Summary: "Limited Connectivity" displays when your computer is having problems completing its network configuration. It might as well mean "no connectivity".
I have recently started receiving "limited connectivity" messages at our vacation condo. Looking on the web I've found a jillion ways to fix this problem and can't believe all the advertising. I've found that cycling the repeater that is in our condo will usually clear this problem. What causes it and what do I do when cycling the repeater doesn't work?
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"Limited connectivity" happens when your computer can connect to the network ... but it can't.
I know, that wasn't very helpful. But it's actually accurate. Your computer was able to connect the network in one way, but was unable to complete the next step.
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"Limited connectivity" happens when:
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It's that last one that needs a little explanation.
An IP address is how your computer is located on its network. The vast majority of machines are configured to connect to the network using DHCP to get what's called a "dynamic" IP address. That means that rather than permanently assigning a specific IP to that machine, the machine "asks" for an IP address when it connects to the network.
Dynamic IP addresses are simpler to configure, and allow for IP addresses to be re-used when the machines that they were temporarily assigned to are taken offline.
A DHCP request for a dynamic IP address is very simple: your computer broadcasts to all the devices listening on its network "Would the DHCP server listening please assign me an IP address!". On each such network there should be one device that hears that request and responds with something like "Here ya go: you will be 192.168.1.4 - and by the way, when you want to talk to others on your network, here's some more information, and when you want to send something to the internet, send it here."
In other words your computer gets both its IP address as well as instructions on how to talk to the rest of the world.
At that point your computer is ready to communicate with the world.
So, what happens if no one responds?
Your computer will repeat that request ("Would the DHCP server listening please assign me an IP address!") a few times, and then it'll give up.
And declare that you have limited connectivity.
Connectivity is "limited" because your computer will likely make up an IP address. If you check your IP on your machine and it starts with "169." that's a made-up IP address. Only your computer knows about it, which means that no other computer knows how to contact yours. In addition, your computer doesn't know how to find or send packets to anyone else.
Limited connectivity is extremely limited. In practice, it means no connectivity.
There are scenarios where, if you know what you're doing and you're willing to jump through some hoops, you can actually force communication while you're in this state by doing things like manually configuring TCP/IP settings on your network card. But it's not meant to be a long term solution at all.
So, what do you do?
DHCP is typically handled by your router, or in some cases your broadband modem. If you have a single PC connected to the internet, it may also be handled by your ISP.
Believe it or not, 90% of the time what you did is exactly right: reboot your router. Sometimes routers just "get into a state" and need to be rebooted. It's silly, and in an ideal world shouldn't be needed, but it is what it is. I probably reboot my router once a month, on average.
Wireless access points, those which are not routers but simply provide the wireless connectivity to a wired network, can sometimes also hiccup and fail in such a way as to cause this problem. I believe it happens when the wireless side of the device keeps working while the wired connection is, for some reason, inoperative. Again, a reboot of the device typically clears this up.
In either case, it's easiest to then reboot your computer(s) to force them to request new IP address assignments from the now functioning router.
If the reboot resolves the problem, but then it reoccurs quickly, I would check with the manufacturer of that device to see if there is new firmware available for it. Even though we think of routers and access points as hardware, they are in fact small computers running programs, and the programs sometimes have bugs. Sometimes those bugs don't manifest until something outside of the device changes. (I've heard anecdotal evidence that the new TCP/IP code in Windows Vista has exposed issues with some routers, for example.)
If your firmware is up to date, and the problem repeats frequently, I would investigate trying a new router or access point to see if that clears things up.
Related:
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Ask Leo! - What is DHCP?
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Ask Leo! - How is my IP address assigned?
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Ask Leo! - Why did my home network stop working?
Article C3420 - June 19, 2008
Thanks for the article. I was having a terrible time installing a linksys wireless N adapter while using a linksys wireless N router. They should be compatible, right? I had already tried rebooting the router, but after reading your article I decided to try rebooting the router again... and it worked. What a pain tho!
Posted by: Mark at November 14, 2008 4:32 PMIs there a checklist of things (even menial things) I can go through to overcome the limited connectivity?
I think I may have changed some settings to connect to a different network, and now that I'm home I can't connect to the internet even though I have done before, and other computers still can.
I have checked the IP settings and have compared the settings to the other pcs but I'm not getting anywhere.
Is there a defaukt settings option on the connection options? That could possibly work.
I'm on vista too.
