Vista Tutorial - Wireless Disconnects - a Vista Bug

On two different Vista Home Premium laptops, two different architectures and
laptop models and three different wireless routers I have experienced the
following issue. After about 15 minutes of being connected, my wireless
connection drops the Internet connection and becomes 'local access only.'
Local access is true, because I can stream from my 360, but the laptop cannot
access the internet. Just renewing the IP isn't enough, I have to completely
reset the adapter. A cursory search of the internet shows that this happens
on just about every imaginable platform and hardware configuration out there.

What gives, Microsoft? When will this be patched?? I bought this laptop for
my wife so that she *wouldn't* be calling me all day at work to help her, yet
the support calls are through the roof!!

Matt
houstonmat--at--gmail

The fix for this is to change the Power Management tab for the wireless card.
Select "Allow Windows to this device off to save power." Then Vista knows to
wake the card and reconnect to the network after Sleep or Hibernate.

"houstonmat" wrote:

> On two different Vista Home Premium laptops, two different architectures and
> laptop models and three different wireless routers I have experienced the
> following issue. After about 15 minutes of being connected, my wireless
> connection drops the Internet connection and becomes 'local access only.'
> Local access is true, because I can stream from my 360, but the laptop cannot
> access the internet. Just renewing the IP isn't enough, I have to completely
> reset the adapter. A cursory search of the internet shows that this happens
> on just about every imaginable platform and hardware configuration out there.
>
> What gives, Microsoft? When will this be patched?? I bought this laptop for
> my wife so that she *wouldn't* be calling me all day at work to help her, yet
> the support calls are through the roof!!
>
> Matt
> houstonmat--at--gmail

Not true, both are disabled (hibernate and sleep). As I stated, it happens
after about 10 minutes, which often is in the middle of me actually doing
something.


"Mary" wrote:

> The fix for this is to change the Power Management tab for the wireless card.
> Select "Allow Windows to this device off to save power." Then Vista knows to
> wake the card and reconnect to the network after Sleep or Hibernate.
>
> "houstonmat" wrote:
>
> > On two different Vista Home Premium laptops, two different architectures and
> > laptop models and three different wireless routers I have experienced the
> > following issue. After about 15 minutes of being connected, my wireless
> > connection drops the Internet connection and becomes 'local access only.'
> > Local access is true, because I can stream from my 360, but the laptop cannot
> > access the internet. Just renewing the IP isn't enough, I have to completely
> > reset the adapter. A cursory search of the internet shows that this happens
> > on just about every imaginable platform and hardware configuration out there.
> >
> > What gives, Microsoft? When will this be patched?? I bought this laptop for
> > my wife so that she *wouldn't* be calling me all day at work to help her, yet
> > the support calls are through the roof!!
> >
> > Matt
> > houstonmat--at--gmail

Well for a start it does not happen on mine or any of those I visit to
teach. That said I would not jump to blame the Win system but look at ISP
prob's and router set up problems first.

--
Ian

"houstonmat" <houstonmat@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A9C3DD70-221B-411D-A61E-1DC3F1379A7B@microsoft.com...
> On two different Vista Home Premium laptops, two different architectures
> and
> laptop models and three different wireless routers I have experienced the
> following issue. After about 15 minutes of being connected, my wireless
> connection drops the Internet connection and becomes 'local access only.'
> Local access is true, because I can stream from my 360, but the laptop
> cannot
> access the internet. Just renewing the IP isn't enough, I have to
> completely
> reset the adapter. A cursory search of the internet shows that this
> happens
> on just about every imaginable platform and hardware configuration out
> there.
>
> What gives, Microsoft? When will this be patched?? I bought this laptop
> for
> my wife so that she *wouldn't* be calling me all day at work to help her,
> yet
> the support calls are through the roof!!
>
> Matt
> houstonmat--at--gmail
>

You can't totally disable those. I have them disabled in Power Options too
but I still can manually put the computer into sleep or hibernation. Just try
the fix--it came from Microsoft support and see if it works for you. It can't
hurt. The shutdown button on the Start menu is set to Sleep instead of
Shutdown. You can change that in Power Options. So even if Sleep is disabled,
you still can choose that from the start menu.

