Possible Causes for Lost Internet Connectivity

A network technician receives a call from a user in the accounting department stating that Internet connectivity has been lost after receiving a new workstation.

No other users in accounting are reporting similar issues.

The network technician is able to ping the machine from the accounting department's router, but is not able to ping the machine from the IT network.

Which of the following is MOST likely the cause?

A.

Incorrect default gateway

B.

Duplicate IP address

C.

Misconfigured OSPF

D.

Improper VLAN assignment.

A.

The most likely cause of the issue is an incorrect default gateway (option A).

A default gateway is a network device that serves as an access point for traffic to and from other networks. In this scenario, the new workstation may have an incorrect default gateway configured, which is preventing it from communicating with the IT network.

When the network technician pinged the machine from the accounting department's router, it means that the router is correctly forwarding traffic to the workstation, but when trying to ping it from the IT network, the traffic is not being properly routed to the workstation.

Duplicate IP address (option B) is not likely to be the issue, as if there was a duplicate IP address, it would cause conflicts with other devices in the network, not just the IT network.

Misconfigured OSPF (option C) would not cause issues with Internet connectivity for a single workstation. OSPF is a routing protocol that is used to dynamically calculate routes between networks, but it would not affect Internet connectivity for a single device.

Improper VLAN assignment (option D) is also not likely to be the issue as it would not cause issues with Internet connectivity for a single workstation. VLANs are used to segment networks into smaller logical networks for security, management, or performance reasons, but they do not affect Internet connectivity for a single device.

Therefore, option A, an incorrect default gateway, is the most likely cause of the issue. The network technician should verify the default gateway configuration on the new workstation and ensure that it is set correctly.