Hi,

I'm having problems with one of my desktop machines which has Vista
Ultimate 32 bit installed. It has a Netgear WG311T network card. It is
having strange intermittent problems with the wireless connection.
There are 3 other wireless machines on the network but they are
running Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server. I have had the wireless
running on this machine using the same hardware and even the same
driver for over a year. But with this fresh clean install its giving
me problems.

The problem is very intermittent. Sometimes it will connect if I do
diagnose this connection or ipconfig /renew. Sometimes I get local
access only. Sometimes it doesn't connect at all and doesn't even find
the network.

I've tried all the suggestions on websites I've read including:

Disabling power saving on the NIC
Disabling IPv6
Disabling QoS
Changing wireless channels

Does anyone have any other suggestions because I'm really stuck.

Many thanks!

"Distorted Vision" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm having problems with one of my desktop machines which has Vista
Ultimate 32 bit installed. It has a Netgear WG311T network card. It is
having strange intermittent problems with the wireless connection.
There are 3 other wireless machines on the network but they are
running Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server. I have had the wireless
running on this machine using the same hardware and even the same
driver for over a year. But with this fresh clean install its giving
me problems.

The problem is very intermittent. Sometimes it will connect if I do
diagnose this connection or ipconfig /renew. Sometimes I get local
access only. Sometimes it doesn't connect at all and doesn't even find
the network.


Had a similar problem with laptop connected to cabled network. In my case
when I disconnected the router and reconnected it was finding an incorrect
network with limited (no internet access). pulling the network cable out and
in fixed the problem but didnt want to be doing that everytime.

The workaround I used was to create an alternate IPv4 configuration using a
spare address from the subnet but outside of the DHCP pool.

This could be incompatible issue. Have you checked if there is a new driver
for NIC or firmware for the router.
Vista incompatible issues
Vista Incompatible issues. 1. Some switches or routers may not
compatible with Vista - Solutions: upgrade the firmware, disable the IPv6,
re-configure the ...
www.chicagotech.net/vista/vistacompatible.htm



--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"Spikey" . wrote in message
...

"Distorted Vision" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm having problems with one of my desktop machines which has Vista
Ultimate 32 bit installed. It has a Netgear WG311T network card. It is
having strange intermittent problems with the wireless connection.
There are 3 other wireless machines on the network but they are
running Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server. I have had the wireless
running on this machine using the same hardware and even the same
driver for over a year. But with this fresh clean install its giving
me problems.

The problem is very intermittent. Sometimes it will connect if I do
diagnose this connection or ipconfig /renew. Sometimes I get local
access only. Sometimes it doesn't connect at all and doesn't even find
the network.


Had a similar problem with laptop connected to cabled network. In my case
when I disconnected the router and reconnected it was finding an incorrect
network with limited (no internet access). pulling the network cable out
and in fixed the problem but didnt want to be doing that everytime.

The workaround I used was to create an alternate IPv4 configuration using
a spare address from the subnet but outside of the DHCP pool.

I have a Netgear DG834PN router and it has the latest firmware. I'm
using the Atheros drivers for my network card which I was using using
without any problems with my previous Vista installation on the same
machine. I've also tried the Negear drivers but have exactly the same
problem. I've even tried a different wireless network card the Netgear
WPN311T and interesting it does exactly the same thing.

Any ideas anyone please?

Distorted Vision wrote:
I have a Netgear DG834PN router and it has the latest firmware. I'm
using the Atheros drivers for my network card which I was using using
without any problems with my previous Vista installation on the same
machine. I've also tried the Negear drivers but have exactly the same
problem. I've even tried a different wireless network card the Netgear
WPN311T and interesting it does exactly the same thing.

Any ideas anyone please?

Two recent problems I've had, I'll relay. Give them a stab, you got
nothing to lose.

I was just working on a friends Vista PC, wireless with a netgear router
and I was having troubles with only some web pages working. Google
would work, but no links on the search list would work, like Nascar.com.
HP tech (it was an HP laptop) said it was the new router the cable
company just installed. I have to agree with him. We are now working
on getting a new router. He suggested updating the firmware, but I'm
not sure I would since its not mine but the cable co's. But as a work
around he downgraded the WPA2 security to WEP and that fixed the
internet.

I also personally have an Actiontech router for my FIOS account at home
and the WPA2 encryption algorithm was set to AES/XXXX (not sure what
the XXX was but it was like TKT). Anyway I changed the algorithm to
AES only and it works now.

