In reply to a post by wanapoo:

Hello,

Did you download the MSI file from the microsoft website, or did you edit the registry to change the value? The description of the local network only but has the ability to connect to other types of wifi routers without any problems sounds very much like the broadcast flag issue.

Cant be the router at fault as the other 2 laptops work fine.

I downloaded the MSI.

In reply to a post by AEP:

Silly question probably, but it's not a case of MAC filtering on the router is it?

Nope. Checked that. MAC filtering is turned off.

As you stated earlier ACCORDING TO THE OP he is getting an IP and correct settings.

It's the same as dsl, you may have sync/connection with the exchange. The internet doesn't work until you satisfy the authentication like login name and password.

Yes, AEP has a point about the MAC filtering, but I've never known a cheap freebie router to have those features. I could be wrong on the latest SKY router, but the last version I saw didnt have those advanced features.

As you say, there maybe some other information missing which would of suddenly caused this dilema. Have they recently had a new router from sky, who knows. In the old days you had the issues between wep,wpa-psk etc. But i would of thought Vista is new enough and should know these standards by now.

I am following my gut instinct on this, I've seen and dealt with this common issue many times before. Thinking about it, the last time i had to deal with this problem personally was about Jan 2010 when a friend bought a new netbook. Had the same bizar behaviour. Actually, thinking about it, there was a guy on this forum who i answered with exactly the same problem. He instaled the fix and cured his problem strate away. I'll try and find it to show you how common this problem is.

That's exactly the setup I had when this happened; see: http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/windows/t/3949336-i...

Did you try UPnP OFF?

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/multiuser/f/3982942...

This guy had exactly the same problem caused by the broadcast flag issue. Works on some routers what support it, but doesn't on others.

I thought that all routers allowed MAC filtering - it's not what I would call advanced. But the OP has said that MAC filtering is off (which implies it is an option on his router), so it can't be that. Shame, as that would be an easy fix and has caught me out on a few occasions.

Last time, on another forum, when someone asked a very similar problem it turned out to be MAC filtering (although the OP in that case swore that MAC filtering was turned off - and then found it wasn't!).

In reply to a post by wanapoo:

As you stated earlier ACCORDING TO THE OP he is getting an IP and correct settings.

Isn't it a case that. when you fail to connect to Net, you are assigned some default non-visible IP by the router?

It would be interesting to know what IP address is being configured. Windows will assign a special address (can't remember off the top of my head what it is) if it can't get one from a DHCP server, so an IP address doesn't mean all is well.

You may be thinking of an APIPA address, this is simply when a DHCP server is not found or refuses to dole out an IP address. 169.254.0.0/16. It is not related to your router not connecting to the internet (unless you are getting a public IP address that is or something..)

When you have a sync with the exchange though, you do not have an IP address, because it is a PPP session. What does that have to do with DHCP? I apologise if I am misunderstanding you here. Aquilla said it's getting an IP address no problem, therefore, I cannot see why a DHCP problem can be blamed. MS article says "Windows Vista cannot obtain an IP address from certain routers or from certain non-Microsoft DHCP servers" - It has got an IP address.....

...Which we are assuming is not an APIPA, one reason why it's always good to have a full ipconfig posted here so we can all check.

Edited by Pipexer (Thu 13-Oct-11 23:01:43)