Re: FIXING VISTA WIRELESS NETWORKING PROBLEMS - SEVERAL SOLUTIONS

Hi
Most Router manufacturer offer a firmware upgrade to make their Router compatible with new major OS' when they come out.
If such an upgrade is not offered it usually indicates the device based on old chipset that can not be upgraded any more.
In such case it is a good idea to get a new Router to begin with.
Decent routers can be found for $20 and up. Attaching inflated societal verbal value to pieces of silicone and plastic does not serve any purposes when its involves sums of money that are less than month fee for an Internet connection.
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

"GordonK" <GordonK@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:9AEB9150-DA0E-434B-A88D-1E35F5385947@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Buying a new Vista compatible router may well have resolved your problems but
it is incredibly wasteful if we all had to go out and buy a new router simply
because MS had rewritten their networking stack.

The right thing here is for MS to FIX this issue and TBH they should remove
the Vista stack and put the XP (WORKING!) one in in it's place....don't try
to fix (they dont seem to be anyway) something that is just plain broke.

One other thing I know of worth trying is to ensure that your Power
Management on your desktops/laptops ensure the Wireless (and USB if USB
Wirelss) adaptor is set to maximum performance and NEVER allow the machine to
switch it off to conserve power....that will help the dropouts but is not a
complete solution.

"Mysty723" wrote:

Well I wrote a Post earlier to inform people how I fixed my Internet Issues
with Vista; so Ill make this Post Short and Sweet. I went out and Bought a
Certified for Vista Router; since then I have not had 1 random Drop; nor have
I lost my Home Network; I used to have to reboot to get my Network Connection
Back; and I spent weeks applying hotfixes; taking advice from these Forums;
etc. I finally came to the Conclusion that it made sense to get a New Router
to take advantage of the Vista Options. It was an easy Fix; granted I would
have preferred not to spend the money on a new router; but after a little
over a week of a Constant Internet Connection not to mention the increased
speed it was well worth every $.

"Bill Wood" wrote:

> For all of you "techies" out there, before I even go through the fixes, > do
> NOT waste your time with the Alternate IP configuration options on the
> wireless adapter. THEY FLAT DON'T WORK AT ALL in Vista.
>
> 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!

.

Relevant Pages