Question:
Hello Tony:
Well, here’s one for you…
I purchased Windows Vista and a brand spankin’ new computer a month ago. Needless to say, it’s bee harried at best!
Well, anywho, here’s the problem now:
Periodically (often, but not always), when I try to get online via email or internet (I have DSL), a window pops up and says “unknown error” and won’t let me get connect.
THEN a window comes up and asks me if I want to let the computer try to diagnose the problem. I say yes. Then it says that I have more than one network connected or something like that and that I need to unplug one of them for 10 seconds….
Well, I don’t have more than one connection. So, I go into the place where you “repair network settings…” It doesn’t work, but I see my network listed, then another one called “unidentified network” listed! This isn’t all the time.
Well, after much on/off trying to get onto the internet, eventually, a window comes up and asks me if I want the computer to try to “reset” or repair or something like that, my network settings. I say yes, and it repairs. Then I can go online. Any answers?
D
Answer: Heya, Diane. First, let me say, “Ugh”.
Microsoft made a whole lot of changes to networking, and they don’t all work well. They also added “Windows Network Diagnostics”–that’s the component that’s prompting you to diagnose and repair the problem. Apparently it’s helping some, but clearly it’s still a nuisance.
First, the bad news. There may be no real fix for the problem your having. You mention it’s a brand spanking new computer–it’s counter-intuitive, but that actually means it’ll be less reliable, because all the problems haven’t been worked out yet.
You might be able to find a fix, though. Visit your computer manufacturer’s website, and look for driver updates (especially if they’re for your network adapter). Install them, and reboot your computer. Check back every couple of weeks for some new updates.
I wish I had a better fix, but I hope that at least helps you understand the situation. Good luck with it.
My company buys Dell computers. So far, we haven’t bought any Vista computers.
I can tell you this: Any major vendor like Dell, HP, etc. will have a utilities that run a services so that your computer can connect to the vendor tech support. That way vendor tech support has conduits to look right into your computer as if they were sitting in front of it, instead of being thousands of miles away. So there’s all sorts of extra things running in memory and extra services.
Since I’m tech support, I gut all that stuff. It just slows down the computers and interferes with stuff.
Vista has IPv6. IPv6 has been havoc for our Systems group. They aren’t sure if it’s caused by Vista’s IPv6, or Sharp printer IPv6 – they only know it’s caused by IPv6. Each new iteration of Windows chatters more than the last. You might be running both IPv4 and IPv6. Maybe a solution would be to turn one off?
One of the useless things that shows up in networking is 1394. Why would FireWire show up as a network device? I don’t know. I disable it and FireWire still works fine.
Another possibility is that maybe an Internet Explorer plugin or ActiveX control is trying to do something Vista doesn’t like? Could be that the plugin or control needs to be updated with a Vista-compatible one. This again could be the vendor’s fault, and they might have a solution. Our Dell’s often arrive half a year out-of-date. I immediately have to go to Dell Support and install vendor updates.
Maybe between unnecessary vendor services and unnecessary network devices like FireWire, Vista is trying to protect you and putting an interrupt to what’s trying to happen silently in the background?
I’m not suggesting that you should gut your computer services – just offering a possible insight as to what might be going on that could point you in the right direction.
I had this problem too, but it was quite simple to fix once I figured it out.
Disable all but your active network connection, enable Network Discovery and reboot. Since I did that I haven’t had a recurrence of the issue.
hello Tony, maybe you could help solve my problem, Iam just learning how to print off photo’s from my computor the problem is, I chose photo paper,then I chose 4″x 6″ size,I looked at the preview which looked ok but when I print the photo it isnt 4″ x 6″ but 31/2″ x 31/2″ I just dont know what I am doing wrong or what else I should be doing to correct this. Any advice would be most welcolme.
Colleen Grace
I recently purchased an HP Compaq with Windows Vista Home Basic loaded. When I try to open wmv. e-mail messages, I get an error “Internet Explorer cannot open website”. What do I need to do to open these messages (videos)? I get to the “download” portion, but can’t do the “open” part. Thanks for your help