Posted: Thu Feb 08, 2018 8:07 Post subject: Vista laptop only connects to local network
I'm not sure this should go here, but I don't see anywhere else it would fit. I looked through the forum and found a couple of somewhat similar issues, and one reply hint that Vista, Atheros chipsets and DD-WRT don't play nice together. I'm hoping that since those posts someone may have seen and solved this problem.
Linksys E2500, DD-WRT v24-sp2 (03/25/13) big - build 21061
This router has been working fine for months, and still is, except for this laptop. Two old laptops running Vista were just given to us and I set them up for my two youngest boys, but one, an Acer with an Atheros AR5007EG chip, connects to the local network but won't connect to the internet. I bought a no-name wifi dongle on ebay (Ralink chipset), and it connected for about 5 minutes, lost connection and won't connect to the network at all now. The dongle works fine in my Windows 10 laptop.
I've reset the router (30/30/30 reset), reinstalled the drivers for both internal wifi and dongle, and done a faux driver update trick that apparently worked for someone who had a similar problem. I realize Vista is ancient, but neither upgrading Windows or installing Linux are an option right now.
Thanks. I will do that. I was sure there had to be newer builds, but I couldn't seem to find them.
Actually, looking at the database, I'm not sure how I wound up with that ancient build. I put DD-WRT on this router last September. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I'll post what happens.
1) have you validated the Vista laptop plus dongle can connect to an alternate WiFi network (i.e. check that's not the problematic combo)?
2) when the Vista laptop can see your local LAN resources, can you ping internet hosts by IP address (not name)? If yes, this might point to the Vista laptop having hardcoded DNS servers configured that it can no longer reach (so name resolution is the issue, not connectivity).
1) have you validated the Vista laptop plus dongle can connect to an alternate WiFi network (i.e. check that's not the problematic combo)?
2) when the Vista laptop can see your local LAN resources, can you ping internet hosts by IP address (not name)? If yes, this might point to the Vista laptop having hardcoded DNS servers configured that it can no longer reach (so name resolution is the issue, not connectivity).
Good luck!
I haven't had the opportunity to take it to another secured network, so that could be an issue, too. I will try to connect to an IP address before updating the router later tonight.
Upgrading my DD-WRT was easy, but had no effect on the laptop's connectivity. I could boot to another OS it might tell me if it was the hardware or Vista. But booting from anything but the HD has been disabled, and there is a bios password. The CMOS battery isn't under any of the panels on the bottom, so if I can't find a reference online to where the reset jumpers are, I'm probably going to write off networking on this laptop. Unless I get bored enough to make taking a laptop apart seem like fun.
