Vista Network Connectivity Problem

[Mark Thompson]

Hello,

I have recently purchased a Vista Ultimate PC. I have it all set up
and it is plugged into my wireless ADSL router/modem which also serves
a server (which also acts as a DHCP server) I use for business and
numerous laptops that connect locally and some remotely.

I have had the PC for 2 weeks or so and it has all been working fine.
When I first connected it all up and plugged the PC directly into the
router using a cable it just seemed to auto-detect the network set up
via the server and automatically added itself to it.

I had had no connectivity problems until this morning when I noticed
that the "Access" on the network icon in the tray was indicating
"Limited Connectivity". I tried pulling out the ethernet cable for the
PC from the back of the router, waiting 5 seconds and then putting it
back again. It reconnected to the router and the internet almost
immediately. I thought this was now sorted but within a couple of
minutes, the same problem occurred again. Since then I have tried
numerous things, trying the other available port on the router,
resetting the router, rebooting the PC, turning both PC and router off
for a couple of minutes and restarting them but the result always
seems to be that at first things seem fine but within a few minutes
(it is sometimes more than 2 minutes but never more than about 10
minutes) the connectivity is dropped and I can no longer get internet
or even connect to the router. Any attempt to try and get Vista to
"repair" or "diagnose" the problem via the various control panel
options just results in failure and advice to conect my network
administrator.

I find it very odd that it all seemed fine for weeks but now
consistently things are going wrong. I have not installed any new
hardware or software in the last few days BTW.

One other thing, the server and all connected laptops are all fine in
terms of connectivity whenever the Vista PC stops working so I know it
is something to do with the way this PC is connecting (or not!).

Has anybody got any ideas for this problem?

Thanks,

Mark.

 

[Robert L [MVP - Networking]]

You may want to re-configure the NIC or update the firmware for the router. This search result may help,

Solved: Limited connectivity with ...Solved: Limited connectivity with Vista notebook ... Limited connectivity message, and won't connect to the network or the internet. ...
http://www.chicagotech.net/netforums/viewtopic.php?t=246


Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on http://www.HowToNetworking.com
Hello,

I have recently purchased a Vista Ultimate PC. I have it all set up
and it is plugged into my wireless ADSL router/modem which also serves
a server (which also acts as a DHCP server) I use for business and
numerous laptops that connect locally and some remotely.

I have had the PC for 2 weeks or so and it has all been working fine.
When I first connected it all up and plugged the PC directly into the
router using a cable it just seemed to auto-detect the network set up
via the server and automatically added itself to it.

I had had no connectivity problems until this morning when I noticed
that the "Access" on the network icon in the tray was indicating
"Limited Connectivity". I tried pulling out the ethernet cable for the
PC from the back of the router, waiting 5 seconds and then putting it
back again. It reconnected to the router and the internet almost
immediately. I thought this was now sorted but within a couple of
minutes, the same problem occurred again. Since then I have tried
numerous things, trying the other available port on the router,
resetting the router, rebooting the PC, turning both PC and router off
for a couple of minutes and restarting them but the result always
seems to be that at first things seem fine but within a few minutes
(it is sometimes more than 2 minutes but never more than about 10
minutes) the connectivity is dropped and I can no longer get internet
or even connect to the router. Any attempt to try and get Vista to
"repair" or "diagnose" the problem via the various control panel
options just results in failure and advice to conect my network
administrator.

I find it very odd that it all seemed fine for weeks but now
consistently things are going wrong. I have not installed any new
hardware or software in the last few days BTW.

One other thing, the server and all connected laptops are all fine in
terms of connectivity whenever the Vista PC stops working so I know it
is something to do with the way this PC is connecting (or not!).

Has anybody got any ideas for this problem?

Thanks,

Mark.

 

[Guest]

If you have a wireless access point, and you KNOW it works on other
computers, but you get a "local only" message from Vista, the built-in DHCP
router in your Wireless Access Point probably is NOT compatible with Vista...
Here is one solution that may work for SOME routers (but it does NOT work for
all of them!)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233/en-us

If this does not work, and you still get the "local only" message, but you
KNOW the access point works with XP wireless, etc., then MANUALLY SET the IP
address info. Unfortunately, if you have to manually set the IP info, you
will have to delete those settings with other wireless access points. And
let me say one more time, DO NOT waste your time with the Alternate IP
configuration, it doesn't work!

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928152/en-us ; (affects mostly wireless on
laptops)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929847/en-us ; (Vista and XP together in a
wireless environment)

If your Gateway is on a different subnet (usually locations with large
numbers of wireless spots such as businesses, universities, etc.) then you
may have connection problems that FORCE you to manually configure your IP
settings on the adapter. This is a FIX for XP SP2 that doesn't look like it
made it into Vista, so, if you are experiencing this problem, LIKE ME, then
you have no choice but to manually configure the IP settings.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=822596

If you are having periodic connection problems (and you know they didn't
exist before), Vista has changed the Automitic IP Address discovery timing to
be almost instantaneous. So if you have an older wireless access point, or
one that has long broadcast / "handshake" times, then you may have trouble
because of this "improvement."

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931550/en-us ; (MS Does not provide a
solution, only info. Like the other options, you will likely have to
MANUALLY set up your IP info in the adapter, or purchase a new wireless
access point.)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929824/en-us ; (problems if you have the SAME
Gateway address as the one assigned to the computer you are trying to connect
to the Wireless spot).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see your adapter info, use a command prompt window (Start > Run > type in
CMD) and then type:

ipconfig /all

Find your network adapter and write down the Gateway, DNS, IP Address, and
other settings.

Also, go to the EVENT VIEWER and see if there are any messages related to
you trying to connect to your wireless adapter at the times you tried to
connect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Regardless of the problem, if you KNOW the wireless spot works, and you had
little or no trouble on XP, try MANUALLY setting up the IP info for that
wireless access point.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm VERY disappointed at how many problems there are with the Vista wireless
networking. Especially when SO MANY of the early Vista users are exactly the
same customer base that USES WIRELESS!

 

[Henrootje]

The Vista 64bit beta F5D7000 V6 did it for me. Combined with shutting
down DHCP and setting WPA2