I'm posting this because I suffered through an increasingly bad wireless
connection for months, even though an XP machine in my house had zero
problems connecting. It would drop the connection to the Internet, then
drop the connection to my Network/Router, then connect again after a few
minutes but go agonizingly slow. Finally last weekend, it hardly
connected at all despite repeated attempts to Repair Connection, Reset
Adapter, get new IP Settings, etc.

Now that I've got it fixed, I wanted to put all the things I did into
one post in case it helps someone else.

I sifted through at least a dozen websites and ultimately I tried 11
tweaks. It's now been 8 days without a single dropout, AND my connection
speed is much faster. Here are the 11 things I gleaned from across many
sites (including this one), in the hope that these help you. I won't
describe exactly how to do each of these or why it *might* be important,
because it's covered in other posts here.

1) Change the channel on your router from 6 to 12. Ultimately, I think
this was the most important thing for my situation.

2) In your Wireless Connection Network Properties, "Networking" tab,
disable QoS Packet Scheduler. Don't need it.

3) In your Wireless Connection Network Properties, "Networking" tab,
disable Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). You must leave IPv4 enabled,
you need this.

4) In your Wireless Connection Network Properties, "Networking" tab,
disable both of the LinkLayer Topolgies. Don't need it.

5) Switch the power setting on your Wireless Adapter to "Max" or
"Always On". Powering it up and down to save energy *might* cause
connection problems.

6) Disable UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) on your router. This feature
can be handy in some cases, but *might* cause connection problems.

7) Get the latest firmware from your router manufacturer's website, and
install it. Some router manufacturers have updated their router firmware
for Vista.

8) Enable "Broadcast my SSID" on your router. Some people think that
unbroadcasted SSIDs don't connect properly in Vista. A diagnostic test
on my machine flagged this too. It *might* cause connection problems.

9) Disable Wireless Security on your router. I've since turned this
back on (WPA-TKIP) with no connection problems, and it's critical to
turn this back on if you broadcast your SSID.

10) Turn off Windows Firewall. Some folks think the handling of packets
by Windows Firewall (and other firewalls) *might* cause connection
problems. I've since turned this back on just to be safe, even though
I'm behind a router.

11) Turn your Wireless Adapter's romaing tendency to "conservative" or
"minimum". Don't let it roam in "aggressive" or "maximum" or "seek best
connection" mode.

I hope this post helps you, since it took me the better part of a day
to sift many, many forum posts across multiple web sites to find all
these possible fixes.

In case any MS staffers see this post and want to know my equipment:
Dell Inspiron 530, Vista Home Premium, Core2Quad, 4GB RAM, with Broadcom
802.11g Network Adapter , LinkSys WRT54G router.

BTW, it's obvious after going through so many posts (including some
posts where MS staffers were asking questions) that Microsoft knows this
is widespread and doesn't know how to fix it yet. It's increasingly hard
to believe they didn't see this problem before they released Vista.

Good luck!!!

Keywords to help others find this information when they search like I
did:

Windows Vista Dropped Wireless Connection Network Won't Connect Slow
Drop Internet Connectedness


--
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What speed is your router set to. For me so far I've found that Vista
has some issue running at 108mbps for the wireless card and I've had to
lower the speed from my router to get a consitent connection so far.


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The problem I have had appears similar in that downloads are slow and hang
the connection, and it's hard to get the connection back. However, surfing,
email etc works fine. Using a 100Mbit cable to the Netgear gateway works
fine. This is on a Toshiba laptop with Vista and a netgear gateway. My other
XP IBM laptop is fine. I've had Comcast come out and check but the problem
remains. It is just on relatively large downloads of any type of file, it
will generally hang within a few seconds.

"+Bob+" wrote:

On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:04:50 +0530, dfamqwrkrten
wrote:


Comments limited to some items, others trimmed.

1) Change the channel on your router from 6 to 12. Ultimately, I think
this was the most important thing for my situation.

This is a key item if there's interference from non-computer devices.
FWIW, only channels 1, 6, and 11 have unique bands, the others all
overlap one channel or another, so these are preferred to avoid
interference issues.

5) Switch the power setting on your Wireless Adapter to "Max" or
"Always On". Powering it up and down to save energy *might* cause
connection problems.

I assume by Max you mean the Vista power management setting. Also go
into Device Manager and set the device to never power down.

