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I've run into a problem that a fair few people seem to encounter on Windows: "Unidentified Network, no connection"

Let's put the situation into context:

I've built a nice shiny new AM4 desktop. When I boot into Linux from a USB stick, my connection is lovely and fine. However, when I boot from my freshly installed copy of Windows 10 (Education, 1607, and normal, 1703), I get the error. The machine goes via Homeplugs, but also has the same issue when I connect directly to the router by ethernet (BT Smart hub). I've been reading about this for some time, and so far I have tried:

  • Reinstalling Windows
  • Installing the latest network driver from the motherboard manufacturer, from Realtek, and uninstalling the driver and letting Windows work
  • Factory reset of router
  • Disabling IPv6
  • Setting a static IP
  • ipconfig /release throws an error: an address has not yet been associated with the network endpoint
  • netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt did not help
  • network discovery set to on
  • I turned off fast startup, didn't help
  • Using secpol.msc, I forced networks to be set to private
  • I stopped the DHCP service, and rebooted

Now, given that these didn't work, I did a bit of snooping around the network as well:

  • When plugged in, the ethernet cable power light is on, and when it is plugged in for the first time, the activity light blinks for a few seconds
  • I cannot ping the router, but:
  • The router does have events registered when I connect:

18:52:57, 10 Jul. BR_LAN:LAN Neighbor Discovery : Host fe80::71f4:88fe:ad1a:4dbc is set active 18:53:59, 10 Jul. BR_LAN:DHCPv6 message : Advertise , LAN DHCPv6 Client: fe80::71f4:88fe:ad1a:4dbc 18:53:59, 10 Jul. BR_LAN:DHCPv6 message : Solicit , LAN DHCPv6 Client: fe80::71f4:88fe:ad1a:4dbc

  • and packets are sent and received according to Windows (though, very few indeed)

My ipconfig \all is pasted below:

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DESKTOP-II0VBEU
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : 
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : 
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 70-85-C2-3D-32-84
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.77.188(Preferred) 
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{3F7D1273-E153-462E-9400-6282528ADCA6}:

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

I do not believe this to be driven by any bugs on 1607 because of the repeated failure in 1703.

Do you know of any further solutions?

Many thanks for the help!

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9
  • Jonny, have you confirmed that you do not have an IP conflict on your network? You would think DHCP would just pick another IP address, but this is what a lot of people are saying in forums when I try searching for a solution. Also, have you tried looking in the "Alternate Configuration" tab within the "TCP/IPc4 Properties" window to ensure there isn't an obvious issue? Under the "General" tab in the "TCP/IPc4 Properties" window, you may want to look within the advanced options to make sure there isn't something there as well.
    – David
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 20:43
  • Thanks for the suggestion, @David. I've had a play around, using automatic settings for both tabs, or static IPs in just one or the other, but nothing seems to be flying. Particularly the static IPs fire up a troubleshooter that tells me the default gateway can't be reached (I am quite sure I'm using the right address) I did make sure to look at the IP leases on the router, and I'm not contradicting any of them
    – Jonny
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 21:39
  • So I see you showed some DHCPv6 information, but I don't see anything for DHCPv4. The address your computer is getting assigned is an APIPA address 169.254.x.x, so it's definitely having some sort of issue communicating with DHCP. I would double check your adapter settings to make sure it's set to assign and IP address automatically? I guess you could also try to reinstall your network drivers on Windows. I'll try to think of a few other things to try out
    – DrZoo
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 21:47
  • Ha, you happen to respond with a comment as I was typing mine :P
    – DrZoo
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 21:47
  • Jonny - Check out: superuser.com/questions/1106931/…
    – Vomit IT - Chunky Mess Style
    Commented Jul 10, 2017 at 22:08

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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The fact that you can't ping the router bothers me. Can you ping the router from another device and/or the Linux distro?

Have you tried ping 127.0.0.1? (ping yourself). If Windows can't do that, there is a problem with the driver. It could be the card, but you say the NIC works fine under Linux, so that would seem to rule out the physical hardware.

I'd also check the event log to see if there are warnings or errors related to your network card.

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6
  • I can ping from other devices, and I can ping the computer itself. Interestingly, I get two different results when I ping from the automatic IP mode and from the static mode. Automatic simply says PING: transmit failed. General failure. (an informative error message!). The static IP has a request times out for some of the pings, and a Reply from 192.168.1.10: Destination host unreachable otherwise. This seems to suggest a router issue (stackoverflow.com/questions/22110622/…) but odd it works on other devices.
    – Jonny
    Commented Jul 11, 2017 at 21:09
  • For the event log, there doesn't seem to be anything untoward. There are knock-on issues for some system entries (no internet connection) but the DHCP services seem to be starting normally. There are no recorded hardware events. (sorry for later reply, I seem not to have pressed submit last night!)
    – Jonny
    Commented Jul 12, 2017 at 8:39
  • So in my experience Transmit failed: General failure is typically when there is a layer 1 or layer 3 failure. And best practices suggest we question the obvious. So I hate to ask but have you tried a different CAT cable? I assume the router is also your DHCP server. Have you checked to make sure there are no exclusions or MAC filtering isn't in play?
    – Rob
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 1:32
  • I tried two different ethernet cables: the short one I will now be using, and the older, longer one that was certainly working two weeks ago. On a similar note I tried a direct router connection (albeit with only the long one) I can't see any exclusions or filtering in the router settings, though I don't believe my router even offers such options. Perhaps it's also noteworthy that my MacBook Pro won't connect via a USB-C Ethernet adapter (which I know works), while my old MacBook Air will using a Thunderbolt 2 Ethernet adapter. The TV also reconnected after factory reset (using Ethernet)
    – Jonny
    Commented Jul 13, 2017 at 20:48
  • I tried again with a direct router connection with a third ethernet cable, and sadly it was no dice!
    – Jonny
    Commented Jul 14, 2017 at 21:15
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The real solution came down to driver installation:

It is not okay to use the "setup.exe" part of the Realtek driver package to install them, irrespective of any messages in the install, or the README in the driver folder.

Instead, you must go to Device Manager, open up the Realtek GBE device item, and click on Install or Update Driver, then navigate to the driver folder. This will properly install the driver, which made everything work.

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