Very upset =( vista wireless problem[moved from vista]

[sarahlouise]

Hi, I am so upset about this issue and have tried everything to resolve it I hope someone can help.

I use a desktop PC with windows vista business, netgear wireless card and netgear router.

I have just moved my desktop PC to a new flat which already had its own personal network set up. I will add that at my old address it connected fine to the wireless network, occasionally dropping out for no reason which was annoying but I just got on with it. The network administrator tried to add my PC to the network and it just won't connect. I won't even show the network on the wireless connections window, it shows all other networks nearby(i can connect to an unsecured network with 'limited connectivity') but not the one in the next room! If I hit refresh around 20 times the network im looking to connect to will show up maybe 1 or 2 out of those 20 and as soon as pressing connect it will either say

'could not connect due to time out or user action' or 'the wireless association failed due to an unknown reason'

I have found this page http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233/en-us
I performed the registry edit exactly as that said and it made absoultely no difference whatsoever. The exact same problem still remains.

I've posted my problem on several forums and yet no-one has ever replied. My flatmate who is an IT technician doesn't even know what's wrong! I really hope someone can help me because this is starting to upset me a lot and I know an option is just to reinstall XP but I dont have an XP disk nor do I currently have the money to obtain one, plus I have also read other forums saying some machines are only vista compatible or something..SO i dont want to do all that and it STILL doesnt work.

Just to add I have installed all the latest drivers for my wireless card so it's not that either. Also, the utility that came with my network card does NOT open. I can click it, it loads for a second then nothing happens.

Thank you

[dai]

moved you to networking forum

[johnwill]

Please supply the following info, exact make and models of the equipment please.

What country are you located in.
Name of your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
Make and exact model of the broadband modem.
Make and exact model of the router (if a separate unit).
Model numbers can usually be obtained from the label on the device.
Connection type, wired or wireless.
If wireless, encryption used, (none, WEP, WPA, or WPA2)
Make and model of your computer.
Version and patch level of Windows on all affected machines, i.e. XP-Home (or XP-Pro), SP1-SP2, Vista, etc.
The Internet Browser in use, IE, Firefox, Opera, etc.

Also, please give an exact description of your problem symptoms, including the exact text of any error messages. If there are other computers on the same network, are they experiencing the same issue, or do they function normally?




On any affected computer, I'd also like to see this:

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following commands:

PING 216.109.112.135

PING yahoo.com

NBTSTAT -n

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[sarahlouise]

Thanks for replying. Since posting this I can now connect....one time out of around 150 tries....no joke.. if i sit and press repair for around 1hr+ i can connect..sometimes the connection will stay for 2 hrs, sometimes for 10minutes and the cycle starts again.

Im located in the UK
the network adapter i am using is Netgear WG311v2 802.11g Wireless PCI adapter and the latest driver they have for it is installed and their website says it IS vista compatible and it has worked before at my previous address with this driver, with less problems but stil had the net dropping out at random times.

the router is netgear DG834G v3

the ISP is BT

my computer make and model is actually unknown to me as it was built for me by someone else, all I know is that processor is AMD and it has 80g hardrive, 1gig RAM, OS is Vista business

connection type wireless with WEP
Browser used is internet explorer and firefox

the 3 errors i get are as follows and its totally random which one appears;

'The wireless connection assosiation failed due to an unknown reason.'
'The connection has timed out due to ..something or user action' sorry i haven't seen this one for a while and can't remember exactly what it said.
and recently this new one has started appearing, even though to my knowledge the network settings on my PC are fine, seeing as I CAN connect sometimes..
'This network is marked as a 'hidden' network and is either not in range of the computer (its less than 4 feet away) or the wireless settings saved on this PC do not match the settings of the network'


This is the info I got from the cmd

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Sarah>ping 216.109.112.135

Pinging 216.109.112.135 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.0.64: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.64: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.64: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.64: Destination host unreachable.

Ping statistics for 216.109.112.135:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

C:\Users\Sarah>ping yahoo.com
Ping request could not find host yahoo.com. Please check the name and try again.


