Vista Local Access Only Problem!

[Lorien]

I had written a rather lengthy post here, which has now mysteriously disappeared. Was it removed intentionally for some reason? I don't see any e-mail notification of any kind...

It's hard to know - I guess it depends on what it said and if it pertained to this problem or if you were "hijacking" the thread by posting your own problem in a thread belonging to someone else which should instead be done in a new thread (but they generally just move those to a new thread and this is the only post you have listed so the prior post is nowhere in the forums). If it did pertain to helping in this thread, it may have suggested something incorrect or even dangerous and may have therefore been removed. I'm not a mod and didn't see what you wrote, (but I got no e-mail notification of it so I think it just didn't get submitted) so I don't know and have insufficient access to find out. Such events, even if intentional, don't always result in any notification. Chances are more likely you did something to remove the post before it was submitted (something I've done more than once) or briefly lost your connection and it was simply lost.

If it wasn't one of the things I mentioned above that could cause a post to be deleted or moved or be inappropriate (as well as didn't violate the rules of conduct with spam or porn or foul language or personal attacks or other such things), then all I can suggest is try posting it again.

Good luck!

 

[Cytherian]

^ Thanks, Lorien. I'll try it again.


I've been a bit puzzled as to what went wrong with Windows Vista wireless networking, as I've had quite a few problems with it... something that I never had issues with on Windows XP. And when I went about searching the Internet for solutions, I found so many people complaining of wireless networking problems on Vista. And accompanying those complaints were a myriad of various solutions, some similar to others, and some a bit obscure. It didn't help to hear that people who switched to Windows 7 found all of these problems miraculously solved, especially if Vista works for you and you're not keen on going through the whole upgrade process.

Is there a write-up somewhere on the Internet for this, essentially an FAQ for Wireless Networking with Vista? Something that covers most of the problems people have encountered, along with tested and verified solutions?

I had been using Vista just fine for over a year on my new laptop, when suddenly I ran into an issue with wireless networking. My connection switched to LAO (Local Access Only). I couldn't connect to the Internet. This would perpetuate for anywhere from 15 seconds to several minutes, then my Internet connection would come back. I couldn't figure out why this was happening. I'd be watching a streamed video and suddenly it would stop... and I'd lose my place while my Internet connection would be reestablished. I wondered if there was some kind of Vista update that took place which changed something?

Anyway, I went down the rabbit hole of trying a number of solutions. I did the right thing by keeping track of it all, so I could roll back to my original settings. Some of the adjustments seemed to solve the problem, but then my connection would noticeably lag. I wasn't willing to put up with poorer performance, especially when this wasn't a problem before.


Here's what I eventually had to do to solve my wireless connection problem:

1. Delete the home wireless network connection from "Manage my wireless connections".
2. Go through the steps for creating a new network connection, but stop when seeing the "Merge/Delete other networks" link... select that option and then delete ALL references to the wireless network (Vista will store many incarnations of previous connections even if they were deleted from the managed network list). This can also be done via the registry, by searching on the name of the wireless network and then deleting associated entries. This will help ensure Vista doesn't accidentally select the wrong entry and make trouble.
3. Reboot the computer.
4. Go through the steps to create a new wireless network connection. When entering all of the connection information, including correct security type/encryption and pass phrase, make sure that "Work" is selected as the network type (instead of "Home" or "Public") in the final steps. Before, I'd had "Home" selected. With "Work" selected, I'm not having any issues. It may be a coincidence, but it can't hurt to try it. If "Work" was a problem, try "Home" instead.
5. Go to the control panel of the wireless router (e.g. visit 192.168.1.1) and find a section that allows for the reservation of an address for connected computers. Find the current IP address assigned to the PC by running "ipconfig /all" from a command line window. The MAC address for the PC should also be listed--make note of it (this can also be found in the router management interface the current connection). Register a reservation for the PC (using the MAC address) and supply the IP address that the PC is currently using. This will ensure the wireless router will keep the PC assigned to that IP address and not change it at any point.

Once I did this, I find I'm no longer having any issues with LAO. I didn't disable IPv6 or anything else. The connection is running reasonably fast and is reliable, for now. I've recorded these instructions and stored them on my computer in case this happens again... Hopefully it will last until I have Windows 7 installed. Good luck!

 

[Cytherian]

My solution above seemed to work... but it's not perfect. A couple of times each hour, I'll get kicked off the router for no apparent reason. Vista will reconnect in less than half a minute... and remain connected for about 20 minutes or so until it happens again. Not sure why this happens. I've not found anything in the Event logs to indicate the reason.


Lorien, I did locate your post about various website pages describing Vista networking issues. I'll give those a good look-over.

 

[Lorien]

Hi Cytherian,

Your first post was fine as it proposed a solution to the problem of the original creator of this thread; however, you're now beginning to change things to addressing your problems rather than that of the original poster and that is "hijacking" the thread and is discouraged. It confuses everyone as nobody knows who is replying to whom and risks someone getting or taking the wrong advice. If you want to continue discussing your problem, create a new thread for it and maybe even copy the posts you did here to provide a background for whoever attempts to help you.

Please do not reply to me in this thread - not even to say you didn't mean to do it or you're sorry or you will do as I suggest or you didn't realize it or anything. Just create a new thread and you'll get help for your situation there. Let's have no more posts that don't directly relate to solving the problem of the person who started this thread.

Thanks and good luck!

P.S. I hope that other thread helps you - but if not or you have any questions, start a new thread of your own.