Vista - Spotty or no connection x64 Vista

It doesn't sound like I'm the only one having this problem, but here's my story:
Just got a new Dell running x64 Vista last week (Dec. 12). Since the day I took it out of the box, I've had spotty or no Internet connection. Pages will work one second, then not the next. Sometimes the browsers won't load my home page at all. I've tried using the two versions of IE7 (32 and 64) and Firefox 3.xx (whatever the latest version is).

I've had the ISP guys out here twice--it's not a problem on their end (I can connect to my PlayStation 3 just fine). I'm not using a router. I checked device manager, and their don't appear to be any problems with the network adapter. The network connection says it's connected to Local and Internet. I've disabled non-Windows security software. I've reset IE7. I've downloaded the latest Windows updates, including the security upgrade for IE, although I was having problems before the IE patch was released.

Should I download a different version of Firefox? Is plugin incompatability the problem? I'd prefer to use Firefox over IE. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello PadreDoom, and welcome to the vista forums

If you open the add-ons tab in Firefox and disable all your installed add-ons (or there should be a safe mode Firefox icon in the start menu, assuming a standard install), Check if this improves the quality of service you are receiving. If it does you can then switch on each add-on individually to isolate the problem.

As this is also occurring with IE it could be something else of course.

You may want to run a malware sweep with Spybot S&D and imalwarebytes to rule out infection.

The home of Spybot-S&D!
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware - Free software downloads and reviews - CNET Download.com

You may also want to check your Network card driver in the device manager, check in the properties under Power and ensure that the option to allow windows to switch off power is not enabled

Thanks for the reply Barman.

I am having the problem with multiple browsers, and I tried disabling the power mode thingy in Network device manager.

I haven't done a sweep for spyware/malware yet, but I'll download those programs in safe mode when I get home.

I'm thinking, though, that it's an update problem. When I first took the computer out of the box (about a week ago), and booted it up, I was able to download 21 updates for vista. I began having problems immediately after I restarted for the first time after installing the updates. I haven't really been able to download any susbstanially sized file since. Connection doesn't last long enough.

The Internet does work fine in Safe Mode with Networking. I had Dell tech support completely uninstall McAfee, to see if that was the issue (how do I double check it's been totally uninstalled--some on another forum are convinced this is still my problem?).

Hi...

How the system uploadspeed is related to the internetspeed.....

Regards
SunilKumar G

hi..

we are running c code in vist home premium 32 bit with exe file...we are getting windows is stoped the exe error..because of this we are unable to run exe file in the vista system.....

plz help me....

Thanks in advance

Regards
SunilKumarG

Hello PadreDoom,

The mere fact that the problem "goes away" in safe mode would point me in the direction of a driver problem ( drivers are likely to have been included in the post install "update" ).

As the Safe mode with networking is operational It may well be that the actual NIC driver is OK. If you run windows update you should be able to list the items in the update to check if any drivers were included, these may be "rolled back" to check if the issue is caused by the particular driver download, Items found to be causing problems may also be "hidden" in the Windows update to prevent them being re-installed at the next scheduled update.

I personally find the the drivers included in WU are not always the most recent version, there is a definite lag between manufacturers issuing drivers and them being included in WU. Due to this lag I always if possible install only drivers I manually obtain from the manufacturers directly.

With regard to MCafee download and run the following tool which should remove any remnents of the sofware.

Download McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool 2.0.155.1 - Will remove all 2005, 2006, and 2007 versions of McAfee consumer products - Softpedia

If you have difficulty in completing this operation due to the possible fragmented remains of the software, one way to ensure the full cleaning of the system would be to re-install the software and then run the removal tool.

I would try to remove the remnents of McAfee first and see what happens

With the fact that the Internet works fine in Safe Mode with Networking, can I tell Dell tech support that it's not a problem with the ISP so they will finally help me solve the problem?

Also, I did a system restore today, but I think I should probably undo that, right?

Also, could the Windows Firewall, not the McAfee firewall, being causing the problem?

As the system works in safe mode then I personally cannot see how it could be an ISP problem .

If the system restore has not improved matters than yes I is probably best to undo this.

The firewall could be causing some issue so it may be worth while switching off the firewall temporarily to see if that cures the problem.

What is puzzling is the 1 to 2 hour delay I know there are a lot of system tasks set up using the task scheduler. I'm starting to wonder if one of these is effecting the connection, this task could be set to wait 1 hour but be set with a low priority which would mean it would only start when the system is idle

What 1 or 2 hour delay or you talking about? The Internet doesn't really work at all.