Bewildering Limited Connectivity

[CorvusMarinus]

I live in a village in the Republic of Georgia with a Georgian family which has been gracious enough to facilitate wifi, set up by an ex-son-in-law, a mailman who is still the family tech go-to (and speaks no English, like the rest of the family). Our current internet provider has worked well for the past month. As forewarning, my computer knowledge is not great.

A few days ago I traveled from Georgia to Armenia and back. When I returned, I could not use my home network--I was getting "limited connectivity" (as in, the little yellow triangle). I have not since had this problem on my school network, but my wife's laptop, since our return, has also intermittently been unable to access the internet--often (though not necessarily) when I can, and vice-versa. Hers seems to be able to access internet far more often than mine.

The Windows diagnostics tool has been unhelpful, and usually claims it can't figure out the problem. I have tried resetting the adapter and the router. I have updated my drivers. I have renewed my IP. I have restarted my computer. I have run a malware scan.

Three times I got internet back, but each method (the first two, anyway) has only worked the one time. The first time I fixed it, I disabled all wifi "items" except IPv6/IPv4. Internet was immediately restored. It remained operational after I had re-enabled these items, all afternoon, until I slept and re-woke my computer. The second time, I turned off my antivirus shields. Once again, when I re-enabled them, internet remained. Similarly, having slept my laptop and re-woken it, I lost internet again, and now fiddling with the antivirus doesn't have any effect. A third time, just now, I turned off IPv6, refreshed the connection, and turned it back on. All of a sudden, internet. We'll see how long this lasts.

I do have the username and password to the router and can adjust the settings from my laptop. I have not yet tried to communicate the problem to the son-in-law; due to the language barrier, and as I'm not sure whether his technical abilities will be able to determine whether it's a problem with my computer or the router, I'm saving that as a last resort.

Any help would be appreciated.

Here is the latest ipconfig readout from command prompt, while the internet was down:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600]
(c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Xibalba
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : BlinkAP

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 1A-E3-47-1B-AD-4D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : BlinkAP
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network
Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 28-E3-47-1B-AD-4D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::e5fb:bb5c:4da1:e01a%4(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.16.100(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, March 6, 2015 8:43:31 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, March 6, 2015 10:43:31 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.16.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.16.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 321446727
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-1A-6C-EF-F6-D8-50-E6-E0-B9-C0

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.16.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : D8-50-E6-E0-B9-C0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.BlinkAP:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : BlinkAP
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #6
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes



And now, working again:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Xibalba
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 1A-E3-47-1B-AD-4D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network
Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 28-E3-47-1B-AD-4D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::e5fb:bb5c:4da1:e01a%4(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.154(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, March 6, 2015 9:06:44 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, March 6, 2015 9:26:16 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 321446727
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-1A-6C-EF-F6-D8-50-E6-E0-B9-C0

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : D8-50-E6-E0-B9-C0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 3:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:5ef5:79fb:30d7:3d43:3f57:fe65(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::30d7:3d43:3f57:fe65%5(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 134217728
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-1A-6C-EF-F6-D8-50-E6-E0-B9-C0

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{8F874849-1F45-4804-AF81-3F735B709F86}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #5
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

 

[TerryNet]

You had an apparently good IP configuration both times.

IF you login to the router change the lease time for the Dhcp server to something larger--say, two days. Pretty sure that's not causing you any problems, but there is no sense in having a shorter lease time unless there are a lot of devices coming and going (like at a free Wi-Fi hotspot).

To continue troubleshooting the next time you cannot access the internet try these tests in a Command Prompt ...

ping 192.168.1.1

ping 8.8.4.4

ping yahoo.com

Those test communication with the router, a web site, and the DNS server, respectively.

 

[CorvusMarinus]

As an update, I'm still experiencing difficulties, as is my wife (and once again, often when one laptop isn't working the other is). The only solution that seems to last beyond a computer sleep is to lock the IP at 192.168.1.154. That will last for a day or two before I have to start over.

TerryNet, the first ping was successful and the other two were not.

 

[TerryNet]

So, you can have the situation when both PCs are connected to and communicating with the router but one can access the internet while the other cannot?

 

[CorvusMarinus]

Yes, I believe so.

 

[TerryNet]

I cannot think of what could be causing that.

 

[Stanr691]

Maybe they are somehow getting the same IP address via DHCP. Or something is getting a duplicate IP anyway. Odd, but I've seen it happen. You could try putting static IPs on both devices and see if that eliminates your issue.