Wired networking in Vista

we're going to need to troubleshoot a bit.

 

notice that when you connect a computer to your router with an ethernet cable that an indicator light on the router usually comes on.  you can confirm this behavior with your older laptop.  once you know what to look for, see if the light comes on when you connect your new (problem) laptop to the router via an ethernet cable.  if the light does not come on, it's likely a hardware problem.

 

that out of the way, press the FN key and the F2 key at the same time on the problem laptop.  This should toggle your wireless radio to OFF (pressing those two keys again will turn it back on).  With the wireless off, plug the computer into the router again.

 

At that point, click start (and in vista) use the search field at the bottom to find   CMD

 

Once found, run CMD which should bring up a command prompt.  Type the following and press enter:

 

IPCONFIG /ALL

 

Copy and paste the results into this forum so that I can take a look.  (edit:  right-clicking the command prompt screen once will allow you to select and then copy the information)

Thanks for working on this with me.

 

The router port light on on for the port that is going to the Dell Vista laptop, and on the back of the laptop the little lights (where the ethernet cable plugs in) are on and flashing.  So I assume the hardware is happy.

 

I'll send you the ipconfig/all results shortly.

 

In Windows XP, the "Network Connections" dialog shows all the LAN or High-Speed Internet connections.  If I use the "New Connection Wizard", it starts with a set of radio buttons, where "Connect to the Internet" is the first option, and through that wizard I was able to easily setup the internet connection on my old laptop.   I can't find corresponding dialogs like those in Vista at all.  On all the networking dialogs within Vista that I can find (from the control panel and the tray), everything seems to be exclusively wireless.  It is as if Vista doesn't know that wired connections are a possibility.  The only reference I can find to the ethernet network card at all is in the Device Manager dialog.  Obviously Vista supports wired connections, so I'm assuming there has to be a setting somewhere that I'm just missing, since I'm new to Vista. 

 

Thanks for the information.  I'm going home for lunch shortly, so I'll give that a try (and also capture the ipconfig/all information).

 

I've opened the Network and Sharing Center a number of times, but it seems to show only wireless connections.  I'll give it another try.  I don't remember seeing a "Manage Network Connections" link or button before, so I'll look for that.

things can get a bit confusing if you have a wireless and wired connection on at the same time, which is why I suggested turning off the wireless.

 

i'm using a vista notebook here at work (though I'm by no means used to it yet).  it looks like if you right-click the network icon in the bottom right of your screen (the systray) and then click 'network and sharing center' it may get you where you are trying to go.

 

from there you should get a nice summary.  you can also see the connection device independently by clicking 'manage network connections'

 

hope this helps -- it's definitely a bit different from XP

i agree with JM ... everything there looks valid.  what happens when you try to visit a webpage?

 

 

also, i assume you don't have options like MAC filtering enabled on your router?

I turned off the wireless radio using Fn-F2.

Then I found the Manage Network Connections dialog (thanks for pointing me to that) and that looks familiar enough.  It shows the Local Area Connection and doesn’t give any hint of a problem.  Diagnosing returns no errors.

I also tried the Setup a Connection or Network dialog, and that shows “Connect to the Internet” as an option, but when I go into that, the only options are Wireless, Broadband using a username and password, or Dial-up.  I’m directly connected to the internet and it’s always on, so I don’t need to specify a username and password.  So none of those options work for me.  I tried the Broadband, giving no username or password, and it did not work.

I went to the command prompt and tried ipconfig/release, but the system wouldn't do it.  It said I needed to be elevated.  I thought the main account has adminstrator privileges, but maybe not.  It did allow ipconfig/renew.

 

Here is the ipconfig/all output:

 

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ChrisCollins-PC
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Belkin

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-FC-29-F1-4B
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : Belkin
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-B9-6E-D7-1E
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::f0ba:ff43:9950:ef76%9(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.3(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, June 22, 2007 2:03:47 PM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, July 29, 2143 8:46:33 PM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 201333177
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

 

 

Again, thanks for working with me on this.  I do hope to have wireless networking setup in our home soon, but you never know you'll need to use a wired connection, so I want to get this figured out.

Thanks.  I'll give that a try when I get home tonight and let you know.  I appreciate your help.

 

You mention Windows XP, but this is Vista.  I assume the netsh command-line utility works the same in Vista ...

 

This is cable.  I've got the cable modem plugged into a router, and then the two laptops plugged into the same router.  The old Sony XP laptop works fine.  The new Dell Vista laptop doesn't see the Internet at all.  If I switch cables between the two machines, the old XP laptop still works fine, and the new Vista laptop still doesn't see the internet.

DSL or cable?

 

The wired connection is working just fine, it is pulling a Valid IP Address and all looks good.  Try resetting the connections:

 

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2.

For these commands, Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt.

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

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

Reboot the machine.

When I try to visit a web page on the Vista laptop, it sits there trying for about a minute, then gives the page that says the system can't connect to the server.

 

I don't know for sure that the router doesn't have MAC filtering enabled, but I wouldn't expect that.  Is that something that would prevent Vista from working, but allow XP through?

Ping a site from the Vista machine and see what happens.  Look and see if MAC filtering enabled and turn off IPv6.

each network adapter has a unique MAC address associated with it.  some people tell their routers to only allow certain MAC addresses to connect.  they then occassionally forget that they did this and wonder why a new network device does not seem to work when it is plugged in.

 

This does not seem to be the case with you, however.

 

Try what JM posted when you get home.  If it does not work, we can try other things, like plugging the computer directly into the cable modem and trying.  Note that if you do this, you will need to powercycle the cable modem each time you switch the device that it is connected to.