Problems with Vista connecting to wireless internet

Factual Questions
1

I have just purchased a new Toshiba laptop with VISTA, and am having trouble connecting to the internet.

The computer seems to recognise the wireless connection, and the signal strength is listed as excellent, but the network is listed as “unidentified network”, and the access is listed as having “limited connectivity”.

Has anybody encountered this problem, and are there any recommendations as to what I should do next, particularly considering I have only owned the laptop for about 5 hours??

(Also, just to elaborate, I have used several different computers on this wireless network and never had any issues at all. In fact my flatmate has the same model laptop I now have, and it is working fine, so I tend to believe this isnt a problem with the router)

2

First, reset the router. I’ve had this happen before on Vista laptops and that’s usually the fix. Just unplug it for a bit, then plug it back in. Vista should reconnect and get an IP address automatically.

3

Hey, I’m typing on a Toshiba laptop with Vista as we speak. Er…type. Read. Whatever.

I’ve had this problem several times in the past independent of the computer and OS; it just seems occasionally the modem/router needs rebooted. In fact, I had nearly the identical problem a week and change ago. I simply turned off the computer, unplugged the modem and waited a minute or so, plugged it back in and let it reboot…and voila! No problems since.

I actually had to do this far more often with the cable modem and my desktop computer I had prior to the switching to DSL and getting the laptop. Rebooting the modem goes a long way for connectivity problems, even if your flatmate isn’t encountering the same problem. The other week when I couldn’t connect, my hubby could with his computer. Weird.

4

Hi, thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately, I have tried resetting the router a number of times and it seems to make no difference. (If by resetting the router you mean unplugging it for 20 seconds or so, and pressing the reset button when reconnected)

As I say, I have two laptops side by side. After resetting the working laptop picks up a signal again no bother, but mine still has limited connectivity.
I have checked the settings of both laptops against each other and they match up as the same settings, though I am not a computer expert, and may be missing something.

This is very frustrating, any ideas?

5

I get an annoying situation where my Vista setup sees my wireless network (called TheNetwork), then all of a sudden sees a second network called TheNetwork2 with a much stronger signal, TheNetwork has turned into limited connectivity.

I need to switch tothe other wireless network. Surfing ensues for a while, then the same crap happens again; it claims that a new network called “TheNetwork” is the strong one and “MyNetwork2” is limited.

Obviously my router only has one network name.

I don’t know WTF is happening.

My XP system upstairs remains oblivious to the whole affair.

My suspicion lies with the crappy Belkin wireless G dongle connected to my Vista PC. In fact the driver for this POS is preventing me from getting Vista SP1, anytime
I update the driver it causes BSOD and I have to restore to the previous save point.

If anyone knows anything about this please let me know.

The obvious is to get a new wireless dongle for this PC.

6

[QUOTE=bucketybuck]
(If by resetting the router you mean unplugging it for 20 seconds or so, and pressing the reset button when reconnected)
[/QUOTE]

If this is the little reset button in the back this wipes out any settings and reverts to out of the box condition, if you are using PPPOE/DSL or any other situation calling for router handling logins/mac address matching you need to redo these settings.

7

Here’s what I’d do/try…
Turn of UAC (ask if you want to know how).

If still not working…

Plug your computer directly into your router using an ethernet cable (sometimes supplied with routers) and FULLY update your Vista (service packs and all)

Chances are that one of the updates will include improved wireless network management…
If that fails uninstall your wireless dongle’s own software. If you do this windows might take over, and do a reliable job of managing your wireless network by itself. (this worked for me)

8

[QUOTE=drachillix]
If this is the little reset button in the back this wipes out any settings and reverts to out of the box condition, if you are using PPPOE/DSL or any other situation calling for router handling logins/mac address matching you need to redo these settings.
[/QUOTE]

Mmmm, unfortunately, I am not sure what this means. How can I redo any setting? It automatically searches for the signal, and seems to recognise it (it list the routers SSID), but it wont give me full connectivity. What way can I redo the settings?

9

[QUOTE=Lobsang]
Here’s what I’d do/try…
Turn of UAC (ask if you want to know how).

If still not working…

Plug your computer directly into your router using an ethernet cable (sometimes supplied with routers) and FULLY update your Vista (service packs and all)

Chances are that one of the updates will include improved wireless network management..
If that fails uninstall your wireless dongle’s own software. If you do this windows might take over, and do a reliable job of managing your wireless network by itself. (this worked for me)
[/QUOTE]

Showing my ignorance here but, What is UAC, and how should I turn it off? I would love to give it a try.
I will try a direct cable from router to laptop and check for updates, see what that gets me. If I get no joy there I might ask about how to uninstall the wireless dongles own software.

Once again thanks for the replies.

10

One quick update here, I used a cable to connect the laptop to the router and it connected to the internet straight away. I could not find any updates available, which I expected as I believe the salesperson checks all laptops for updates before he hands them over.

Does this change anything?

11

My wife’s vista laptop has this same problem. Putting the router in B/G compatibility mode instead of N mode helped somewhat – it used to happen every time you tried to connect to the network, but now only happens a couple of times a week and is usually fixed by switching the laptop into “flight mode,” (the little disable-wireles switch) waiting a few seconds, and then switching it back. It’s still a bit of a crap shoot.

For what it’s worth, I think disabling UAC is a terrible idea, and don’t see how it’s going to help. Before disabling it, I’d ask for a cite that UAC causes problems connecting to wireless networks. UAC is the thing which causes the annoying “We need your confirmation before performing an administrative task” popups, and it’s there as a line of defense against malware. It has its flaws, but it really is a good thing overall.

12

[QUOTE=bucketybuck]
Showing my ignorance here but, What is UAC, and how should I turn it off? I would love to give it a try.
I will try a direct cable from router to laptop and check for updates, see what that gets me. If I get no joy there I might ask about how to uninstall the wireless dongles own software.

Once again thanks for the replies.
[/QUOTE]

UAC is ‘User Account Control’. It is what has evolved from Microsoft’s assumption that all computer users have an IQ of one and never ever ever ever know if they are ever ever sure of anything they ever do.

In other words it is the feature that asks “are you sure” before you do anything remotely advanced.

To turn it off, do the following…

click on your start button (the windows symbol, bottom left)

In the bit directly above the start button (the bit that says ‘start search’) type ‘user accounts’

Further up the screen, within the whole start drop-up menu, under ‘programs’ you should see one item - ‘user accounts’

click it

You should see, in the right hand side of the newly opened window, an option which says “Turn user account control on or off”

Click it.

You should then see a checkbox, and next to it - “Use user account control to help protect my computer” uncheck that checkbox.

Don’t worry, it doesn’t actually help you. It just assumes everything you do is stupid and therefore you need to be asked if you mean to do what you are doing.

Changing this will probably require a reboot.

Sorry if I have been overly sarcastic in my reply. I am of the opinion that Vista should never have included UAC in the first place.

13

I have to agree, the constant “Are you sure” messages with Vista are annoying to put it mildly.

Unfortunatly, I tried turning the UAC off as described, and it seemed to have no effect, still no internet access. Sigh.