[Mizafim]

Right, so, my dad's desktop is running Home Premium, and we're running into some network connection issues.

Full story: was trying to get it connected to the network for file sharing, as my XP-based laptop and desktop are, and shit kind of hit the fan, since Vista isn't particularly friendly with it. Anyway, eventually said "fuck it" and did a restore that should have undone everything I did in terms of settings being changed. At least, I'm pretty sure XP works like that. Vista doesn't, as I've found out.

Anyway, initially in the Network and Sharing area, it had one network connection, with the status being "Local and Internet" and it worked like a charm. Now, it's got a "Local Only" connection, and we have to manually connect broadband (using PPPoE, which we never had to before)...which shows as being registered as a separate network connection. Here's where the problem really shows, as, on start-up, it should connect to the broadband connection, as it's set as default. But it doesn't. Connects only to the LAN connection, so a manual reconnect has to happen on each startup. Pain in the arse.

Anyone know why in all hell it decided to split the connection?

If you're needing tech specs, it's running a Core 2 Duo, nVidia Networking Controller for ethernet, and...well, that's about all you need to know about that. Probably the larger issue is that it's hooked up to a Linksys WRT54G router, which is, in turn, hooked up to another WRT54G, which is hooked up to the DSL modem. The desktop in question can connect to the routers' IP individual IP addresses (192.168.1.1 and .2), but not the modem -- regardless of whether I do the whole broadband connect thing.

Other info: both routers work; my desktop and laptop go through one, my dad's work laptop goes through the other, and all seems fine (and none need to use that PPPoE crap, either).

Think that's everything...only other thing worth mentioning is that, while I'm aware that reformatting will fix it (and I'm all in favour of it), my dad's not quite so embracing of having to back up his 30GB of stuff (on his 200GB external...).

[Antonius]

Right, so, my dad's desktop is running Home Premium, and we're running into some network connection issues.

Full story: was trying to get it connected to the network for file sharing, as my XP-based laptop and desktop are, and shit kind of hit the fan, since Vista isn't particularly friendly with it. Anyway, eventually said "fuck it" and did a restore that should have undone everything I did in terms of settings being changed. At least, I'm pretty sure XP works like that. Vista doesn't, as I've found out.

Anyway, initially in the Network and Sharing area, it had one network connection, with the status being "Local and Internet" and it worked like a charm. Now, it's got a "Local Only" connection, and we have to manually connect broadband (using PPPoE, which we never had to before)...which shows as being registered as a separate network connection. Here's where the problem really shows, as, on start-up, it should connect to the broadband connection, as it's set as default. But it doesn't. Connects only to the LAN connection, so a manual reconnect has to happen on each startup. Pain in the arse.

Anyone know why in all hell it decided to split the connection?

If you're needing tech specs, it's running a Core 2 Duo, nVidia Networking Controller for ethernet, and...well, that's about all you need to know about that. Probably the larger issue is that it's hooked up to a Linksys WRT54G router, which is, in turn, hooked up to another WRT54G, which is hooked up to the DSL modem. The desktop in question can connect to the routers' IP individual IP addresses (192.168.1.1 and .2), but not the modem -- regardless of whether I do the whole broadband connect thing.

Other info: both routers work; my desktop and laptop go through one, my dad's work laptop goes through the other, and all seems fine (and none need to use that PPPoE crap, either).

Think that's everything...only other thing worth mentioning is that, while I'm aware that reformatting will fix it (and I'm all in favour of it), my dad's not quite so embracing of having to back up his 30GB of stuff (on his 200GB external...).

Well, Miz, where to start huh?
I'm assuming that only one of the routers has DHCP on it, because more than one DHCP server on one network segment can feck things a bit. If this were happening NO-ONE would be getting out, and as he can ping the routers, it's all good.

For the having to connect as PPPoE, don't know wh it started asking for that. Did the modem come with an install cd? sometimes they load stuff that's not needed but gets in the way.

To try to fix it: Open Network & Sharing Center, Open 'Manage Network connections', Right click on both connections in the folder that relate to your network & internet, click uninstall or delete, whichever is actually there, as I can't remember offhand. Now reboot the machine while it is still plugged into the network which should be powered up (both routers & modem), windows should pick up a new device, automaticallly load drivers and connect to the internet.

Easy way to check the internet connection is working to ping Google or some site you know is easily reachable.

In case you or your dad don't know how to Ping, open a command prompt, type

CODE

ping www.google.com

and hit enter, if it connects & gives a string of numbers and a time in ms, then it worked & you have the net back on.

Really hope that helps, good luck.

[Cybercat]

I'm not too happy with vista networking either. My vista computer shows up on my XP computer's network list, but when I try to reach one of the shared drives it says logon failure: user account restriction, and so far I haven't found a way to make it work. The vista box can reach the XP one just fine. I don't mind them improving stuff, but going from working to not working isn't what I call an improvement.

[Shluey]

Vista severed backward compatibility with the old lanmanager system used with windows 9x, you may need to configure XP to use NTLMv2 authentication only. Also make sure your user account is identical in both username and password on both machines and that the account has "access this computer from the network" permission enabled. Turn off the firewall too, that thing is god damned annoying.

