No Operation can be performed... error for ipconfig

Just a thought (or two):


a) the cable may be a crossover type and the desktop has an autosensing ethernet connector (NIC) so isn't worried.

b) the laptop's NIC is defective or needs a driver. See Device Manager.

If my laptop can connect to other wireless networks (where security is disabled) and can connect, but not web browse on the SBG901's wireless network (where security is disabled), does this point to some kind of defective NIC or some other type of problem?

Ignore connection via ethernet for the moment.


Okay, so laptop wireless is connecting to several routers including Motorola. Can browse using other routers but not browse using the Motorola.

some laptops have a hardware switch that disables the wired NIC. Or it may be disabled in software (power savings). If you do "ipconfig" does it show that the adapter is there, but media is disconnected?

When I did

>ipconfig /renew

I got the following:

Windows IP Configuration

An error occurred while renewing interface Wireless network Connection : unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.
No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media disconnected.
No operation can be performed on Network Connect Adapter while it has its media disconnected.

I would really like to get the laptop's web browser capability to work with a wireless connection. I can live without the laptop working with a wired connection (since my desktop needs to be connected to the cable modem/gateway via ethernet).

If my laptop can support web browsing using other wireless networks (where network authentication = open and data encryption = disabled), shouldn't I be able to browse the web using the SBG901's wireless network (with security disabled)? I am trying to get this to work first before enabling WPA-P2K encyption.

In my wireless access control window (from my gateway configuration webpage), I can see that my laptop is a connected client (based on the MAC address). The bad thing is that I see the following information for the connected client:
IP Addr: ERROR
Host Name: ERROR

Is the wired/desktop using DHCP or static IP addresses?
Are you broadcasting the SSID on the router? If not, try allowing broadcast. Then from the laptop, can you see the SSID in available wireless networks? If not, can you see any OTHER wireless networks?

I was able to connect to the SBG901 and surf the web with my desktop PC. I know that it was using the SBG901 since the ethernet cable was disconnected and I could see that my desktop PC had connected to my wireless router. I saw it had connected in my gateway configuration screen.

I think that something is messed up on my laptop. I am going to try to upgrade Windows XP since I am missing a bunch of service packs.

If I want to try updating the driver and software for the wireless card, do I need to first uninstall the driver and software first or can I simply download the new version on top of the old one?

You should be able to install the new one on top of the old one.

It is all very sad. After many hours, I have still not made any progress. I have already spent a lot of time talking to Comcast (my ISP) and have exchanged a bunch of emails with Motorola (my cable modem/wireless router vendor).

This is the current situation with the laptop (running Windows XP with all updates installed and latest wireless card driver installed):

ethernet connection (laptop to SBG901) is still not working. Unable to get a valid ip address.

wireless connection (laptop to SBG901 using my internal Intel Pro Wireless 2200BG card) is still not working. Unable to get a valid ip address. SBG901 and laptop has been power cycled and SID has been modified a couple of times and wireless router channel was hard coded to different values (per Motorola help desk recommendation). Wireless router has been reset to default settings.

wireless connection (laptop to SBG901 using a Linksys wireless G-USB Adapter) is working. Able to get a valid ip address. Web surfing works. Able to connect to SBG901 with it configured for both unsecured network and secured (WPA-PSK)

Here is the current situation with the desktop (running Windows Vista):

ethernet connection (desktop to SBG901) is working. Web browsing works.

Wireless connection using Linksys wireless G-USB adapter) is working. Web browsing works.

Did not try wireless internal card since the desktop does not have this piece of hardware.

Given the above information, any idea what I should try next? Do I need to use static IP and setup the TCP/IP stack (on my laptop) to use hard coded values?

A long shot that might help - try resetting the TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. Go into Command Prompt and type netsh int ip reset reset.log including all the spaces and then hit Enter. Restart the computer and see if that made a difference.

Sorry - word wrap messed that up - the command is netsh int ip reset reset.log

Unfortunately, resetting the TCP/IP stack did not work.

Any idea why wireless USB-G adapter works but not internal wireless card nor ethernet connection?

The wireless card in the laptop is working now.

I started from scratch and reloaded all of the software on my laptop.

A bit extreme but so long as you've fixed it, that's all that counts.  

It's windows, not sure that counts as really that extreme. A friend of mine has a little jingle (He's a UNIX guy). To the tune of Camptown races:

FDISK, format, reinstall
windows, windows