8) Enable "Broadcast my SSID" on your router. Some people think that
unbroadcasted SSIDs don't connect properly in Vista. A diagnostic test
on my machine flagged this too. It *might* cause connection problems.

I'm not a fan of doing this beyond the time it takes you to do
diagnostics. Note that disabling SSID will not stop serious hackers at
all, just amateurs, but it still feels nicer to hide.

9) Disable Wireless Security on your router. I've since turned this
back on (WPA-TKIP) with no connection problems, and it's critical to
turn this back on if you broadcast your SSID.

Shutting off all security is a popular way to resolve INITIAL
connection problems. I'm not so sure it matters with dropped
connections but who knows. Always turn it back on after resolving.

BTW, it's obvious after going through so many posts (including some
posts where MS staffers were asking questions) that Microsoft knows this
is widespread and doesn't know how to fix it yet. It's increasingly hard
to believe they didn't see this problem before they released Vista.

Ain't it just (obvious, that is!). Vista apparently has all sorts of
networking problems related to it's alleged enhanced security, alleged
enhanced power management, and just general mucking up the previously
working code by MS. But, they're too deep into their own superiority
complex to even begin to recognize the depth of Vista's problems in
the real world.

check for a firmware update for the gateway and new drivers for the
network adapter. which exact Netgear Gateway? What network adapter
is in the problematic computer?

On Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:10:01 -0700, craig
wrote:

The problem I have had appears similar in that downloads are slow and hang
the connection, and it's hard to get the connection back. However, surfing,
email etc works fine. Using a 100Mbit cable to the Netgear gateway works
fine. This is on a Toshiba laptop with Vista and a netgear gateway. My other
XP IBM laptop is fine. I've had Comcast come out and check but the problem
remains. It is just on relatively large downloads of any type of file, it
will generally hang within a few seconds.

"+Bob+" wrote:

On Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:04:50 +0530, dfamqwrkrten
wrote:


Comments limited to some items, others trimmed.

1) Change the channel on your router from 6 to 12. Ultimately, I think
this was the most important thing for my situation.

This is a key item if there's interference from non-computer devices.
FWIW, only channels 1, 6, and 11 have unique bands, the others all
overlap one channel or another, so these are preferred to avoid
interference issues.

5) Switch the power setting on your Wireless Adapter to "Max" or
"Always On". Powering it up and down to save energy *might* cause
connection problems.

I assume by Max you mean the Vista power management setting. Also go
into Device Manager and set the device to never power down.

8) Enable "Broadcast my SSID" on your router. Some people think that
unbroadcasted SSIDs don't connect properly in Vista. A diagnostic test
on my machine flagged this too. It *might* cause connection problems.

I'm not a fan of doing this beyond the time it takes you to do
diagnostics. Note that disabling SSID will not stop serious hackers at
all, just amateurs, but it still feels nicer to hide.

9) Disable Wireless Security on your router. I've since turned this
back on (WPA-TKIP) with no connection problems, and it's critical to
turn this back on if you broadcast your SSID.

Shutting off all security is a popular way to resolve INITIAL
connection problems. I'm not so sure it matters with dropped
connections but who knows. Always turn it back on after resolving.

BTW, it's obvious after going through so many posts (including some
posts where MS staffers were asking questions) that Microsoft knows this
is widespread and doesn't know how to fix it yet. It's increasingly hard
to believe they didn't see this problem before they released Vista.

Ain't it just (obvious, that is!). Vista apparently has all sorts of
networking problems related to it's alleged enhanced security, alleged
enhanced power management, and just general mucking up the previously
working code by MS. But, they're too deep into their own superiority
complex to even begin to recognize the depth of Vista's problems in
the real world.


--

Barb Bowman
MS-MVP
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/e...ts/bowman.mspx
http://blogs.digitalmediaphile.com/barb/
http://digitalmediaphile.wordpress.com

Have to admit getting very fed up with Vista's wi-fi issues. similar
issues to all of the above...one minute it is working ..next it
isn't..reboot PC..it works...I was using a lenovo X61 thinkpad and the
only thing i have changed so far is the power options settings to keep
the Wi-fi on maximum performance but I am not convinced it'sa fixed...

Channel numbers dont make any difference to me...though i admit I am
using Netgear router too..is there an inherent compatability with
Netgear and Vista Wi-Fi??


--
Sirius99