"houstonmat" wrote:

> Not true, both are disabled (hibernate and sleep). As I stated, it happens
> after about 10 minutes, which often is in the middle of me actually doing
> something.
>
>
> "Mary" wrote:
>
> > The fix for this is to change the Power Management tab for the wireless card.
> > Select "Allow Windows to this device off to save power." Then Vista knows to
> > wake the card and reconnect to the network after Sleep or Hibernate.
> >
> > "houstonmat" wrote:
> >
> > > On two different Vista Home Premium laptops, two different architectures and
> > > laptop models and three different wireless routers I have experienced the
> > > following issue. After about 15 minutes of being connected, my wireless
> > > connection drops the Internet connection and becomes 'local access only.'
> > > Local access is true, because I can stream from my 360, but the laptop cannot
> > > access the internet. Just renewing the IP isn't enough, I have to completely
> > > reset the adapter. A cursory search of the internet shows that this happens
> > > on just about every imaginable platform and hardware configuration out there.
> > >
> > > What gives, Microsoft? When will this be patched?? I bought this laptop for
> > > my wife so that she *wouldn't* be calling me all day at work to help her, yet
> > > the support calls are through the roof!!
> > >
> > > Matt
> > > houstonmat--at--gmail

What OS do you teach on?

I have had nearly a dozen XP laptops connected to my router(s) and never an
issue whatsoever. Simultaneously I will have my work laptop (XP) and this
laptop (or its predecessor, both Vista Home Prem) connected, and the Vista
laptop drops the connection after a few minutes while the XP machines have no
problems. I have a business class connection for which I pay a lot of $$. I
know it's not my ISP, and I know it's not my router (or the other two routers
I tried).


"Ian Betts" wrote:

> Well for a start it does not happen on mine or any of those I visit to
> teach. That said I would not jump to blame the Win system but look at ISP
> prob's and router set up problems first.
>
> --
> Ian
>
> "houstonmat" <houstonmat@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A9C3DD70-221B-411D-A61E-1DC3F1379A7B@microsoft.com...
> > On two different Vista Home Premium laptops, two different architectures
> > and
> > laptop models and three different wireless routers I have experienced the
> > following issue. After about 15 minutes of being connected, my wireless
> > connection drops the Internet connection and becomes 'local access only.'
> > Local access is true, because I can stream from my 360, but the laptop
> > cannot
> > access the internet. Just renewing the IP isn't enough, I have to
> > completely
> > reset the adapter. A cursory search of the internet shows that this
> > happens
> > on just about every imaginable platform and hardware configuration out
> > there.
> >
> > What gives, Microsoft? When will this be patched?? I bought this laptop
> > for
> > my wife so that she *wouldn't* be calling me all day at work to help her,
> > yet
> > the support calls are through the roof!!
> >
> > Matt
> > houstonmat--at--gmail
> >
>

Thanks, I will have a second look at that this evening and see if it helps
(and report back). Pardon my frustration...I just don't like troubleshooting
issues that may be unresolvable.

"Mary" wrote:

> You can't totally disable those. I have them disabled in Power Options too
> but I still can manually put the computer into sleep or hibernation. Just try
> the fix--it came from Microsoft support and see if it works for you. It can't
> hurt. The shutdown button on the Start menu is set to Sleep instead of
> Shutdown. You can change that in Power Options. So even if Sleep is disabled,
> you still can choose that from the start menu.
>
> "houstonmat" wrote:
>
> > Not true, both are disabled (hibernate and sleep). As I stated, it happens
> > after about 10 minutes, which often is in the middle of me actually doing
> > something.
> >
> >
> > "Mary" wrote:
> >
> > > The fix for this is to change the Power Management tab for the wireless card.
> > > Select "Allow Windows to this device off to save power." Then Vista knows to
> > > wake the card and reconnect to the network after Sleep or Hibernate.
> > >
> > > "houstonmat" wrote:
> > >
> > > > On two different Vista Home Premium laptops, two different architectures and
> > > > laptop models and three different wireless routers I have experienced the
> > > > following issue. After about 15 minutes of being connected, my wireless
> > > > connection drops the Internet connection and becomes 'local access only.'
> > > > Local access is true, because I can stream from my 360, but the laptop cannot
> > > > access the internet. Just renewing the IP isn't enough, I have to completely
> > > > reset the adapter. A cursory search of the internet shows that this happens
> > > > on just about every imaginable platform and hardware configuration out there.
> > > >
> > > > What gives, Microsoft? When will this be patched?? I bought this laptop for
> > > > my wife so that she *wouldn't* be calling me all day at work to help her, yet
> > > > the support calls are through the roof!!
> > > >
> > > > Matt
> > > > houstonmat--at--gmail