C:\Users\Sarah>NBTSTAT -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [0.0.0.0] Scope Id: []

No names in cache

Wireless Network Connection:
Node IpAddress: [0.0.0.0] Scope Id: []

No names in cache

C:\Users\Sarah>IPCONFIG /ALL

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Sarah-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NETGEAR WG311v2 802.11g Wireless PCI Adap
ter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0F-B5-41-E5-DA
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : ULi M526X Ethernet Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-8F-51-5C-45
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{FB2A8BB5-6D8D-48CF-BA2A-A11C585C8
7F5}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 6TO4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 10:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{8B019888-27F4-4DCE-ADAF-51099D927
3F3}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\Sarah>

there are 5 computers in this house 3(using XP) that connect without any problems whatsoever to this network. the other two, are vista and we are both having the exact same issue.

thank you for reading

[johnwill]

Changes that may help to increase the compatibility of Vista with older networking devices:



Disable the IP Helper service:

1. Hold the Windows key and type R, enter "services.msc" (without the quotes) and press Enter
2. Scroll down to the IP Helper service, right click on it and select Properties
3. In the dropdown box that says "Automatic" or "Manual", set it to Disabled and then click on "Apply"
4. Then click on "Stop" to stop the service from running in the current session
5. Click OK to exit the dialog



Disable IPv6:

1. Hold the Windows key and type R, enter "ncpa.cpl" (without the quotes) and press Enter
2. Right click on each network connection and select "Properties"
3. Remove the checkmark from the box next to "Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)
4. Click OK to exit the dialog

NOTE: You should do this for each network connection.



Disable the DHCP Broadcast Flag:

Link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/928233

1. Hold the Windows key and type R, enter regedit and press Enter.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{GUID}
4. In this registry path, click the (GUID) subkey to be updated.
5. If the key DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag does not exist, use the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value. In the New Value #1 box, type DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag, and then press ENTER. If the key exists, skip this step.
6. Right-click DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
8. Close Registry Editor.

NOTE: You should do this for each and every GUID subkey.
NOTE2: (GUID) is a mnemonic for the individual subkeys, the actual text "GUID" does not appaer.




The only program I'm aware of that currently relies on IPv6 is the new Windows Meeting Space. The first 2 changes will cause that program not to work - but will leave all of your normal (IPv4) connections unaffected. If it causes problems that you can't overcome, simply revert back to the original settings.

[sarahlouise]

Thanks for the suggestions... I tried them all but the same problem still remains, no change..

[sarahlouise]

Ok i have just been reading a little more online and even though it says that this driver is compatible with Vista i've seen this
Driver Version
6.0.5.30
Driver Date
17 Jun 2004
Related Downloads
wg311v2_quick_install.pdf (Documentation)

Uploader Notes
WG311v2
WG311v2 Software Version 2.0.0.7

Fixed Windows SP 2 compatibility issue.

Built-in WPA-PSK support was added to the utility, so no third-party supplicants now needed.
WHQL certified.

Fixed the issue that utility starts or exits slowly in beta version 1.2.Supports Win 2K and XP

54 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter


i know the driver is old but the network I am using is WEP, is it possible the network card does not support WEP encoded networks? and this was why the card worked relatively fine at my old address because the network there was WPA PSK?
if someone could confirm this I will go ahead and buy a new network card when i can, but i dont want to buy one if this is not necessarily the problem as money is an issue atm..

thanks.

[Vash2000]

I have a friend who has BT, do you connect from a 56k modem to the highspeed BT modem to connect to BT?

[johnwill]

Actually, I've never seen a NIC or driver that doesn't support WEP, it's the oldest encryption.

[L1Technician]

Try updating the firmware of the router and the driver of the adapter. For Windows Vista "the wireless association failed due to an unknown reason" it means there's a problem with the router or it blocks the connection. I encounter the same error message to found out that the Mac filtering of the router is on that's why Windows Vista cannot connect to the network.

[sarahlouise]

ok, thanks for the help so far.. i have tried all of these suggestions and still i am encountering the exact same problem. this has been going on for 5 weeks im getting so sick of this i have absolutely no idea what to do and it is so essential to me that i get my pc to work =((

[sarahlouise]

hello my flatmate disabled the MAC filtering on the router i thought he had done that but he hadn't and it immmediately asked for the security code for the network and connected with limited access. he then manually configured the ip and it was connected, slow but ok. it was connected for 3 hours, well, in that 3 hours it disconnected me twice for about 15seconds then it cut out completely after 3 hours and started once again with the 'wireless association failed'.

i restarted the pc and twice the connection said 'aquiring IP address...' then 'connected with limited activity' for 10-20 seconds then it would disconnect again and start all over again from the wireless association failed/time out then limited activity etc.

im really sorry to keep posting i just really want my computer back i've been without it for nearly 2 months now because of this exact same issue i dont know what to do i like to play online mmorpgs where a stable internet connection for 5/6 hours is essential and its impossible to play them without this. and i only very recently invested a lot of money in this pc and just want to be able to use it!!

i really hope someone has some more ideas of what i can try. thank you.

[dai]

right click on the network icon in the taskbar and from the popup choose
repair this connection

[sarahlouise]

yep i did that and once again it worked for a few hours and then the exact same problem started all over again and i cant even connect for 5 minutes.

i guess i have no other choice other that to completely reinstall my pc with XP. vista is just ridiculous. what else could the problem possibly be?