Problem with Vista and my internet connection.

Written August 9, 2007. (seen problem since January 2007. Solution identified August 16, 2007, see "updates" section below)

Solved: The drivers for my Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit card in my DNS server had old drivers on it. They were v6.34.4.0 dated 4/17/03. I updated them to current (dated 12/06) and all is well again. No idea why this would only affect Vista machines making DNS requests of this server, but there you go.

Vista appears to be having a problem with my network. Some websites show up without properly loading stylesheets and/or images. It appears that perhaps it occurs when the resource is on a different server from the main page. (i.e. it fails on msn.com and microsoft.com which both refer to resources on other servers. But it works fine on msdn.microsoft.com which hosts its own resources)

The most obvious web page with this problem is microsoft.com! Also NYTimes.com. Both of these site have stylesheets loaded from machine names other than the hosting machines.

Microsoft.com :

• The actual site: http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx
• As seen in my system: http://research.pdmagic.com/test/vistaIE7/microsoft_com.pdf
• Screen capture of my system: http://research.pdmagic.com/test/vistaIE7/UnformattedIE7OnVista.jpg

MSN.Com:

• The actual site: http://www.msn.com
• Screen capture of Safari: http://research.pdmagic.com/test/vistaIE7/UnformattedSafariOnVista.jpg

NYTimes.com:

• The actual site: http://www.nytimes.com
• As seen in my system: http://research.pdmagic.com/test/vistaIE7/nytimes_com.pdf

The problem only occurs on Vista 64 and 32, and appears to be specific to something on my network.

Here are the facts:

1. Fresh Vista64 Ultimate install and Fresh Vista 32 Ultimate installs both fail. (desktop + laptop)
2. Fails using IE7 and fails using Safari.
3. There are about 6 other computers in the office running XP, 2K, 2003 that do not have this problem. (running a variety of browsers including IE7)
4. VMWare virtual machines running Windows XP inside the Vista machines both work properly.
   
5. Went to a different network with the laptop and the problem goes away completely. (Comcast cable connection)
6. Problem occurs on my network using wireless OR wired NIC's.
7. The problem in intermittent. Sometimes it works
8. Executing ipconfig /flushdns appears to solve the problem for a short time.
9. The dsl router has firewall off, but it goes into the GTA GBWare firewall. The desktop and laptop machnes have been tested without firewall and virus scanning enabled.

Updates:

1. Further testing on one of the machines in the network shows that an XP box running IE7 fails the first time it loads the microsoft.com site. A refresh fixes it until the browser is restarted.
2. Tried this suggestion: Start > (All) Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Internet Explorer (No add-ons). Didn't help.
3. SOLVED! My ISP (www.Netrack.net in Boulder, CO) suggested pointing my Vista boxes directly to their DNS servers instead of pointing to my own inhouse server. That solved the problem. Now I just have to figure out what is wrong with my DNS server.

My network configuration is:

• DSL from Qwest
• ActionTec DSL Modem/Router (replaced Cisco 678 DSL Modem/Router)
• GnatBox firewall (gta.com) software running on computer with Intel GB NIC's
• Netgear GB switch

My email is pete@pdmagic.com. I'll post all results.

Thanks.

Comments: