Vista Internet problems
Discussion
My girlfriends laptop has never-ending problems. The ONLY programs that can connect to the internet are IE7 and windows update. No other programs will connect to the net. Not firefox, iTunes, Messenger, utorrent, Visual Studio, AVG - nothing.
I have tried multiple firewall configurations. Zonealarm stops the net from working entirely. Windows firewall makes no difference on or off.
I have also turned off windows update because every time an update has been installed in the past, the whole internet dies again, killing IE7.
SP1 fails to install, it gets to 99% and reboots with an error message.
This has had my head banging on the wall for a while now. I don't want to put xp on it, but the machine has no vista cd or an on-boot system reinstall function. Of course I don't want to pay someone to fix it either
Any ideas?
Specs:
Acer Aspire 5100 18 months old
AMD Turion64 2ghz
1gb ram
vista home premium
broadband adsl
I have tried multiple firewall configurations. Zonealarm stops the net from working entirely. Windows firewall makes no difference on or off.
I have also turned off windows update because every time an update has been installed in the past, the whole internet dies again, killing IE7.
SP1 fails to install, it gets to 99% and reboots with an error message.
This has had my head banging on the wall for a while now. I don't want to put xp on it, but the machine has no vista cd or an on-boot system reinstall function. Of course I don't want to pay someone to fix it either
Any ideas?
Specs:
Acer Aspire 5100 18 months old
AMD Turion64 2ghz
1gb ram
vista home premium
broadband adsl
First of all I'd get a bit more RAM in it if you can, Vista will be so much better with 2Gb RAM!
But anyhow, onto your problems.
Don't bother with Windows Firewall, it'll interfere with ZA and create more problems.
In ZA, on the programs tab, do FireFox and the other programs you mentioned have access to the internet?
MSN plays up big time on my PC (XP with ZA) if it isn't configured properly.
With regards to SP1 failing to update, can't help you there I'm afraid chap! I'm still on the ancient XP
But anyhow, onto your problems.
Don't bother with Windows Firewall, it'll interfere with ZA and create more problems.
In ZA, on the programs tab, do FireFox and the other programs you mentioned have access to the internet?
MSN plays up big time on my PC (XP with ZA) if it isn't configured properly.
With regards to SP1 failing to update, can't help you there I'm afraid chap! I'm still on the ancient XP
It doesn't really need more ram, runs fine after I turned off Aero, indexing, uac, sidebar, defender, nortons, a multitude of background services, and reduced the graphics memory 
Strangely when I installed zonealarm, the windows firewall advanced settings reported that THREE firewalls were running - Nortons Personal Firewall, Zonealarm and Windows - This despite Nortons being uninstalled and WinFW turned off.
I think possibly Nortons is funking with everything. It is the OEM Norton internet security 2007, are there any common bugs in this? I had a lot of problems trying to uninstall this program in the first place...
Strangely when I installed zonealarm, the windows firewall advanced settings reported that THREE firewalls were running - Nortons Personal Firewall, Zonealarm and Windows - This despite Nortons being uninstalled and WinFW turned off.
I think possibly Nortons is funking with everything. It is the OEM Norton internet security 2007, are there any common bugs in this? I had a lot of problems trying to uninstall this program in the first place...
Having had no end of hassles with Norton over the years, I've found that a combination of AVG, spybot and ccleaner seems to be keeping my vista laptop running close on perfect. And with "only" 1gig of RAM, its not a bad performer either.
Still, can't wait for the end of next week and getting hold of a T5550/GeForce 8400 laptop (with 3gig of ram), should run much sweeter.
Still, can't wait for the end of next week and getting hold of a T5550/GeForce 8400 laptop (with 3gig of ram), should run much sweeter.
Pelo said:
It doesn't really need more ram, runs fine after I turned off Aero, indexing, uac, sidebar, defender, nortons, a multitude of background services, and reduced the graphics memory
My apologies!Pelo said:
Strangely when I installed zonealarm, the windows firewall advanced settings reported that THREE firewalls were running - Nortons Personal Firewall, Zonealarm and Windows - This despite Nortons being uninstalled and WinFW turned off.
I think possibly Nortons is funking with everything. It is the OEM Norton internet security 2007, are there any common bugs in this? I had a lot of problems trying to uninstall this program in the first place...
I'd imagine Norton is interfering!I think possibly Nortons is funking with everything. It is the OEM Norton internet security 2007, are there any common bugs in this? I had a lot of problems trying to uninstall this program in the first place...
The post above mine would be my suggestion
Sounds like bloody Norton!!!
What I would do is take a very careful look at why you cannot install the update. I am not sure if this is important (is SP1 officially released yet?) and I don't have a Vista laptop to hand to check. But its worth going to the Windows Update bit and then taking a careful look as to what is installing and what is not - if something doesn't (as in an individual package) do a quick Google and Microsoft search to see what the common problems might be. It could be that something has become corrupted and hence not allowing you to install the update and this can have other kick-on effects.
I had Vista on my laptop and it wouldnt install some updated. Turned out to be network related and this caused further problems with setting or changing anything. Eventually it caused a complete failure and I resorted back to XP - so its worth trying to understand what is the problem. It might be a simple one (multiple updates in one go) or it could be something more serious - hard to say.
What I would do is dig out your Vista rescue DVD / CD. If you dont have one then make one from the setup utility that came with the laptop. Make the disk so that you have something that you can use to fix any major issues. If you dont have one then you need to have a laptop that will boot first - which if its broken you cannot do. Chicken and Egg problem...
What I would do is take a very careful look at why you cannot install the update. I am not sure if this is important (is SP1 officially released yet?) and I don't have a Vista laptop to hand to check. But its worth going to the Windows Update bit and then taking a careful look as to what is installing and what is not - if something doesn't (as in an individual package) do a quick Google and Microsoft search to see what the common problems might be. It could be that something has become corrupted and hence not allowing you to install the update and this can have other kick-on effects.
I had Vista on my laptop and it wouldnt install some updated. Turned out to be network related and this caused further problems with setting or changing anything. Eventually it caused a complete failure and I resorted back to XP - so its worth trying to understand what is the problem. It might be a simple one (multiple updates in one go) or it could be something more serious - hard to say.
What I would do is dig out your Vista rescue DVD / CD. If you dont have one then make one from the setup utility that came with the laptop. Make the disk so that you have something that you can use to fix any major issues. If you dont have one then you need to have a laptop that will boot first - which if its broken you cannot do. Chicken and Egg problem...
GregE240 said:
LukeBird said:
Pelo said:
It doesn't really need more ram, runs fine after I turned off Aero, indexing, uac, sidebar, defender, nortons, a multitude of background services, and reduced the graphics memory
My apologies!2Gb minimum
I wouldn't run Vista with anything less than 4Gb, so the idea of running an OS with 1Gb is madness to me!
Although if I ever do make the jump to Vista (I'll have the 64-bit one) I'll have 8Gb just because I can!
GregE240 said:
4Gb RAM here on 32-bit Business.
Its a dual core laptop (albeit a T2xxx so 32-bit only), and still get the odd "blue doughnut of death" where apparently everything and nothing happens.
Aaah, well have a 64-bit CPU and a 32-bit OS! Its a dual core laptop (albeit a T2xxx so 32-bit only), and still get the odd "blue doughnut of death" where apparently everything and nothing happens.
I have 4Gb installed but only 2.75Gb available to Windows, damned PAE...
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