losing internet connection

[iloveglee]

Calling all techies. I have a Toshiba laptop using Vista OS. For the last year or more I am persistently losing my wireless internet connection to something called local only or limited connectivity. It takes a lot of fiddling about to get it to reconnect. It never connects first time when switching on the computer and sometimes it's necessary to shut down and boot up again. Occasionally going through the internet management procedure works, often it doesn't. I have no idea why it is doing this, it is nothing to do with the router as we also have a netbook which uses XP and this always connects immediately on powering up and never loses the connection. Is this a problem particular to Vista, nobody else that I know has this problem, but nobody else I know has Vista for their OS. Would it be worth while upgrading to Windows 7.

[galeck1947]

I would go to device manager and upgrade to the latest driver for your network card. Sometimes you may have to go to the manufactures web site and download it from there. Vista had a lot of issues with drivers but now it is ok as the vendors have rewritten many of them. try this first.

[iloveglee]

I have done this, but the problem isn't resolved, in fact it's worse, before I could some times get a full connection, now I can't get a connection at all, only limited connectivity local only. The intermittent problem has now become constant and I am at my wits end. I need my internet connection and I need it to be reliable. I cannot use it as a wired connection because of where my telephone line comes into the house (under the stairs) i cannot sit there to work. I have tried extensions from the telephone socket before and they are very unreliable also. I have only had this computer for two years, unfortunately this problem started just after it was a year old and run out of guarantee. I really don't know whether it is the hardware at fault or whether it is the Vista OS. Is there anyone out there who has had this problem, or is still having the problem.

[galeck1947]

Open up the Network and Sharing Center and see if your connection is there. Have it do a full map for you . Have you set both of your computers to Workgroup . What are you using as your host computer to establish your internet connection ie the one which has the router connected to it. ? The best way to have a network with different Windows OS is to use the Vista computer as a host and let the Network and Sharing Center configure your network. You must have all computers set to WorkGroup. For it to work. I would start from scratch and set the network using Vista as your host. Windows7 and Vista have the same internet system for network.

[galeck1947]

I forgot to ask you are you on cable or adsl or dial up ? This is important and also what brand of router is it and what format does it use ? I have 3 Toshiba Laptops on my network and always have had good service from them so the laptop shouldn't be an issue.

[iloveglee]

been away without any internet connection so had a few weeks without any aggro. I think I may have worked out what is happening, although I don't know why it is happening. We also have a netbook, which we tend not to shut down at night, just leave it in standby, the laptop is shut down every night. In the morning when I switch the laptop on, if the netbook is in standby, I can't get an internet connection. If I switch the netbook out of standby and let it connect first, then I can get the laptop to connect. Alternatively if the netook is switched off and the laptop switched on first it will connect. Weird or what. Still - whatever works.