Posted by: Tarek at December 16, 2008 12:10 PMLimited no connectivity this so simple you need to contact your network provider to provide you for the following : the IP address, Submet mask, Default gateway, and pefereed DNS server number after you acquired all click START - NETWORK CONNECTIONS - PROPERTIES - on the Description uncheck the Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity and check the show Icon on notificationare when connected Then highlight the Internet Protocol(TCP/IP)tab -go to Properties - General tab, click Use the following IP address and input the number given by your network provider, Subnet mask, Default gateway and the tab Use the following DNS server addresses and then input Preferred DNS server number given by the network provider then press OK that will solve your problem
Posted by: BOIE SAN LUIS at February 14, 2009 4:06 AMRestarting the modem worked for me.
Posted by: Andrew at April 10, 2009 8:07 AMI have connected to the new modem i bought, the LAN icon says its connected to a network but its limited connectivity.The status of LAN shows that no packets are received by my laptop.I have checked pinging the modem, but its not working. How is it possible that LAN says its connected but the modem is not responding while i do the ping test in the command prompt.
what do you suggest?
Operating system is Vista Business.
Modem manufacturer is Seimens, Model no. SL2_141.
Regards,
Posted by: Divjot Singh at April 28, 2009 12:09 AMDivjot.
Started getting this error message after a teenage visitor in our home downloaded games to one of our pcs. He had asked to check his email but once on the computer decided he wanted to do other things. We tried using AVG and other s/w to "clean" the PC. But, never were able to fix it using any of the suggestions we found on line.
Posted by: M Hardee at May 1, 2009 9:30 AMTried changing wireless adapter (USB to PCI) but never was able to get the error corrected. Called cable company & their technician couldn't troubleshoot and resolve and they found no problem with the router/cable modem. So, last effort was to carry the pc to the vendor where it was purchaed & have their tech check it out. He found that Window XP was corrupt and re-installed. This kid had downloaded Win32Heurvirus onto the PC. We did switch to the PCI wireless card and have had no problems since reconnecting this computer to our wireless network. I did not see this solution on any of the sites where I researched this problem....hope it helps someone
I need some help on this one. I have a desktop (running XP) connected to a DSL modem and a laptop (running Vista) that is on a wireless connection. Everything has worked very well for the past year with no connection problems. Last week, I clicked on an automatic update for my Norton software (upgrade from version 2.0 to 3.0). The update worked fine and then prompted me to restart. The restart didn’t work – the laptop froze and eventually I had to do a System Restore. Once the laptop was working again, the limited connectivity problem started immediately. Sometimes, the connection indicates “local only” but either way, I can’t connect to the internet.
Posted by: R Lukaszczyk at May 22, 2009 6:22 AMI check the IP address and it does start with a 169 but the settings on the laptop indicate that it should search for an IP address each time. I’ve rebooted the laptop, desktop, disconnected the modem and nothing works. I have a feeling that this is related to the Norton upgrade but ever since the restore, I can’t open Norton. It looks like the files are there but it won’t open. I also can’t uninstall it. I also tried to connect the laptop directly to the DSL modem with an Ethernet cable but it still showed limited connectivity. The internet works fine on the desktop. Any thoughts?
thanks so much for the information!
Posted by: Oliver at June 16, 2009 1:38 PMi love the conversational style of your writing. it made this issue very easy to understand.
i just reset my router and wha-la! it works...
oh why aren't all computer problems this easy to fix?!
I am trying to connect directly to an external drive via ethernet cable and experiencing a Limited Connectivity issue. I have tried using ipconfig at the command prompt to release and renew and it didn't help. I have even changed cables, trying 8 different ones and problem still exists. Is it supposed to be Limited if plugged directly into the PC, by passing any router? I have tried all three of my PC's and they all say Limited Connectivity with this external drive which i never had a problem with before. Do I need to use a cross over cable instead of a straight through? It should be able to connect to it without the use of a router.
Posted by: Michael Hoffman at July 10, 2009 8:38 PMI have a similar issue. I have a westell wireless router supplied by Verizon DSL. It works fine and has for years. I also have an airlink101 repeater so I can use my laptop in the back yard. My laptop ( Winxp sp3) has no problem connecting when in range of the westell router and all works fine. However, when it connects through the airlink I get limited connectivity. Now here's the weird part. If I disable WEP all is fine, works great. But when I enable WEP it does not. I have reset the passphrase repeatedly on both routers to be sure they matched. Any Idea what may be causing this because I really do not care to run the wireless without security.???
14-Jul-2009
Posted by: Bill Sinclair at July 13, 2009 9:08 AM