Im sorry Pipexer, but I dont know how to explain this to you in a way that you understand. I tried to explain it using dsl as a reference only, but you've missed the point i was trying to make and taken it literally.

The laptop must have some kind of a connection to a router to communicate in some way or form, to be able to send the authentication details through to it. That is the stage the OP is at. Vista is requesting an extra security authentication which not all routers support, thus the OP can not complete VISTA's security authentication process and wont progress any further then local access. He doesn't really have local access, just access to the authentication stage.

Edited by deleted (Thu 13-Oct-11 23:47:19)

Hi Guys,

I'm not at the property, but I'm going to try and get over there this morning (probably around 11ish) for an hour or so to troubleshoot.

I briefly saw a question about what IP address was being assigned - it was getting a 192.168.1.x address which is the configured range on the router. I did switch the router off, reboot the laptop and then reconnect and it got a different address (in the same range) which implies it wasn't caching it.

Hi Guys,

Right I'm at the property now troubleshooting this. The wireless router from Sky is a small black box with a label declaring it a Sagemcom device.

Here is an IPConfig /all when I'm connected to the wireless network:

C:\Users\Ben>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Ben-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Home

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-19-7E-BE-DF-9F
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::650b:1892:327f:fcbe%17(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.13(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 14 October 2011 13:04:38
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 15 October 2011 13:04:37
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 369105278
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-0E-40-A0-1D-00-1B-38-28-8F-4D

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

I have also disabled IPv6 in the network connections but that hasn't made a difference.

I can successfully connect over Ethernet.

I have disabled uPnP but the connection still doesn't work.

Trying to ping something over the wireless gives this:

C:\Users\Ben>ping 8.8.8.8

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.0.13: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.13: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.0.13: Destination host unreachable.

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),

I reckon it's that Atheros chip that's not playing nicely with the router - saw the same issue with my friends son's laptop - popped in a USB WFi dongle and it worked instantly.. Worth a try if you've got a dongle to hand..

In reply to a post by Spasch:

I reckon it's that Atheros chip that's not playing nicely with the router - saw the same issue with my friends son's laptop - popped in a USB WFi dongle and it worked instantly.. Worth a try if you've got a dongle to hand..

The laptop has successfully connected to the network before.

Edit: See the post below for an update. It emerges that this laptop worked on the old Sky router and the router was changed a few weeks back!

Edited by aquilla (Fri 14-Oct-11 17:50:25)

STOP PRESS. My friend has just decided to tell me that the laptop stopped working when the new router from Sky arrived! Having previously asked them "has anything changed?" and "when did it stop working?" and being told "nothing's changed, it just stopped working a couple of weeks ago", I've been on a wild goose chase!

I'll order up a new wireless card later as recommended by someone earlier in this thread.

Many thanks to all those who replied and sorry for the time wasting.

LOL!! Gotta love end users!!

Reminds me of a retired police officer friend. Rang me up one day to say he was having various problems with his PC. I asked what he'd changed,"Nothing" he replied. Conversation went on a bit. Then he suddenly said, "oh yes, I put a new version of Windows in"!.

The same person who rang me one to say his ink jet printer was making all the printing noises but the paper was blank. After much head scratching I found he'd changed the font colour to white.

Doh!