houstonmat wrote:
> "Ian Betts" wrote:
>> "houstonmat" <houstonmat@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:A9C3DD70-221B-411D-A61E-1DC3F1379A7B@microsoft.com...
>>
>>> On two different Vista Home Premium laptops, two different
>>> architectures and laptop models and three different
>>> wireless routers I have experienced the following issue.
>>> After about 15 minutes of being connected, my wireless
>>> connection drops the Internet connection and becomes
>>> 'local access only.' Local access is true, because I can
>>> stream from my 360, but the laptop cannot access the
>>> internet. Just renewing the IP isn't enough, I have to
>>> completely reset the adapter. A cursory search of the
>>> internet shows that this happens on just about every
>>> imaginable platform and hardware configuration out there.
>>>
>>> What gives, Microsoft? When will this be patched?? I bought
>>> this laptop for my wife so that she *wouldn't* be calling me
>>> all day at work to help her, yet the support calls are
>>> through the roof!!
>>>
>>> Matt
>>> houstonmat--at--gmail
>> Well for a start it does not happen on mine or any of those I visit
>> to teach. That said I would not jump to blame the Win system but
>> look at ISP prob's and router set up problems first.
>>
>> --
>> Ian
>>
> What OS do you teach on?
>
> I have had nearly a dozen XP laptops connected to my router(s) and
> never an issue whatsoever. Simultaneously I will have my work laptop
> (XP) and this laptop (or its predecessor, both Vista Home Prem)
> connected, and the Vista laptop drops the connection after a few
> minutes while the XP machines have no problems. I have a business
> class connection for which I pay a lot of $$. I know it's not my ISP,
> and I know it's not my router (or the other two routers I tried).

Simple answer: Vista is broken

I've been using Wireless on XP SP2 for 5 years now wit no problems what
so ever. There is absolutely no excuse for such a shoddy translation of
it to Vista, seeing as it's supposed to be bet tech and all, and coupled
with the fact that this was fixed in XP with SP2, it's absolutely
bewildering that they managed to break it. It's one in a very long list
of broken components in Vista. Sigh.

-saran

See if there might be a correlation between the specific wireless NIC
adapters in the computers and the router. Many times it's problematic to mix
and match hardware. I know I have changed wireless NICs and been rid of
connection problems. Explore router firmware and NIC firmware. Then drivers.
The drivers for XP were older, most likely, than the ones for Vista now. I'm
not supporting Vista since I find it's an OS that tries to do too much (OS,
firewall, malware and more) rather than focusing on being an OS first and
letting 3rd parties fill the other needs as has happened in XP (pre-SP2) and
Win2K. Good luck.


"houstonmat" <houstonmat@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A9C3DD70-221B-411D-A61E-1DC3F1379A7B@microsoft.com...
> On two different Vista Home Premium laptops, two different architectures
> and
> laptop models and three different wireless routers I have experienced the
> following issue. After about 15 minutes of being connected, my wireless
> connection drops the Internet connection and becomes 'local access only.'
> Local access is true, because I can stream from my 360, but the laptop
> cannot
> access the internet. Just renewing the IP isn't enough, I have to
> completely
> reset the adapter. A cursory search of the internet shows that this
> happens
> on just about every imaginable platform and hardware configuration out
> there.
>
> What gives, Microsoft? When will this be patched?? I bought this laptop
> for
> my wife so that she *wouldn't* be calling me all day at work to help her,
> yet
> the support calls are through the roof!!
>
> Matt
> houstonmat--at--gmail

Houstonmat,

I had the same problem with my new computer running Vista Home Premium and
then Ultimate. I made several calls to Dell and Microsoft trying to
understand the problem.

Who is the vendor of your laptops? Is it Dell. If so, click on All Programs
and go to Dell Wirelss. Uncheck the box that says "Let Dell manage your
wireless connections". This will then let Windows manage the connection.

However, I still had some problems. After a bit more researching I was
advised to update the driver for my wireless card. This permanently solved
the problem for me. It may or may not work for you but the thing I discovered
was that it was not the fault of my Vista operating system.

Have a nice day.

C.B.