Vista DHCP problem

[jfunk]

OK, I'm sure you've all read about the issue with Vista not connecting to some home routers properly. A client has a real bad case of this that I cannot fix and I'm looking for ideas.


I've already done all of the following:

Microsoft's registry fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233

Used built in repair

Disabled IPv6

Uninstalled the network adapter and allowed it to redetect.

Set the IP address manually


Nothing works. Says I have a "local only" connection. Everything works fine with WinXP machines, including when plugged into the same network cable.

If I try to ping anything from the command prompt, I get "General failure" as the response.

Any ideas at all?

 

[stash]

Any chance the DHCP server in the router is configured to send out multiple (possibly duplicate) gateway addresses?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've seen routers that send out the router's IP address, for both the primary and secondary DNS, instead of simply having a single DNS server. It seems strange to me.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: jfunk
Any ideas at all?

For starters:

Grab Netmon3 or Wireshark and take a trace during an ipconfig /renew. It's just some arp and some DHCP DORA frames. Shouldn't be too hard to spot where the culprit is (client or server)

 

[jfunk]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Turns out it was Norton Security Suite.

I was getting General Failures even trying to ping loopback. Started getting these "file not found" errors when attempting to do a /release.

Then I noticed that Norton had last done an autoupdate during the exact time frame I was told the problem began. Removed it and all was well immediately.

I guess I should have checked that first. That makes 8 machines in the past year I have come across where Norton Security Suite was the source of the problem (including 5 that would blue screen at boot). What happened to these guys? Seems like their product is trash these days. I've seen plenty of corrupt dat files from other AV providers here and there, but never ones that cause the system to be unbootable.

Oh well. I always replace it with free products and people seem just fine with throwing away their remaining subscriptions when they find out there are free alternatives (and their system works again).


Thanks again.

j