New PC with Win Vista wont connect to the net!

[SoNgOkO]

Hello,

i bought a new PC for my girlfriend today and installed a fresh copy of Win Vista Ultimate. Windows installed without any problems but i had some issues with the Network Adapter drivers. The drivers that were supplied on the DVD with my Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R mobo weren't working good so i downloaded the drivers for the network adapter from the Gigabyte web page. Drivers were good this time.

I am connected to the internet VIA a Thomson Broadband cable modem. The network cable is connected from the modem to my TP-LINK TL-WR642G router.

When i connect the cable from my GF's PC into the router the new PC doesn't connect to the internet. I also tried all the repair options that Win Vista offers but none helped

I have my home PC (winXP) connected straight to the router using a network cable and it works fine. I also have 2 laptops (winXP) connected and they also work fine.

I am totally lost here. What should i do?

Here is a screen shot of the situation on the Vista PC
http://img27.imageshack.us/my.php?image=53300155.jpg

Thanks for assistance!

[Aslan]

First of all, have you tried using a different ethernet cable or using a different port on the router? Sometimes it just might be that either the cable or jack (or both) are damaged and changing this will fix things.

Judging from the picture, it appears that the correct driver is installed. However. you could try the drivers found at the Realtek site although I doubt they are any different.

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false#1

Barring all this, try adding another NIC to the system. As mentioned above, the jack on the motherboard might be damaged so adding another NIC might solve the problem.

Good Luck.

[Jolly-Swagman]

Doesnt look like you have set your Gateway adress

[SoNgOkO]

Hello,

ty for the replies. Yes, i tried to switch the cables between both PC's and i also ran SMART Lan (LAN Cable Diagnostic Function) so i am sure the cables are ok.

I will try to install the drivers from the link you provided.

On my XP machines i didn't have to set any parameters since it's set to obtain em automatically so i guess same method applies to Win Vista.

Thanks,

Anze

[jivetrky]

I recently bought a gigabyte P45 board and had to install the realtek drivers to get it working. Not sure why the Vista and gigabyte drivers wouldn't work, but the realtek drivers fixed it right up for me

Might give that at try.

[Dice]

Looking at the pic, I see you are getting an APIPA address (169.254.x.x). Your troubles most likely are DHCP related. Check the DHCP settings in the router. Could be MAC filtering.

[jivetrky]

How's things look in your device manager? My issue was driver related and showed up in the device manager

[SoNgOkO]

I had the exclamation mark in device manager when i was using the drivers from the DVD disc but the drivers from Gigabyte's web page and Realtek's web page work fine.

I have MAC Address Filtering enabled but i added the MAC adress of the new PC into the router so it should allow it access to the internet.

[SoNgOkO]

Hello,

i disabled MAC address filtering and i also made a screen shot of the DHCP settings.

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9944/19016338.png

[Aslan]

I know you mentioned that the router works, but still try connecting the computer directly to the modem, bypassing the router.

[SoNgOkO]

Hello,

i tried it and it still didn't work. What i noticed was a loop of network cable unplugged/identifying in the Network Connections options although the cable was plugged in.

[Dice]

Plugged in physically, but reports as unplugged?

Is this new pc Gigabit? (EDIT: Yes, it is (http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2989&ProductName=GA-EX58-UD3R).) Try setting it to 100 full-duplex and see if that helps it get detected.

As an aside, I know the router says default gateway is optional, but I'd set it anyhow. Set it to 192.168.1.1.

[SoNgOkO]

I was fiddling around with all the settings and options and then Windows poped a MSG that there could be driver/hardware issues and the exclamation mark in device manager appeared again.

I uninstalled the drivers (from realtek's web page) and i wanted to installe the drivers that were supplied on the Gigabyte's web page but i got this warning MSG http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/622/63040593.jpg

[Dice]

At this point, I'd restart. Remove the card in BIOS and restart->log on.

Then when it is done loading up, remove all the network card's drivers, and start over from the top.

[SoNgOkO]

Ok. I restarted my PC. Installed the drivers. The install went fine. I also enabled Full Duplex 100. I also changed default getaway to 192.168.1.1 Problem persists.

[jivetrky]

When I installed the drivers from Realtek, I had to do it manually. It wouldn't work with the Realtek install.

Just extract the files and then go into device manager, right click on the network entry and goto properties.
Goto the driver tab and then click the Update driver button
select "Browse my computer for driver software"
Then choose "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"
Click the Have disk button then hit browse on the subsequent screen
navigate to the directory where the Vista/64 (or 32bit, depending on your OS of course) drivers are located.

This is what I had to do to get it to work, might be worth a try for you. :thup:

[SoNgOkO]

Heya,

thanks for all the replies!!!

Jivetrky i tried what you suggested and it didn't work. :(
No idea what else i could change. I have an old NIC ready to install but it just doesn't feel right to install it into a PC fresh from the store.

[Aslan]

Does the jack light up when you attach the cable? I'm just grasping at straws, I'm not sure what else to say other than that the jack might be broken.

[SoNgOkO]

Jack seems to be fine. Both lights blink. I am out of ideas too (been hitting my head against the wall for 8 hours now).

Thanks for the effort i really appreciate it!

Anze

[Aslan]

Well, since nothing else has worked, try disabling NetBIOS. It should be in the Local Area Connection Properties --> Internet Protocol (TCP-IP) --> General --> Advanced Button.

This location is in Windows XP, and it might be different in Vista.

I thought doing this would cause problems but after checking again, it apparently only does with very old systems.

[SoNgOkO]

Didn't help. It's getting late here. Ill call the PC shop tomorrow and ask if they have any ideas what to do. Ill also install my old NIC and see how it goes.

Thanks again for the assistance

ill report tomorrow how it went.

Cya
Anze

[SoNgOkO]

Ok things are getting spooky.

went to the PC woke it from slumber checked the inernet connection and voila it was connected no idea how no idea why. guess the Vista Gnomes were at work.

This is insane!

[Jolly-Swagman]

Disable IPv6 you seem to connecting using the IPv4 protocol ok so disable the IPv6 one and see if make a difference

[Aslan]

Heh, good to hear. I'm guessing you turned it off and on, so sometimes things fix themselves when that happens. :)

[SoNgOkO]

Heya!

Ty for all the replies.
No idea how all of that got resolved. Because i was all the time rebooting router/modem and disabling/enabling my Network card and also rebooting Vista.

But there is a thing i did before i went to bed. I manually wrote into the Vista machine the the IP, Subnet...
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3837/88749478.jpg

But the thing is that after writing these things in it still didn't work and i rebooted everything and disabled/enabled Network card.

So i am clueless what made it work.
I just want to thank all that helped with advices since i learned some new things about networks and settings. Thanks guys i appreciate the assistance!

Good luck and cya,

Anze