Good day, I'm at wit's end folks, and I believe I am above my expertise. I consider myself middle-level knowledgeable and submit this situation to the forum to see if any help is available beyond the "reinstall windows" type. I'm having a massive headache of a problem with two laptops running vista SP2, one an older but still powerful Dell XPS m1710 and the other a brand new (2 weeks!) Dell inspiron. After running windows update on the last Tuesday update on both computers, I was no longer able to connect to my DLink wireless router (firmware updated) - In a very odd way, however, since both can detect networks without any problem, but once it starts to connect it says it "cannot connect due to an unknown problem." First connection attempt takes approx. 7 seconds, any further are immediate failure. Running the repair function did nothing and gave the standard three options. Both computers have the exact same symptomatology and no files have been transferred across, as well as a full virus/malware check came up negative in both with both norton and avira, as well as spybot and ad-aware. I ran ipconfig /all and, crazily enough, it said that there were NO registered items in both the LAN and wireless cards. However, after going through system resources both were functioning well. See dump at end. Next stop, I connected using a LAN cable - and both computers connected successfully! Reset the router and no computer could connect still. I tried connecting to an unsecure network and no joy also. Flashed up latest drivers for both cards. Next, I performed the next logical option - a system restore. I restored both to before the windows update and both gave the same error: "system restore did not complete successfully. Details: An unspecified error occurred during system restore" with a red X. However, the end result was that on the XPS machine the rollback still caused problems connecting, but on the inspiron it solved the problem. I've deleted the driver for the mini-card and let vista auto-load a new one; dhs clearing; uninstalling of what I believe is the culprit (kb972036 - AUG 28th I believe 2009) all to no avail. I've checked windows online reference and no joy there. Did troubleshooting using a network webpage. I've done an online chat with a windows tech and what we did on top of all aforementioned items is: 1. disable XPS Viewer. 2. Disable "Remote differential compression". 3. Disable Windows DFS replication service With no final solution (They close chat at midnight local time) To make things interesting, the XPS can now connect to the wireless connection after about ten minutes of sitting idly, whilst the inspiron, after receiving an auto-update by mistake (belongs to a new user still figuring out this dazzling world of tech) the inspiron does not connect. Present symptomatology: No issue before loading this vista update. After loading, wireless networks will be discovered but will not be able to connect (after leaving ONE of the computers on for 10+ minutes, it will auto-connect with no problems other than the waiting time. Who wants to wait 10 mins?) If the computer connects, it cannot load 192.168.1.1 ( !!) whilst it could before - I get a BLANK SCREEN (i.e. no 404, 401) windows rollback no longer rolls back properly (!!!) windows update will no longer uninstall properly and leaves the presumable offending update As mentioned I'd prefer to not do a vista re-install, especially because the "upgrade" option is greyed out with the installer disc and it will not keep all my files with just installing windows files. I'm in med school and while everything is backed up, a large disruption in the computer right now is a major disadvantage. This is a complete last resort. Thanks so much for your help; I hope there's someone out there who has ideas/diagnostics I haven't tried dump: Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001] Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. ipconfig Windows IP Configuration Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : cybercable.net.mx Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : ipconfig/all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : ******** Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-22-5F-AD-3B-85 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : cybercable.net.mx Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-23-AE-3C-82-64 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.cybercable.net.mx Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 6TO4 Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 12: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{5534B608-D2E6-4982-80D9-2DCDF924B 556} Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Extra info: the XPS (which currently loads after 10 min. wait) has vista business, the inspiron has vista home premium, both 32 bit.

Update: I had the router set up as a WEP key by itself - it appears the inability to connect to an unsecure network was due to distance alone. I'll keep exploring now but it does seem like it's a security/encryption issue.

Further update: I've moved to a WPA2 personal security mode by accessing the router wired. Both computers seem to work perfectly now. End result is that for some reason the windows update mentioned has somehow screwed up WPA normal - tough luck for older systems I guess. Thanks to anyone who read and spent some brainpower on this one. I guess it's still not all that solved, but this work-around works perfectly.