My desktop has vista and my laptop has XP, vista won't recognize my router.?

Question

The desktop has vista, the laptop has XP, I set up the router on the desktop and both the computers got on the internet. Next day, no internet on either computer. I unhooked and rehooked and and voila internet, next day no internet. The router says it can't find the ethernet card with Vista, but the dsl works and it's hooked up to the ethernet. Even though Vista says it can't find the ethernet, I've had it working 2 different times. It's my friends computer so I'm not sure of the router brand. Is the brand important for you to be able to answer my question.

Answer 1

I would try making the main connection to the router to the laptop instead of the desktop, and then hook your laptop to the router. Since Vista is fairly new, there are a lot of bugs that have to be worked out. If that does not work try calling your phone company since you have DSL, they might be able to help you. I know that a lot of the computer hardware manufacturers have not been able to update their devices to be compatible with Vista since it is still new. I hope that I have been some kind of help to you.

Answer 2

Couple of questions. You said in one place "The router says it can't find the ethernet card with Vista, but the dsl works and it's hooked up to the ethernet. " How did you know that? Did you log into the router?

Here is what you need to do to find out what is happening.
1. Start with the machine that is working correctly.
2. Log on to the router, most have a management webpage.
3. Check to see if both machines (one with Vista and one with XP) are being issued a local address. Most routers issue these when the machine connects - its called DHCP.
4. If only one machine shows as having an address then you know the vista machine has a problem.
5. Unplug the vista machines eithernet cable wait till it shows eithernet cable unplugged. Then reconnect the cable.
6. Recheck the router and see if the Vista machine now has an address. If it does it is simply timing out the eithernet card.
I noticed that Vista power management will turn off a lot of things if they are not being used. Check the "power settings" in the control panel, if that is the case tell it not to turn off the eithernet card.

Good luck.