Vista Ultimate - Local only network ... why?!

OK, here's the deal:



I have two computers at home, both using XP, both directly connected to the speedtouch modem/router (it only has two network slots). My friend just bought a notebook, an Asus F3K. Since he only got Vista drivers with it, we installed Vista Ultimate.



Everything went as planned, and it all works ... but the network connection. At first I connected it using my first computer's cable. It says "local only". Now the fun part ... I went to my second computer and connected the laptop to the network using this computer's cable ... and it suddenly worked fine.



But, even though ... both XP computers run fine and have no network problems, as long as I don't use one of their cables to connect the laptop.



It's an Asus F3K as I said, using a RealTek network card. I unticked the IPv6 in the network connection properties, and I followed the "additional information" in the http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/928233



My friend also tried to connect it at home, but he got "local only" as well. We both use the same internet provider and have the same modem/router.



Also, when Vista starts solving the problem it identifies the modem/router to be the problem ... but both modems work fine if we use XP.



Using XP on my friend's computer is not an option at the time, since all of the supplied drivers and applications are Vista only.



Any help, tip, observation ... anything, is really really welcome.

Thanks.

 

This shouldn't matter, but Vista changed the default Workgroup from what was used by XP, and that seems to affect the ability to network. The new default workgroup in Vista is ... wait for it ... "WORKGROUP"!! So, check to see that the workgroup for your Vista box matches that of your XP box.

 

The workgroup was set fine. Vista's firewall is turned off. Both cables are normal, not crossover.



Well, the router uses DHCP, so I set static IP's, the gateway IP and DNS servers directly on my friends laptop, disabled DCHP flag described in the kb928233, unticked IPv6 and it works now.



Microsoft ... you suck completely ... isn't Vista supposed to be more user friendly? I think not!

 

I've seen references several places where "unticking" IPv6 solves networkin-related problems. Have you tried using DHCP but with IPV6 unticked to see if that works?

 

Yeah I tried that, but until I filled in all the details it didn't budge. "Local only" ... as usual.



Well, it could be my speedtouch ... but still it's strange. It works fine now, except for one thing ... it doesn't work with the first cable we tried. It's about 15m long, but I guess that cannot be an issue, because it works fine on XP though?! I just can't get it.

 

Well, sorry it's no consolation, but I'm using network cables just as long. I have a 50-foot (that's about 15M) network cable between my network switch and PC and have no problems. However, it is a cat-6 cable, because the switch supports a 1GB backbone. If you're using cat-5e, cat-5, or even cat-4 cable, that could be an issue -- but as you said, if it were solely the cable, that should have shown up on XP.

 

I have exactly no idea what the cable types are ... sorry. But still it's strange ... why would it work fine on XP and not at all on Vista?

 

The Category (e.g., "cat") value of the cable is always printed on the cable itself -- right on the cable wrapping.



I agree that if a cable works under XP, it "should" work under Vista. But, stranger things have happened in Vista. If I had to guess, and I do at this point, is that if you have IPv6 "ticked" in the TCP/IP properties, then Vista is enforcing some new v6-related timings which a longer and lower-grade cable might not pass; whereas since XP didn't include IPv6, it didn't enforce the same timings.



I've seen posts where people were able to solve networking problems simply by "unticking" IPv6.

 

I've seen this problem probably 50 times now, and 40 out of the 50 it is a IP or Default Gateway issue. Set dhcp enabled and the laptop set to automatically obtain an IP. Copy and past everything which comes up after you type IPconfig /all in the cmd prompt. Typically you will not have an IP except the loopback IP Vista will assign if it cannot obtain one from the DHCP server. Or sometimes you will get a 0.0.0.0 under your default gateway instead of the 192.168.1.1 you should have. I also suggest you go into your router and flush all the dhcp leases then re-boot the router.



Can you connect to your router from your laptop by typing \\192.168.1.1 in the address bar?

 

Simply unticking the IPv6 didn't work, I think I've mentioned it before.



The "cat" of the two cables is 5e and 5. And the one it didn't work on is cat5.



My router's IP is 192.168.1.254, and after I set it as a default gateway it worked, but not on the cat5 cable, as I said.

 

To support what Jason suggested, I've seen recent postings on the MS technical networking forums indicating that, in some cases, DHCP simply doesn't work in Vista (appears to be related to router firmware), and you have to resort to manually assigning the values. So, try what Jason suggested and see if that works for you.