys router? Many folks complaining of the same symptoms here, with a couple of links and suggested fixes:
Just since everyone seems to be assuming you know what they’re talking about when they say “Do this” without saying where or how:
To run the ipconfig commands, you click Start->run, which will pop up a thingy to insert a command into. Type “cmd” and press okay. This will bring up the command prompt. From the command prompt you can run ipconfig.
(Warning, my computer is all in Japanese, so some of these I am having to guess what the English label is.) Enabling DHCP you do by going Start->Settings->Network Settings, and right clicking “Network settings” and telling it to open it. There should be a “Local Area Network” or some other thingy there symbolizing your active connection. You right click it and choose properties. This will bring up a new window. In the middle of this window is a list of a few items, one of which will be “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)” or something similar. Select it and choose properties. The window that pops up will have a thing that says something like “Automatically grab an IP address” or maybe “Use DHCP”, either way it means “Use DHCP” if you have it selected.
Finally! Someones speaking English to me!
Seriously, I appreciate everyones posts and I’ll be trying these things when it happens again. I’m a real dope when it comes to my home computer. At work we have IT guys to fix everything, but I can’t call them from home at 2 in the morning.