[SundanceKid]

Hi all,

I am using a desktop with Vista Home Premium. Since 6 months now I am using a DLink WUA 1340 USB external wireless network stick. This product supports Windows Vista and it worked great until yesterday.

Without doing anything, actually while I was having dinner, the connection stopped working. I did not change any configuration setting on the computer nor at the router. Windows tells me it can't connect. It suggests that I am out of range of the wireless router or that my network settings don't match my wireless network. Well, that is not true. Signal strength is at least 90% and the network profile did not change.

This is what I tried so far:

1) I replaced the USB wireless stick with a spare I happen to have. No success.
2) I changes the USB port at the computer. No success.
3) I moved the PC closer to the router. No success.
4) I changed the router to no security (no WEP, no WPA). No success.
5) I changed the network channel. No success.
6) I updated to the newest drivers from DLink. No success.
7) I unbound the support for IPv6 from the card. No success.
8) I checked what automatic Windows update was performed in the background on 21.Feb. That was an update to Windows Defender. Thus, I disabled Windows Defender. No success.
9) I tried an Ethernet cable to the router. That works fine.
10) I googled for similar problems but could not find anything that helped me.
11) There is no addl. electronic device in my home (like a new wireless phone) that might interfere with the wireless frequency.

Does anybody have an idea what could be going on here?

Best regards,
Sundance

[jpoll23]

This is my same exact problem! It just stopped suddenly but it shows full signal strength and connected symbol is on. I also have d-link wireless. I was on the phone with tech support for 2 hours. I tried everything you mentioned and still doesn't work, unless I log into another network. Please let me know if you figure it out. In addition to what you have done, I have also re-booted several times, uninstalled and re-installed d-link, reconfigured the router and connections. When I run the repair function, it tells me can't "get IP address" so I enter it manually and it still doesn't work.

[SundanceKid]

Hi all,

this morning I started a few more test. In the available wireless network list I found a new one broadcasting, named "dlink", unsecured on channel 6, 7% signal strength over 802.11g. I tried to connect - and voila, it works.

My router is a Netgear WGR614 v6. I changed the channel to 6, unsecured it and also set the protocol to g only. No success. Now it seems that is has to do with DLink talking to DLink. But why all of a sudden is that so?

I also manually configured the IP address on my wireless stick. No success.

Looking into the event log of Windows I also see this information:

...
Profile Match: Success
Pre-Association: Success
Association: Fail
Security and Authentication: Not started
...

Regards,
George

[JohnWill]

Changes that may help to increase the compatibility of Vista with older networking devices:



Disable the IP Helper service:

1. Hold the Windows key and type R, enter "services.msc" (without the quotes) and press Enter
2. Scroll down to the IP Helper service, right click on it and select Properties
3. In the dropdown box that says "Automatic" or "Manual", set it to Disabled and then click on "Apply"
4. Then click on "Stop" to stop the service from running in the current session
5. Click OK to exit the dialog



Disable IPv6:

1. Hold the Windows key and type R, enter "ncpa.cpl" (without the quotes) and press Enter
2. Right click on each network connection and select "Properties"
3. Remove the checkmark from the box next to "Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)
4. Click OK to exit the dialog

NOTE: You should do this for each network connection.



Disable the DHCP Broadcast Flag:

Link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/928233

1. Hold the Windows key and type R, enter regedit and press Enter.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
3. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Inter faces\{GUID}
4. In this registry path, click the (GUID) subkey to be updated.
5. If the key DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag does not exist, use the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value. In the New Value #1 box, type DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag, and then press ENTER. If the key exists, skip this step.
6. Right-click DhcpConnForceBroadcastFlag, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
8. Close Registry Editor.

NOTE: You should do this for each and every GUID subkey.
NOTE2: (GUID) is a mnemonic for the individual subkeys, the actual text "GUID" does not appaer.




The only program I'm aware of that currently relies on IPv6 is the new Windows Meeting Space. The first 2 changes will cause that program not to work - but will leave all of your normal (IPv4) connections unaffected. If it causes problems that you can't overcome, simply revert back to the original settings.

[SundanceKid]

Hi John,

thanks for your great instructions. Here are the results.

Disabling the IP Helper service is obviously making it worse. After doing that I cannot even connect to the unsecured network anymore that I discovered this morning. The network's SSID is "dlink" and it must be somewhere in the neighborhood. It is the only network I can connect to. It seems to be the pairing of the D-Link router and my D-Link USB WAU 1340 wireless stick.

The obvious question is to me, why does my wireless stick all off a sudden not connect to my Netgear router anymore? Is it some proprietary D-Link stuff? I might go and try find a different wireless product for my desktop. Any recommendations?

Best regards,
Sundance

[SundanceKid]

Hi all,

I am happy to announce that I could solve the issue. The solution is as simple as it is embarrassing. I changed the network channel from 6 to 2. That did it.

Originally the channel was set to 11 and it worked fine for about 6 months. Then it stopped. This morning I found a new network broadcast on channel 6 that I could connect to. I set my channel to 6 as well, but to no success. While playing around I decided to try all other channels as well, just for the heck of it. On channel 3 I got intermittent connections, when going to channel 2 the PC connected fine.

The question remains what happened. Since wireless transmission signals travel a long way I can only assume that one of my neighbors introduced a new electronic device in his household that started to interfere with my channel 11 network. I cannot really explain why I could connect to a remote channel 6 network but not to my own when I set it channel 6. However, channel 2 for my network works fine now. I can only recommend to try all channels if this is an issue you are experiencing as well.

Best regards,
George

[JohnWill]

Yep, someone probably just plugged in their new shiny wireless network.

[JohnWill]

You can mark your own threads solved using the thread tools at the top of the page in the upper right corner.©

[SundanceKid]

Hi all,
just to complete this incident I need to add the following.

Yes, setting the channel to 2 fixed the problem at first sight. Over some time though it turned out that channel 2 was very unreliable for all devices I am operating off of that router. The network connection would drop or would be slower than usual.

I bought a new USB wireless card for the PC in question, but also that one did not work off of channel 11. So finally I decided to replace the router, and that actually turned out to be the real root cause of all this. All of my devices work fine now on channel 11 again. So it turned out that the router just went faulty out of nothing. Didn't know that could happen but life is full of surprises.

Thanks and best regards,
Sundance

[JohnWill]

Thanks for the update.