[Cybercat]

Thanks, that fixed my issues. Now back to Miz...

[Cujo]

Miz -

Why the 2 routers? Have you tried just connecting it to the one router as a test? I can't help too much since I refuse to use Vista.

Try configuring the router to do the dialup with the modem.

You could always check the Linksys KB for Vista troubleshooting.

[Mizafim]

First off, thanks for the quick replies.


Antonius: Routers are both set to "Automatic Configuration - DHCP", so I figure that it'll change what it needs to. Not sure, though, if I need to have one set to something else. As to getting rid of the connections in the manger, tried it, but it won't allow me to remove both of the connections. I can do whatever I want to the broadband connection, but the Local one will only let me disable it, not remove it. Might also be pertinent to point out that the broadband connection is under a "Broadband" heading, the the LAN is under a "Lan or High Speed Internet" heading. Also, think there might be a CD somewhere, but never used it.

Miz -

Why the 2 routers? Have you tried just connecting it to the one router as a test? I can't help too much since I refuse to use Vista.

Try configuring the router to do the dialup with the modem.

You could always check the Linksys KB for Vista troubleshooting.

Two routers because of the layout of our computers; one router by the DSL modem, which is also by the cable box, so we can run the connection directly through the house's wiring. The other one's far enough away, and through a wall where drilling a larger hole would be a pain, that running one cable through to a router made more sense, especially since my dad's got a laptop (without wireless; RCMP security features), and desktop there. The laptop (running on XP, behind so much Novell firewall crap I'm surprised it can even boot) seems to connect without any issues through the same router.

By configuring the router to do the dial-up, you mean change its settings to PPPoE, and put in the user-name and password stuff there? Tried it, and it knocked out the connection across all of the computers. Still connected fine to the routers, but the internet connection dropped. I checked after trying, turns out the modem has the info for the PPPoE connection build in it, which is why I never had to worry about it before. Makes the Vista issue all the more confusing.

Looking through the Linksys boards; thanks for the tip. Nothing's turned up so far, though.


From looking around elsewhere, I'm tempted to blame the nVidia Networking Controller, as it appears its built-in firewall (and whatever else it's got) seems to clash with Vista. But since it's built in to the mobo, not sure what I can do about it, aside from getting a new card (wireless or non). Unfortunately, my dad's still being stubborn about placing blame, but not wanting to take any action to fix it, so I'm still looking for a non-formatting, software-based solution.

[Shluey]

If you have any nVidia network connection software installed my first piece of advice would be to remove it, especially firewall software.

[Antonius]

If you have any nVidia network connection software installed my first piece of advice would be to remove it, especially firewall software.

Seconded, especially with Vista, there is a known issue with the the Nvidia networking stuff & Vista, yet strangely, MS insists on pushing down that update, despite the fact it's broken. It's also what's preventing you from uninstalling the LAN adapter

Simple lesson here is to always get the updates from the manufacturer as oposed to MS as the driver signing process takes about 3 to 6 months and tend to be crippled.

You'll need to disable DHCP on one of the routers, either that or give them seperate address pools and address spaces, eg router 1 (192.168.1.1) serves 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.5 and router 2 (192.168.1.6) serves 192.168.1.7 to 192.168.1.10
This elimnates IP address conflicts. Which is always good. ;P

To those sharing folders between XP & Vista, there is a KB article with a link to update the network components for XP to bring them in line with Vista. Can't remember it now, but google is your friend...

[Shluey]

You'll need to disable DHCP on one of the routers, either that or give them seperate address pools and address spaces, eg router 1 (192.168.1.1) serves 192.168.1.2 to 192.168.1.5 and router 2 (192.168.1.6) serves 192.168.1.7 to 192.168.1.10
This elimnates IP address conflicts. Which is always good. ;P

Since he had been working that way for awhile I assumed he had either already done this or the second router is getting it's WAN port from the first and machines behind it are just being NAT'd twice. Either way, I wouldnt advise making a change unless there is a problem.

[Antonius]

Since he had been working that way for awhile I assumed he had either already done this or the second router is getting it's WAN port from the first and machines behind it are just being NAT'd twice. Either way, I wouldnt advise making a change unless there is a problem.

Point there mate, that said, he did say earlier he had both routers set up for DHCP (well, auto ip assigning anyway). Anyway, in matters of technology it never hurts to check, check, check again, slap someone for being stupid and check again.

[SaintArthur]

Here's my 2 cents.
You have to have a password on vista for the network to work properly.

There is an option in the setup for network configurations that allows file and printer sharing, turn it on
there is an option that uses user level security on the shares, turn it off.

Try that anyway.
Send me an email and I can help you config your network form here if you're still stuck
You do need to have your pc connected to the internet though..

[Mizafim]

For now, it seems to be working in a half-decent manner. Still not always connecting properly, though. Biggest issue is that switching between users disconnects, which is odd. Oh, well.

If it starts going downhill again, I'll be sure to return. As it is, I'll still work on implementing all of the ideas I've been given from y'all. Thanks to everybody involved. Chances are I'll be back for this same issue, but at least I won't leave anyone waiting for news on how it's working.