Wireless internet connection - Vista help!

Hi all

I've had trouble connecting to the internet via a wireless connection (access point).

I can connect trouble free using the access point with no security at all in place(an open connection)..of course I need some security in place and have tried WEP, WPA, etc etc all to no avail..as soon as I place some security on the connection Vista tells me i am connected wirelessly BUT I can't access the internet (only local connection).

I've looked on countless forums via google and still cannot find a definitive answer. Tried making a static IP, DNS server, disabling security center, installing, reinstalling drivers, editing registry,disabling UAC, updating broadcom drivers etc etc etc.(Vista Premium)

Any ideas?

 

Remember most all ISP do some form of mac filtering. So if your old pc still works it's more than likely being filetered. One way a round it is using a router, where you can clone your mac address of the working pc into the router. This way your ISP only see your old pc and nothing behind the routers NAT.

Or you will have to call your ISP to get it reset.

If your already using a router, check to see if it's getting gateway and dns from your ISP.

 

Hi blue, thanks for replying. I think it must have something to do with Vista as everything works perfectly on my desktop PC via windows XP.

 

hm. My Vista experience is very positive. So if you leave automatic IP assignment (DHCP assign) and you connect to the AP - you get an IP?

Assume you do - if you right click on that connection and choose status - does it show any Gateway? For example if you have connected to the AP that has given you 192.168.2.3 gateway is usually 192.168.2.1. Or just go to the command prompt and type ipconfig. It will tell you your IP, gateway and the subnet mask.

Now are IP and gateway in the same network? try this in command prompt type: ping "gateway IP" (put the IP number instead of the word).

Can you ping it?

If you can - your network is set correctly, and now we can check the Internet access.

Just for a test type in the command line: tracert www.google.com - it will try to show you all hops to that address.
First can DNS transform the www.google.com into an IP? If it can't then you have set the DNS address somewhere that is not correct.
If it can you will see some IP number and then the hops will start to show. You will be able to pinpoint the exact place of your problem.
If it goes all the way and finally reaches www.google.com then the problem is in your computer - check firewall - turn it off briefly and see what happens.

Now you say OPEN connections work - that is strange since that would apply that all of the above things I wrote - works. That can be only be an issue with Vista and all of the security protocols. There must be something different when you connect to the OPEN and protected AP besides the security. Strange.

Check ipconfig on OPEN and on protected - see what is the difference. try tracert on both and see what happens.

I hope this helps,

Ivan

 

Thanks a lot for the detailed reply Ivan..as soon as i get home from work I will give it a try. As you say it probably has something to do with security protocols somewhere in Vista but i will check everything you kindly mentioned.

Cheers.

 

Well before even attempting all of the above..and after resetting and switching on my laptop today everything suddenly worked. As far as I know I did absolutely nothing new..a mystery. Hope it continues working!

 

Heh. Good old Microsoft...

 

I am also unable to connect to the internet on my new notebook. Everyone says it is because of Vista. Someone suggested that Vista and Notorn antivirus are incompatible. So I uninstalled Norton. But I still cannot connect to the internet.
Please help