Vista - Inconsistent connection

[ldred]

We have two machines connecting to the internet, one Windows98 and one Vista, and have been trying to debug the Vista connection for almost a week now. I will sum up some of what I've found. The Windows 98 machine connects fine to the internet but the Vista machine does not. When I ping www.google.com from the Vista machine it may get a reply 2 out of 4 times but gets the "Request Time Out" at least once or twice. It also almost always gets a response at least once or twice. But internet connection is virtually impossible.

We do have a wireless Linksys router, but the connection acts exactly the same through the router or connected directly so I've pretty much ruled out the router. We have also switched out cables a time or two. Also, the connection was working fine up until last weekend. My husband had Gateway on the phone and even took the box back to factory settings and we are still having the same issues.

We have a 30-day trial of Norton up and running but the scans came up with no viruses. Also, wondering if it was the firewall, I totally uninstalled Norton but had the same issues (it got re-installed when Gateway restored the pc back to factory settings). Gateway wasn't much help and now they just want us to send the hardware back to them.

Help!

[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.

[ldred]

Thanks for your reply. I did all three things you suggested and still the same results. I pull up IE and the web page may or may not load but usually doesn't load at all. Also when I ping a website I get "Request Timed Out" at least once or twice out of the 4 attempts.

Also, I did not mention before but my ISP is a fixed wireless connection (we live out in the county), where there is a wireless connection to the water tower and a T1 from there.

[johnwill]

Have you tried a different computer on this connection? Maybe this has nothing to do with Vista.

[ldred]

Yes, I am able to connect through the same connection just fine with my old Windows 98 box. Also, my Vista box worked just fine until last Saturday.

[johnwill]

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows Vista.

Start, Programs\Accessories and right click on Command Prompt, select "Run as Administrator" to open a command prompt.

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following commands:

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reset IPv4 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log

Reset IPv6 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log

Reboot the machine.


If the machine still exhibits the issue, you may have bad hardware, which will probably require sending it back to Gateway.