Vista wireless connection issue.

[Poppa_Meth]

A client of mine just got himself a new Dell Inspiron desktop. It comes with a built in Broadcom wireless card. I was setting it up last night and all went smoothly enough, other that this being the first time I've really used Vista and it annoyed the hell out of me. However his wireless connection takes forever to connect and sometimes won't connect at all. I got him a Buffalo WHR HD G54 and flashed it with Tomato 1.07 firmware. Cleared the NVRAM and set it up with security features on the wireless set to:
1) Altered the SSID name
2) Set no broadcast on the SSID
3) Enabled WPA2 Personal with AES and a 63 character randomly generated key.

I did not enable MAC filtering since he may want to use other devices on an off with it.

I used Vista's wireless management to add the connection and key and I set it to connect automatically even if the connection was not broadcasting the SSID. Once Vista starts up now it takes a couple minutes to start connecting, then it stays in limited connectivity mode for a few more minutes before it finally "identifies" the connection and allows normal usage.

Any input on optimizing this connection?

[guns1inger]

We run secure 802.1x wireless and mostly XP laptops, however Vista is starting to creep in to the site more and more. We seem to have no problems setting them up to connect, and they work fine for use, but we frequently get laptops coming back because they stop connecting or take a long time to connect. One thing I have found that seems to improve things is to make sure that User Account Control is turned on. A lot of users turn it off because in the early days it can be annoying, but quite a few things do not running as well with it off. If UAC is off on your friend's laptop, turn it back on and see if things improve.

[redwudz]

I found a handy little program for managing UAC, TweakUAC: http://www.tweak-uac.com/what-is-tweak-uac/ I use the 'quiet' mode and it is a lot less irritating. Or you can turn UAC off or on easily.

[guns1inger]

HP's universal printer drivers won't install if UAC is turned off. Quiet mode looks interesting though. I will have to try this little toy out.

[Guru Sonic]

The funny thing is that I have that same exact buffalo router and the same broadcom wireless mini-pci card in my gateway laptop. And guess what, the same problem is happening here too!

I have made some observations as noted:

1.) Problem is with Vista Final release, not with WinXP(any version but using the broadcom driver) nor Vista Beta.

2.) Problem also seems with how Vista Final Release handles hidden ssid, with it on, problem is a non issue.

3.) Most, not all non Intel chipsets seem to connect slowly upon reboot

4.) UAC seemed not to make a difference for better or worse on my laptop or the ones that I have serviced.

5.) Replaceing the mini-pci card with a aftermarket non-broadcom card seem the most reliable, although not perfect connections, espically with the hidden ssid. But you lose the availblity to shut off the wireless by an keyboard combo. (airplane mode)

6.) Wireless dongle(s) attached to the laptop seems not to be affected so far.

Hope this sheds some light on this.

[Poppa_Meth]

UAC has been on since the beginning. This is a Inspiron Desktop not a laptop. If all else fails I'll have to turn on the SSID broadcast. He's not going to go for a different wireless card at added expense unfortunately. Originally I was going to put the matching Buffalo card in there but then discovered Dell shipped it with a card included. Regardless with a randomly generated (GRC website) 63 character key and WPA2+AES I think he'll be safe enough, even if it is broadcasting. I might have to go ahead and set up the MAC filter as well. I doubt he'll ever figure out how to add a connection with the pass key to another device without me there to show him every time so adding the MACs to the allowed table shouldn't be a big issue either. Plus he lives in the middle of nowhere so there aren't too many people close enough to get on his network anyway.

Edit: It just struck me that this rig is running an AMD processor in an nVidia chipset so the intel connection issues shouldn't be a factor.

[Poppa_Meth]

BTW any recommendation on what profile to use for Windows Firewall in every day home computer use? I've heard Public recommended the most often.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Vista + Dell + Broadcom = Nightmare

I have been living that nightmare trying to get my wife's new Dell laptop with a Broadcom wireless adapter to connect to our home WLAN. Every other PC connects just fine (including an almost identical Dell laptop running XP). My wife's Dell will only connect if security is disabled on the network.

The Vista/Dell combo is unusable for her (key business apps don't work etc) so I will be adding XP as a dual-boot (can't wipe the Vista lest I upset her company's IT guy who - against all wishes - didn't install XP - i.e., was too lazy to do anything than say "Here you go - fresh from Dell").

[Poppa_Meth]

I set the router to broadcast the SSID and no more problems. Well when I got to his house to set it up I did discover that he has no broadband and no way to get broadband...so that is a bit of a problem. Router doesn't do any good now! His wife has a moble card in her laptop and he figured that means he has broadband through the whole house.

[Mrsash]

Guys read this somewhere and copied it to my MytipsforVists.txt
see if this helps




Windows Vista Tip #3 - Slow Network Issues

Microsoft Windows Vista comes with a new network stack that can adjust or tune itself. On some machines rather than help file transfer speeds it actually slows it down. Many times this issue is caused by third party network drivers.

Auto tuning can also slow down network browsing of other machines on your network. If you are having local network slowness or file transfer problems try the command below to turn off autotuning.

You can turn on and off autotuning with a simple command line instruction.

Run the command at a command prompt (cmd.exe), you may need to run the cmd.exe as an administrator (right click "run as administrator"). Command Prompt by default is located under the Accessories menu folder. If you are logged in as administrator you can simple click "start" then "run" type in: cmd.exe and then run it.

To turn off AutoTuning

netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

To turn on AutoTuning

netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=enabled

Article about Vista's TCP/IP Stack (good explanation of auto tuning)

[Poppa_Meth]

I may have to try that if I ever get him online at all now!