Connectivitiy issues...

[huskiblu]

I know this is inappropriate in a windows forum, but, I hate windows. A lot. I have had nothing but headaches with it for the past 14 or so years. I switched to a mac the first chance I had, but, I still am forced to use a windows machine for a lot of gaming I do.

That being said, I need some help from the experts who are used to constant windows issues.

So, my Vista machine decided to no longer connect to the net. This is done over wireless, just as my mac. It was all of the sudden. I just went to do something and saw it totally died.

First, I tested to see if it could connect over a non-secured network, and it worked fine after I disabled any security settings on my router. So I know it's not the wireless card or the router.

So, I re-enable the security settings, and it won't work at all. ipconfig /all shows a very unusual DNS address. I put the one in it should be using, and it's stating limited or no connectivity. Also, the settings appear to be totally different when I do any type of secure network, as opposed to the open one.

This also happens on my laptop, but didn't care since I didn't use the net on it. I do use it on my windows machine. I would hate to have a non-secured network, but it's getting to that point.

There are a billion topics like this all over the net. But it's not an issue with being too far away from the router, etc. It's an issue that with any secure network, it just doesn't work.

[DigeratiPrime]

Since you are having problems with wireless networks you should investigate that, before blaming in on an operating system.

You might be getting interference on your wireless network from other devices including microwave ovens, 2.4GHz phones, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnet...ence_at_2.4_GHz

You might be getting intereference from neighboring networks, you can check using InSSIDer (freeware)

http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider

Additional details that might be helpful:

What edition of Vista are you running? Basic, Home Premium, Ultimate?

What version of Vista are you running? SP0, SP1, SP2?

What model is your router with the integrated wireless access point? For example: "Linksys WRT54G"

What type of "security" are you trying to use? WEP, WPA, WPA2, other?

What model is the wireless card in your desktop?

What model is the wireless card in your laptop?

[CoffeeFiend]

Driver version for it would be useful too.

Although from the strange DNS address (you didn't say which), it could be malware too (embedded in the network stack as a winsock provider or the like). A hijack this log would be great to have.

Honestly, I have yet to see this particular kind of issue on any version of Windows, including Vista.

Anyways. There's nothing we can say without having more details at this point.

[cluberti]

I agree with Coffee - if it works without security, but fails with, that would sound to me like perhaps an LSP issue or a security provider issue. You are correct that the driver and WAP are working fine, and technically so is Vista (if it works unsecured, you've just tested winsock and WZC services, and they pass as well). That leaves the security provider having an issue, or an LSP on the stack.

Consider using netsh to reset winsock, after running HiJackThis and Spybot at this point.