Hey, thank you so much for sharing your experience and providing me all these
details. Unfortunately, I have to say that I finally gave up. Yesterday,
fedexed the laptop back to HP asking them for a reimbursement. Now, I still
need a laptop and so, I am so afraid of buying anything because now it seems
like ALL of them come with Vista. I have the Mac option but then I'm afraid
of programs/files/products in the market that will not be compatible with
Mac. On the other hand, I wonder if this wi fi connecting problem I had with
an HP laptop will be the same with another brand (Toshiba, Dell, etc) using
Vista.
Any thoughts?
Thanks again. Best regards

"dmppdks" wrote:

>
> Hey, I had the same problem. Vista would say, local acces only. The
> really funny thing is that I knew my internet and hardware were
> working. I have a dual boot, Vista and xp, and although through vista I
> only had local access, with XP I could surf the internet fine. Also in
> Vista, I have virtual pc installed running windows xp and windows
> vista, and those two virtual pcs could access the internet while my
> normal windows vista could not.
>
> Solution: don't be scared to smack your registry here and then. Your
> computer will not crash if you delete all the TCPIP settings. Go under
> Local_Machine in the registry, then: System, Current Control Set,
> Services, TCPIP, Parameters, Interfaces. Delete all the folders in
> this.
>
> I also went under settings and properties for the wireless adapter, and
> uninstalled all the protocols, services and clients and restarted. Then
> I installed again all of them.
>
> Also go to System under Control Panel and network ID, and make sure
> that your computer is set up as a home computer and not a business
> computer. Yes, Vista will ask you to restart again.
>
> I also went to device manager and uninstalled and deleted all the
> drivers for the adapters of the wirelless and cable connection. Your
> computer should reinstall those automatically once you restart.
>
> Uninstalled my Antivirus software. Completely. Restarted once more.
>
> Lastly, under network connections, choose manage wireless networks and
> delete all the connections vista has saved. (choose remove), and
> restart.
>
> Turned off wireless modem/router for a few seconds and started it
> again.
>
> When Vista starts up again, right click on the right of the task bar
> over the wireless icon and ask it to connect. It will find your network
> and ask you for your wep key. make sure it is correct. You are done.
>
> Mine worked. I fixed my girfriend's and my three of my students'
> computers like this; including my own, that's five successes. They all
> had this Vista barf up problem with the local access only. Do at your
> own risk.
>
> cheers
>
>
> --
> dmppdks
>