Vista - Vista goes to "local only mode"

Okay, I need your help now when I've been trying to solve this network issue, that so many people seem to have. It's the Internet, LAN and wireless. Problem is that after a time period X they just all want to go to "local only mode". Just to mention, I have three Vista laptops, which all are doing the same thing, and my only XP laptop works just fine. So it's pretty much narrowed down to Vista laptops...No matter what Microsoft wants to say.

So what happens? -> I have a private network (wireless is encrypted with WPA/PSK and the password is correct...), it connects allright and the mode is "Local and Internet". After some time, it can be two minutes or one hour, it just suddenly goes to "local only mode" and stays that way.

What I've done so far:

- Tried various ADSL modems and Wireless routers -> all gives the same result
- Disabled IPv6
- Laptops came with Norton 60 day trial, which seemed to occure problems for someone. I unistalled it with Norton removal tool with no help.
- A couple of different firewalls, no help. Now using Comodo and it's not the reason
- Changed my LAN adapter speed to 100Mb fixed and half duplex
- Tried different Wireless channels
- Added a DisabledComponents DWORD with value 0*ff to registry, which should really disable the ipv6 -> didn't help
- Yes, I get an IP from the router
- Yes, I've upgraded all my wireless routers and ADSL routers firmwares
- Yes, my wireless and LAN cards are abled and working
- No, my Wireless card is not going to power save mode
- No, the windows "network repair tool" can't solve it out
- Intel Wifi 5100 newest drivers

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Now two things are fixing this, but not permanently, I have to run one of these manually every time I connect to network:

- For some reason when I type to command prompt "Route print" it shows there 0.0.0.0 on the first row. If I now type "Route delete 0.0.0.0" and renew my IP address it starts working, and it will stay "local and internet" for a week if I don't reboot my computer.

edit: Sorry, my bad, just as I said this it did the local only -trick after the operation described above.

- I found this one from some forum, which also works, but not permanently: If I type "netsh interface ipv4 set address name="Wireless Network Connection" to my command prompt and renew IP address it also fixes the problem until the first reboot.

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One thing I found when "googling" around for a couple of evenings, that there's a huge amount of people having this same problem and not a single "works for all" solution. Unbelievable. The most annoying problem ever. It's annoying because you can use your browser etc. but still it keeps cutting your internet connection. If you surf for some time, it cuts you of for some time. It's so random.

So I'm asking what is the permanent solution for this problem?

Now also tried to uninstall my wireless adapter and let the Windows install it again after a reboot. After that I disabled iPv6. It didn't help.

Also now tried this one with no help: Windows Vista cannot obtain an IP address from certain routers or from certain non-Microsoft DHCP servers

I have the same sort of problem once i had my internet on my main computer fine and i woke up the next morning and it was gone, but it's not the internet it's to do with the computer because i'm here on my laptop now using the same connection as what my computer would use.

I'm always getting Unidentified Network - Limited Connectivity on my main computer which is really annoying. I've had this problem before and i unistalled my network card a few times and it worked but now it's come back and the network card isn't the problem .. i do hope somebody can tell me and you a solution as this is really doing my nut in.

You must both have access to an item of telecommunication called a telephone? Yes??......... Good!

Then I suggest that a support request call to your Internet Service Provider, while you're sitting at your Laptop/Desktop System, could make a world of difference.

Try it.....you've nothing to lose! Oh! And don't forget to post back with the results.

And why it should be the internet provider problem? They have the knowledge to solve this problem, that no one else seem to have? I don't know if I made myself clear enough, but my ADSL line is up and running while this happens. With Windows XP setups things were also running allright.

The problem, which seems to bother quite heavy amount of vista users, is either in Vista itself or in the router. Now I've done my best to eliminate the router part; Upgraded firmware and done those flag disablings, which by Microsoft support, can cause problems with some routers. I have also tried three different routers. Plus all those things I've tried with settings in Vista.

And also, I don't know why you're being sarkastic and all, at least when that kind of "solutions" you're offrering are being told everywhere. I believe I gave quite good starting details and did some backround checks, and even tried quite a lot of things myself. Sorry to say, but that kind of answers won't lead anywhere. People just accuse each other. Microsoft are accusing router manufacturers and Internet Service Providers and users are accusing Microsoft. This is ridiculous problem and you would just want to find a solution to it, instead of hearing from every different "support guys", that is someone's else fault.

Lol it's not my isp's problem it's the computers problem. I already phoned them up was on the phone for 30mins they couldn't understand it so told me to take my pc in for repairs but that is gonna cost the bomb and i don't want to waste cash which could take 5mins to do.

" Vista 64 and routers (I have Linksys WRT54G)
To resolve this issue, disable the DHCP BROADCAST flag in Windows Vista.

To do this, follow these steps: Click Start, type regedit, If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\{GUID} [this is the first numeric string starting with {90...

Right click on DhcpConnEnableBcastFlag, Modify, and set the value to 0 (numeric zero). I then rebooted.


I have not had a drop in 24 hours. Hope it continues. Found this at: support.microsoft.com/kb/928233

"This issue occurs because of a difference in design between Windows Vista and Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). Specifically, in Windows XP SP2, the BROADCAST flag in DHCP discovery packets is set to 0 (disabled). In Windows Vista, the BROADCAST flag in DHCP discovery packets is not disabled. Therefore, some routers and some non-Microsoft DHCP servers cannot process the DHCP discovery packets."

Thanks for the reply. That seemed pretty obvious for me too and as you can read above, I also did that. I now doublechecked, and it's showing the value zero. It didn't help at the time. I also previously had that same Linksys Router, which at that time caused serious gray hair when attached Zyxel Prestige ADSL modem...

Yesterday I tried also some various settings in Vista and in my Belkin router and now it's been "local and internet" almost 24 hours. Only thing is that Belkin wireless is now disapling the wireless network time to time. But that's totally another issue...

My earlier post did note that I had connectivity for 24 hours. Later the same day, after the computer was in sleep mode for several hours, I had another drop.

Wrote about it here:
The Umbrella Computing Journal, March 2009 Significant Bits
Under Vista and Routers, last para

Will see what the day brings....

Cheers,
A..