Lor's Computer Problem

[BarryDavidson]

quote="Lor"]My laptop let me down a few months ago and I've yet see it fixed. Two weeks in the "shop" and they didn't have a clue. It runs fine, but will no longer connect to the internet, which is a real drag. Just suddenly decided not to connect one morning. But, it will connect to other ISP's. I used it specifically for writing, but still need access to the internet. Funny, this PC does connect. I dunnoh. If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. It's ... Vista. (she whispers)

Lor

PS, we tried removing Vista to replace with windows XP, but it wouldn't let us.[/quote]

Is this the onboard wifi connection, or do you have a wireless PCMCIA card? Also, what type of laptop is it. I ask this because Toshiba, Dell, and several of the others have their own proprietary drivers installed which will try to take over everything, especially in Windows Vista. (They also act like a virus, duplicating themselves and not allowing the admin to uninstall them.)

Vista, more than any other version of Windows is a system hog. It'll eat memory like nothing else, and it wants to control EVERYTHING. I had to put a separate PCMCIA card in my wife's laptop after a couple of weeks because Windows doesn't like Dell, and vice versa. Calling Windows or Dell will do no good either. They'll say to let their Dell Network Assistant handle it, but Vista won't allow it.

Get rid of Vista unless you have a 3GHz processor or better and at least 3GB DDR2. (The only way to get rid of it once it's installed is to reformat the drive, and reinstall XP. I haven't found a way yet to uninstall Vista, and I spent over a week trying.)

[Celeste Stewart]

So, it connects to some ISPs but not others? LIke you can't connect to your main cable/DSL provider but you can connect to AOL? If it's something like that, you may just need to reset a few settings in the TCP/IP section such as DNS settings. I know with my ISP, I had to go in and manually configure these settings before it would work. You'd have to check with your ISP for the details but it's easy to do.

My wireless router went out the other day and I KNEW it was a problem with the router, not my system. First, I called the cable company who said I needed to call Lynksys who wanted to charge me $50 for the call (no thanks, I can buy a new one for less than that), and finanlly I called Vonage because it was a Linksys/Vonage router. After going through all the troubleshooting steps that I already did on my own, they finally determined that the router had failed (duh, didn't I say that from the beginnning?) Long story short, they sent me a replacement router for free and I'm back online.

Not sure what all that has to do with Lor's problem, just that troubleshooting these things is often an exercise in frustration.

Also, my two-year-old son likes to turn off the wireless switch on my laptop. That's always my first stop when investigating connectivity issues. (Learned that one the hard way).

[Celeste Stewart]

Oh yeah, and I'm one of the few people on the planet that actually LIKES Windows Vista. I haven't had any significant problems since January 2007 when I bought this computer. A few annoyances such as Calendar causing my taskbar to freeze (I no longer load Calendar and the problem is solved) and my sound card being temporarily disabled with each update (a quick reboot and it's back), but other than that, my installation of Vista runs like a charm - and I have a cheapo laptop. I think I paid $600 or so for it. Pretty good testimony considering it replaced a fully loaded Sony VAIO.

[Lor]

Thanks for responding Barry and Celeste.

Barry asked, " Is this the onboard wifi connection, or do you have a wireless PCMCIA card?"

Huh?
I'm going to get my husband to read this, Barry. He's more techi than I am. But I can tell you, we were unable to uninstall Vista. And we had the nerve to ask them how to get rid of them.

Celeste,
"So, it connects to some ISPs but not others? LIke you can't connect to your main cable/DSL provider but you can connect to AOL? "

You got it.
I think our next step is to call our ISP. The problem there, however, is bad communication. Most of the "help" is in India and I don't always understand the accent.
Ed's woes today reminded me to do that. I hope it's just a few type-in changes, but this stuff is beyond me. I love the laptop. I miss it. Never had any problems until one morning a while back when it refused to connect. I'll check that router widget too.

Thanks to you both. I'll let you know how we make out.

Lorraine

[Celeste Stewart]

The first thing I'd do is go to the cable provider's website and look for help with connectivity issues. Sometimes, IP addresses that are assigned to your PC "expire" or go bad - when this happens, you can't connect to the Internet. You will need to release the old IP address and get a new one from the ISP's server. Here's a link to my particular ISP's advice on this (just so you can see what I'm talking about):

http://help.rr.com/HMSFaqs/e_relrenew.a ... ion+Issues

Here's a little video that shows you how to check the IP/renew it for Windows Vista (again for my own ISP but it should be pretty general information):
http://help.rr.com/HMSTutorials/CheckIP ... ion+Issues

I would also check your cable provider's website for "one-click fixes." Many ISPs are offering these fixes for a variety of common problems. For example, I just went to Comcast.com's help center and they have a one-click connectivity tool. If your ISP uses this technology, there's a good chance that they have a one-click fix for automatically setting up your computer's settings with the appropriate TCP/IP settings and/or releasing the IP address.

Also look for "how to configure Vista's connection settings" on your ISP's website. They should have information about whether or not you should have your computer obtain the IP address and DNS server addresss automatically or if you need to specify anything here. They will likely have illustrated, step-by-step instructions.

I find it easier to follow webpage instructions instead of trying to interpret foreign accents. Plus, I'm a do-it-yourself type.

