Limited or no connectivity

Hey there fellow members. And the message reads: "This connection has limited or no connectivity. You might not be able to access the Internet or some network resources. For more information, click this message.". I've been getting this message on my mothers just assembled PC and can't get internet to work. IP-adress stays 169.254.x.x. The PC in question (it's an old one);

AMD Athlon 1 Ghz
Abit KT7A Socket 462 (A)
3x 256 MB sdram dimm modules
Nvidia Riva TNT2 Model 64 32.0MB AGP
Creative Soundblaster 16 PCI
Realtek RTL 8139 C Fast Ethernet NIC
Running Windows XP MCE
Also running McAfee VirusScan 8.5i

List of things I've done:

-Ran commands in CMD such as;

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
netsh winsock reset

-Reinstalled the ethernet card
-Set the ethernet card to 10mbps/full duplex
-Changed the ethernet card's MAC adress
-Ran the Microsoft patch (KB884020)
-Ran the WinsockXPFix patch
-Left the modem offline forover 5 mins

Another thing I've done is changing IRQ's for the different cards I have, as I vaguely remember this also could cause problems back in the day. Set the bios to Yes for letting windows handle the IRQ's and tried setting it manually in the bios, setting the soundcard to IRQ 11 and the ethernetcard to 3 (both options advised by my dad). This would cause windows to reboot at loading the network status. If anyone has any other options I could explore, please! Mums hogging my lappie so I have 2 get this to work! :D

Edit: Also tried a different ethernet card (a new one from sitecom) with same procedures, still no luck. HELP! :(

So I take the the laptop's using the same router to get onto the internet, and that it's working?

May I suggest that you set your computer to use a static IP that's within the valid range of whatever your router's auto-assign range is. Possible a value that wouldn't cause any conflicts too.

Sorry I didn't post that info dude, the laptop and pc are directly connected to the modem. Right now I'm on my laptop, and when connected to the PC, it's not working. Thanks anyway. :)

Same thing happened to me recently after I added a new laptop to my home network. After failing to solve the problem after several attempts, I simply restarted the router and it worked. No idea what was the reason though (IP address related perhaps), but you might want to try that if you run out of ideas... :p

he didnt mention using a router anywhere.... he simply said modem, which could be the problem, cause a friend of mine couldn't use 2 things to go online either, till he bought a router.

Most modems are set to only talk to a specific MAC address to issue an IP address. So only the machine that the modem is configured to talk to will be able to access the network. That's why most gateway routers have the option to spoof a particular machine's MAC address. I don't know if this is still true but that's how it was in the early days of broadband home networking.

Ok, let me put it differently, there is no router present in this matter. Nor a hub or switch or any other device. It's either directly connected from modem to laptop or modem to pc. I use the same cable for both, and internet works fine on the laptop, wich means it's not the cable. Also put the modem on standby and when you do that you're supposed to get 192 IP from the DHCP built in the modem but not even that works. IP stays 169.254.

Edit: Okay, suddenly 2 other posts appeared...
Moving on, I worked at my ISP at the THD (Technical Helpdesk) and I've learned that each modem can store a max of 3 MAC adresses and assign each their own IP adress. Even though I only use 2 PC's in this house, if you leave the modem offline (no power) for 30 sec. it resets all the MAC's stored in the modem and three new MAC's can be stored again. Been there, done that. Allthough this method might have been changed since the fuse of several other ISP's. The company's called Ziggo now, while before was named Casema and before that Wanadoo. I still think it has something to do with the IRQ's, changing cards from slots might help I think, or setting the IRQ's manually in the bios. I only need correct configurations... But first I think I'll reinstall Windows. Or maybe there are other recommendations?

Buy a router, if it works, your modem can't handle the 2 pc's at the same time, cause casema was cable, so im assuming you have cable, my friend that i mentioned earlier had the issue with cable aswell.
You need a router.

I doubt it's IRQs or drivers or a hardware issue because the card is detected by windows and TCP/IP is loaded for the card and it's actually trying to communicate. It can't get an IP from the DHCP server (the modem), possibly because like I posted, a modem will only work with one MAC (not sure what model you're using or whether or not more are allowed these days).

I have one. Will try that and keep you posted.

Update: So yeah, I've done some things, obviously... After trying a couple of hardware modifications, the pc just wouldn't stop rebooting randomly, so... I remembered having another motherboard and I tried that one. It worked and internet also, with same network cards I used before... Clearly motherboard problem and not a modem problem. Though I did install my router, did it purely to get wireless on my lappie. All works fine! Thanks for all your input! :D