[Tezza99]

My brand new Toshiba laptop connects to my ISP via dialup faultlessly but when I run either IE or Firefox, I can't connect to anything. I just get a page not found message.
I haven't yet tried using email, ping or FTP, mainly for logistical reasons I won't bore you with.
The laptop has Vista installed and IE7 and the latest Firefox, with 2GB RAM.
Any suggestions?
Would it in fact be worth my while trying FTP etc?

[jbm1991]

try pinging through a command prompt and see if it can connect, if not then go into network and internet manager and make sure you have a strong connection and its internet and local access, not just local.

[Tezza99]

Thanks for the tip. I've now had time to go a-pinging and all seems OK. I pinged my local isp as well as several other URLs and they came back with no losses.
What next?
Cheers.

[jbm1991]

look at the "network and connections" manager i think its called its in the main start menu when you click on the windows bubble thing in the corner, and its on the right side of the list.
see what networks your connected to and how good the connection is. if its any less than 4 bars and your receiving wirelessly and your not far from your router then there could be a problem with your network card?

[Tezza99]

Thanks mate. I won't have time to try that tonight but I'll check it tomorrow - when I start testing all my wireless and cable settings.

However what I've been having a problem with so far is my dial-up networking. Everything connects faultlessly with the usual buzzing and whirring and growling, then the service checks my user name and password, then connects me, as normal.
Then nothing.
???

BTW, I tried FTPing just now and got this error: "Invalid socket descriptor passed to function". This, according to one site I found, means "you're sending data to socket without being connected to a server".

Does this throw any light on things?

[TerryNet]

Your ability to ping an internet site proves you have a connection and internet access. If you were also able to ping a site by name (e.g., www.yahoo.com) it shows that DNS is working.

So (I don't know Vista so things may look a little different) go into Internet Options - Connections tab - and check your Dial-up Settings to make sure you're not using a proxy or something like that. Also check the Security tab to make sure those settings look OK.

If you have a 3rd party firewall (internet security) running, or if you have enabled Vista's outgoing protection, is it configured to allow your browser to use the internet?

[Tezza99]

Thanks, TerryNet. I've double-checked all that and can see nothing untoward anywhere.

[TerryNet]

(From a JohnWill post)

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Vista.

Start, Programs\Accessories and right click on Command Prompt, select "Run as Administrator" to open a command prompt.

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reset IPv4 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset reset.log

Reset IPv6 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log

Reboot the machine.

[Tezza99]

Thanks TerryNet - your blood's worth bottling!
All is now A-OK, thanks to your suggestion.
I hope you get a warm fuzzy feeling from helping people such as me - you deserve it.
Thanks too to jbm1991 - your suggestions took us a significant part of the way to the eventual solution.

[TerryNet]

You're welcome, Tezza99.