Good luck! I suspect you just need to release and renew the IP address.

[Lor]

<<...Sometimes, IP addresses that are assigned to your PC "expire" or go bad - when this happens, you can't connect to the Internet....>>

Hi Celeste,
It's not is the IP address as it works fine on my PC. Could it be partially dead?? I'm serious. Stop laughing. Thank you for the the links. Have to go to my husband's office in Toronto to view the video. We're on dial-up in the country. :) Living in the dark ages here.

Everything else you said will be read by my husband who will likely understand tongue speech better than I. He speaks three languages or two and a half.

<<..Also look for "how to configure Vista's connection settings" on your ISP's website...>>

This, I can do myself. Good, good idea. I agree, I'd rather see it in a step by step than have it explained over the phone.

I never heard of IP addresses dying of old age. That's kinda sad. I hope mine didn't. I've had it for years.

Lorraine with thanks

Edited to add
Celeste. Just to clarify. I have two computers at home -- laptop and pc. One ISP, one monthly bill. We're on dial-up and can obviously only connect one computer at a time. The laptop connected fine until a few months ago. It will work on other ISP's elsewhere -- in the shop and my husband's office in Toronto. Just not at home. But the PC will connect at home and always had. This is what's so weird about it.

[Celeste Stewart]

Dial-up is a bit different; I believe you get a "new" IP address each time you dial in. So, ignore the expiring/release/renew advise. It's probably something in your dial-up networking settings. Shoot, it could even be that when in the office, the computer had to be set to dial 9 in order to get an outside line. If so, then at home, it would be screwed up until that setting was changed back.

Also, it could be that the phone number that your modem must dial is no longer in service or something like that. You may need to check your ISP for a new local number to call. Your ISP's website should have all of the setup instructions for dial-up networking online as well. Again, they may even have a "one click" fix that sets it up for you automatically.

[BarryDavidson]

Well.... Dial-up is another animal all together. You're taking about a 56k modem, so ignore what I said about wifi or PCMCIA cards.

Celeste is correct. First, get a list of the local numbers for your ISP. Years back when I had AOL, I had to keep ten numbers saved. Now, how are you testing to see if it connects to "other" ISP's? By other ISP's do you mean different numbers, or do you have more than one ISP (AOL, NetZero, and a local ISP for instance) you connect through with your computer?

Your computer's physical IP address doesn't change usually, but you connect through a different one each time you connect to the dial-up. I never had to mess with TCP/IP protocols until I first switched to cable. Once I switched to XP, I only check the IP addresses when I'm configuring a new router.





Celeste... The reason I don't like Vista is because Microsoft doesn't properly test their products before releasing them. They, like so many other software companies, tend to screw things up when they make the programs more "user friendly". Plus I need speed in any computer I use, and Vista is a resource hog. XP is no slouch in that department, but it's far easier to shut down all the background programs and have them stay off.

Another problem I have with Vista is that it'll force me to upgrade several programs I like just fine the way they were. I still use IE 6. Sure, I'd like to have the 64bit drivers for my dual core processor, but I'll wait until I'm forced to upgrade. Another thing which really annoys be is that Vista tries to take over everything. I'd even pay a few extra bucks for a "Vista-Lite" version, or the ability to only install the parts I actually need.

[Celeste Stewart]

Barry,
Yeah, I know, Vista gobbles resources which is why I made sure to get plenty of processor power and memory when I bought the computer. THough it was an inexpensive one, it had plenty of power. Most of the people that have problems with Vista are those who upgraded machines that really shouldn't run it or are running the bare minimum requirements. For people who want more speed out of Vista, there's a ton you can do to speed it up including turning off the Aero interface - it's just eye candy anyway. While Microsoft is notorious for bugs, Vista is sooooooooo much more stable than any of their previous versions.

[Amy W]

Just a warning - I know nothing about computers. But is Bell your ISP? I had a dial-up connection with them a few years ago, and some days it worked, other days I could not for the life of me connect to the internet. Anytime that happened, I would go around the house and unplug all of my phones, then go around and plug them all back into the jacks. It seemed to work. Maybe it just means that there's something wrong with the wiring in my home, but it might be worth a try.

[HayleyWriter]

For those of you who are computer literate (not me!) there is definitely a few articles and tutorials in this forum thread. I can see Celeste writing about how to turn off Vista accessories and how to speed up Vista and Barry writing about Dial up and why Vista doesn't work!

Interesting discussion.

[Celeste Stewart]

Celeste actually writes them in her sleep :) LOL.

[BarryDavidson]

Barry doesn't write much about dial-up. It's been too many years since I had it, and I cringe to think of anyone who is forced to endure it. I could never go back. I'd even get a bi-directional satellite connection before dial-up.

I refrain from writing much about Vista because I don't know it that well. I just say that it's a resource hog, and really only useful to people who need 64bit drivers.

[Lor]

I only have a minute as I'm out for the day. Just wanted to get in here quickly and say thanks to you guys. I'll let you know on Monday how I make out with my ISP.

Amy, yes it's Bell S. We tried all that, but to no avail.
I'm hoping for an over-the-phone fix.

Have a great weekend everyone.
Lor