Possible Win7 problems connecting to Internet?

Hey Bob. Long time no hear from. Clearly, I've been really good diagnosing my own pc problems with some sucesses which is why you don't see me here often. But this one had me stumped. The ONE thing I haven't done is upgrade my router firmware since upgrading to Win7. I will give the firmware upgrade a try and get back to the forum to let you know if it worked.

Thanks,
W!

Let's hope it's another usual.

Well, I did install the router firmware upgrade, but unfortunately the problem persists with intermittent connectivity to the internet (meaning, the network icon in the system tray shows an error with the "no internet access" message). Once again, I restored my system to the last successful time I connected to the internet, and it works. If I shut down or restart (I've done a few tests this evening), the pc usually restarts WITHUOT internet connectivity.

Oh. Yesterday I bypassed the router and connected the cable modem directly into the NIC. No connectivity.

I once had a similar problem, and I had to update the NIC driver to clear it up. So hit the Dell support site, enter in your system's service tag, and I do believe there is a driver update for the NIC.

If that fails, I seem to recall there being some feature added to Vista that caused a number of routers to have problems. I forget the specifics, so hopefully someone else will know what I'm talking about. Odds are it's still there in Vista, and since you have an older router, you never know.

Also just a friendly little tip. You might want to look into whether or not the Tomato custom firmware works with your router. If not, then check into whether or not DD-WRT does. They're unofficial, but they're still loads better than the official firmware, since for starters they have far more sane conntrack settings. There is no good reason why the default in the official firmware is to remember EVERY connection you make for a period of about 4 days. It's a waste of the limited RAM on that embedded system that could be better used for other things.

If the bypass does not work, that's a truly bad sign.

Did you remember to...

Power off the cable modem.
Move the ethernet cable.
Power up the cable modem.
Then boot the PC?

Otherwise the cable co doesn't issue the PC an IP.

Sorry, but something new is going on here. Any non-MICROSOFT items or firewalls?
Bob

I'm going to try the bypass tomorrow evening with a clear head. I've been at this for three days. And I'm pretty sure it's not the mcafee installed firewall/software -- I disabled it and ran windows default firewall and could not connect.

I've fought that Norton and Mcafee battle too many times. Disabled and still finding it to interfere I learned to eject it when working such an issue.

In summation. So far I've found Norton, Mcafee, Zone Alarm to continue to run and sometimes interfere when they are disabled. The only way I was able to be sure they didn't was to wipe them all out.
Bob

The fact that a connection can be aquired in safe mode indicates that something is being started at normal load time either from the start menu. I had a similar case a couple of years ago where I had uninstalled Norton from add/remove programs and it left norton firewall in a folder in program files and it wasn't till i ran the norton removal tool that I achieved an internet connection.
Also running from a restore could indicate data that is being blocked was already established in the restored copy of the registry but not retained when the system is turned off.
Have you tried using Msconfig to disable all startup applications, if it connects then enable them one at a time until it stops connecting.
If this system was not only a few days old I would suspect malware which would also fit with the success in safe mode or after restore.

Okay. Try this one. Completely slipped up on it by accident. Under that Network and sharing center (still getting used to this vista/win7 stuff) there were TWO networks listed -- the home network and a public network. Somehow I "accidentally" disabled the network adapter and re-enabled it and the public network disappeared and I got internet access.

So, I'm not too swift on this stuff, but probably everytime I restart my computer it detects or loads TWO networks and that causes the conflict? Hmmmmmm. There must be conflicting drivers or something loaded. Any ideas?

This morning a I have a clear head, and regret that I'm at work and cannot try this fix. Let me know if you've heard of it, and if haven't, perhaps I've finally imparted some knowledge to this forum someone can use.

This morning I googled "multiple networks windows 7 problems" instead of "cannot connect to internet". This was exactly what I was seeing in the Networking and Sharing Center. In the event the link below doesn't give you the entire thread, I'll try and summarize it:

There is a conflict of drivers loading on startup. Something called "Bonjour" that has to be disabled under "Services". I hope this is the right answer!

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistanetworking/thread/2a651097-97d4-40d3-83c1-779a927d61df

I don't see why we would expect any OS to handle a misconfigured network BUT I am seeing where we are fast approaching the day when the consumer will no longer tolerate having to know anything about TCPIP or networking. The next gen consumer will likely want it to just work.
Bob

Okay. Dabbling around in the innards of pcs and os's is my consolation prize for not knowing how to fix a car or install a faucet at the house. So, computer problems are like a puzzle for me. My anger, if this solution is correct in fixing mine, is that we have a generation NOW that expects stuff to work. There is NO WAY my wife would be able to figure out this issue if she turned on the PC in the morning, nor should she be required to dabble around in arcane admin sections under a control panel and disable a service just to check her bank account. And there's NO way she would know that she had "conflicting multiple networks" listed under the Network and Sharing Center. And posting a question on a CNET forum? Say what?

I'm a little ticked that, if this solution works, the majority of pc users who buy a windows 7 machine expecting it to work will be disappointed and Dell Customer Support tried to charge me $130 for an answer they probably didn't know. More later. Enough of my rant. I will give a follow up response tomorrow to let the forum know if disabling Bonjour solves the multiple network issue.

One of my old jobs had me write and field one of the first PC based routers so what I know about routers is far too deep. It gets me into trouble as what I think we should know about networking is upsetting the usual user as they just want it to work.

Ok, back to reality. Do you really need Bonjour? And since we can reinstall it we can re-test it later.
Bob

PS. Just last week, a new wifi printer tested me. I futzed for hours and then went away and remembered some of my own advice. I set the 802.11BGN router to 802.11G only mode and it worked the next try. Yes, another glitch by either the router or printer maker.

I don't need Bonjour. I don't even know how it got to my new PC -- unless the easy transfer wizard did it. Bonjour is Apple, right? I believe those apple automatic updates install quicktime and bonjour at the same time and I keep forgetting to uncheck Bonjour when I install the quicktime update.

On a slightly more positive note: I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly Win7 did transfer files from old to new --- I guess it worked too well in tranferring a few settings I'd forgotten about. This multiple network issue, along with Mcafee not liking my wireless printer setup, has been the only problem I've had with the migration.

I did the Windows 7 transfer during an upgrade (more times than I'll admit here) and didn't find any multiple networks due to that. BUT A GOOD IDEA TO CHECK FOR THAT.

I'm going to ROP your post so John Wilkerson can catch it and maybe mention it in the forum sticky. Mind you this is not offensive but a way us mods highlight a nugget when it is found.

Thanks for the information.

In return, I've also found expiring or nearly expiring antivirus suites to be a culprit/cause along with a recent spat of browsers configured to use a PROXY when the owner doesn't have a proxy.

Thanks again,
Bob