Anyone know Vista?

[Tuba Guy]

So, I know that in real life, a lot of Tubenetters actually have "real" jobs, and might be able to offer some suggestions. I have a Dell Inspiron 1525, that's only about a year old. When I came home from college (May), I noticed that my computer's "connect to" feature wasn't working, but I was able to get on the wireless at home because my computer still knew the network. I went to my cousin's appartment in NY last week, and found out that I couldn't get on his wireless. I ended up going online with a wire (which worked fine).
Does anyone know how to get the "Connect to" part to work? The wireless adapter works fine, as well as everything else. It is just that one part of the OS.
Thanks tubenet

[rocksanddirt]

1) check that it's updated itself with the lastest service updates.
2) right click on the little double monitor network dealio in the lower right, that should take you to a place to fiddle with networks.

3) under the control panel section on the main menu, there should be a way to look at network identification and suchlike (under the Network and Internet heading).

good luck.

[Tuba Guy]

i tried that, but it comes up with the same problem of not being able to connect the software of the networking stuff to the hardware of the wireless card
I also did the updates yesterday, I can connect it again tonight to check if there are any more
Thanks a lot

[pattonsj]

Open Network and Sharing Center an make sure that Network Discovery is turned on. If thats not it you need to check your antivirus/firewall software. I know that Norton will do some strange things with Vista...

[Tuba Guy]

It is on. I turned off the firewall and antivirus (avast), and there was no change in how it worked.

[pattonsj]

Go to your wireless adapter properties and make sure Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver is installed. Also, have you tried to connect to another network manually? Did you try the diagnose and repair feature?

[Tuba Guy]

The Link Layer I/O driver is installed. The diagnose and repair feature dead-ends when it says "view wireless connections", at which point, if you click on that, the window disappears and nothing more happens (for the record, the only way I can get to the Wireless Connections box is to use the button on the side)
I most likely can get onto my home network manually, but that's just a temporary fix

[Tuba Guy]

Ok, so I was just looking around in Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility...went to Connection Diagnostics and Tests, and found that when I tested them; Association, Authentication, Local IP address, Gateway IP ping all failed.
Could that mean something, and is there some way to fix that?

[Dan Schultz]

I HATE Vista! I bought a new Toshiba in November and it came on it. I've already pre-ordered Windows 7... hoping MS has listened to complaints and made some 'good' changes.

PS... there is a substantial discount if you pre-order the Windows 7 upgrade now for delivery when it is 'officially' released sometime in October (they say).

[TubaTodd]

Switch to Ubuntu Linux! Too extreme? Ok, here is what I recommend. First, Windows (no matter what version) does not play nice with third-party network utilities. If you have a Dell Utility for networking, you must use it for your connections. All of the IBM Thinkpads that I deploy @ my company come with IBM "Access Connections." I ALWAYS remove it and let Windows itself handle networking. For you I recommend removing the Dell Utility or use it exclusively.

We don't officially support Vista where I work (I imagine that is fairly common in the enterprise) and I don't know what things you've tried already, but these instructions might help you.

http://www.vista4beginners.com/How-to-s ... connection

Someone mentioned Windows 7. I downloaded and installed the Beta version in late 2008. I was quite impressed with it. It probably would be a good idea to plan ahead for an upgrade.

[pattonsj]

One thing you could try as I have found that has work for many problems is to uninstall your wireless card then reboot and let VIsta reinstall it. If you get a conflict between Windows and a device it can make strange things happen. Be careful with a lot of the troubleshooting website. They usually give you instructions to tweak the registry. If you have never done this before you could make things worse and possibly end up reloading Vista. If you are going to try them, make sure you back up the registry first.

[LoyalTubist]

It's just east of Oceanside, California, near Carlsbad, San Marcos, and Escondido.

[Donn]

Switch to Ubuntu Linux! Too extreme?

Yes, too extreme, must never let go of the dream! If Microsoft's OS is intolerable, the solution is to get in line to pay them for their next one!



"We're ready for our new version of Windows, please!"

[Tuba Guy]

IT WORKS AGAIN!!!!!!
Well, it involved an hour+ call with Dell...and then reinstalling Windows. But it works again. The only way to fix this problem (which is a glitch with Windows itself) is just to reinstall the OS.
Thanks for everyone's help. And I have to say, Vista rocks. Aside from this one glitch, it's the easiest and fastest OS i've used ('95, '98, 2000, XP)

[DonShirer]

Noone knows Vista...not even Microsoft.

[Arkietuba]

And I have to say, Vista rocks. Aside from this one glitch, it's the easiest and fastest OS i've used ('95, '98, 2000, XP)

I agree. I got Vista right when it came out and it was a little sluggish initially but that went away after some updates and we never had a problem with it until recently and it was all my fault. I didn't let an update get installed completely and it wouldn't boot Vista again but it's all fixed. The only "beef" I have with Vista is that it won't run some of my games properly but that's to be expected with games that are for older OS's