Resolved Windows Vista connects fine to some networks but not to others

Here's a fun puzzle for us to solve together. I have a customer's laptop that's having connectivity issues. I have 3 wireless connections set up in my office. The laptop can connect to 2 of the 3 networks without any issue. The one that doesn't connect correctly has "local" access but only in the sense that it obtains an IP from DHCP. If I try to ping the router or other computers on the network it either returns destination host unreachable or the request times out. Other computers on the network can ping the router just fine. I have a USB wifi adapter that can connect to all networks with out any issue. its the built in wireless card that is having issues.

The laptop displays the same behavior connected to the customer's home network and a wireless network my phone can create to share cell. data. After running Vista network diagnostics on it, it gives me the option to manually reset the modem or router, get new IP configuration settings, or to reset the wireless adapter. Nothing helps the issue. I've tried uninstalling, reinstalling, updating drivers. reseting thi TCP/IP stack, resetting winsock, ip config /renew + /release, /flushdns. I've even went into the registry and changed some DHCP flags for the wireless card, still no dice. However some networks it connects to just fine.

I've tried just about everything I can think of but if any of you have some thoughts I'd be more than happy to give it a shot. Thanks guys. (this forum rules)

 

Hi, some info on the brand and model of the laptop may help others to help you. Neil.

 

Sounds like wimpy built-in WiFi device/antenna.

Have you tried a nano WiFi USB adapter (or similar)?

 

Dr,

Yes I have used a USB wifi adapter to try to connect to the internet and that works fine. I'm in the process of throwing in a test HDD and installation of vista to see if it is a hardware problem. Thanks for the link, for $10 it might just be worth it to use a nano adapter.

EDIT: So I tried connecting to the network it would connect to with a HDD that had Win7 on it and it connects just fine. it doesn't seem like a hardware problem. It sounds like something in that particular install of vista is blocking internet access to certain networks for what ever reason. The customer is not willing to opt for a reinstall, for personal reasons. Since my USB adapter works just fine, I'll just order a $10 adapter. Seems to be the easiest plan of action

 

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