What I did notice was that from a command prompt, an ‘ipconfig’ command did not give an IP on the same subnet that other devices (in this case 10.10.10.x). Instead it gave an IP of 169.x.x.x. This is this is an Microsoft automatic private address assigned to computers that are not connected to the Internet.

Thinking it was a problem with the DHCP server on the modem, I tried to connect with my laptop and iPhone which worked fine. Ahhhhh, I thought ‘I bet it’s Vista or Norton’.

The troubleshooting started. I disabled Norton – no change. Googling around seemed to pretty much confirm it was Vista, and down below I have listed some things to check and try. Results were varied from what I read so if you are having issues, try these one at a time (which I listed from quick to more in depth methods in order). Note: I am assuming that the WEP/WPA key used was correct in connecting to the network , and that the issue is not getting a IP or any internet connectivity.

The first thing to try is giving a static IP to the wireless card. More than likely this will work, but having it set as auto would be more preferable, and you probably would want to know why you have to do it this way.

Wireless card drivers:

1. Right-click on “My Computer” and click Properties

2. Click on “Device Manager” from the left column

3. Expand “Network Adapters” Section

4. Right click on each network adapter and click “uninstall”

5.Click “Action” from the toolbar and Select “Scan for hardware changes”

IPV6 causing issue

1. Control Panel > Network and Sharking Center > Manage Network Connections > right click your Friendly Neighbourhood Network Connection > Properties

2. Under the Networking Tab, uncheck Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)

3. Exit the dialogs.

Invalid MAC address in Vista for the wireless network card.

Now this is a very interesting one, and ended up being the problem with mine.

Vista does not preset a MAC address for the network card.
As a result the network card identifies itself as: 00-00-00-00-00-00
this causes problems with any standard equipment.
To fix this go to:
Device Manger and view driver details for the network card.
Select MAC, you will see that the option Not Preset is ON.
Check ON the option to set a MAC address and type in a 6 hex digits e.g.:
001a2b3c4d5e

Save and restart your network. It should be working now.

DHCP bug in Vista

Taken from a MS article located here,

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.

Care: as the fix for this possible involves a registry change, please make sure you have all you important files backed up if things go haywire.

So as you can see, there could be a few things that are causing this issue. Please share any thoughts/experiences you may have had.

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The fact that he wasn’t even getting into windows severely limited his options on what he could do. Even trying to boot into safe mode was having the same result.

After a bit of searching around on the internet, I found a solution to his problem. And it looks like he’s not the only person that has experienced the exact symptoms.

Here’s what he did:
(Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any unexpected results of following the steps outlined below. You do so at your own risk, but if you do have the same problem as my mate, then you really don’t have much option other than to try it)

1) Boot from the Vista install disc
2) Choose your language, time etc and select the “Repair your computer” option.
3) Start a command prompt and delete/move the following file.
C:\Windows\winsxs\pending.xml. You can just move it elsewhere on the computer if need be.
4) Restart the PC, you’ll get the same ‘configuring updates’ screen but after a while it will carry onto the desktop.
5) Turn off automatic updates and create a restore point. Wait until MS fixes the update.

Hopefully after that your PC will will be working normally again.

Please post any comments on success/failure stories.