Networking problem with Windows Vista

I haven’t posted here in a while – too much work (which you should check out btw: Second Expression-only site is up and running – www.naturescarpet.com). More on that later – I promise. Anyways.

A couple of days ago my brother Ole sent me an email complaining that he had a serious networking problem with Windows Vista. He was frustrated to the point of homicide and wondered if I could be of assistance. Seeing as I have decided to hold off on Vista until either a) I get a new computer or b) Microsoft (or someone else) gives it to me for free so I didn’t have much to offer. But that doesn’t mean other people can’t fix his problem. So I asked him to write down a description of his problem and I would post it on this blog. So with no further ado I hereby introduce my brother Ole:

I have a desktop computer that I use as internet gateway for my own network. I usually have it running Windows XP but I recently tried installing Windows Vista and I ran into a problem: I can’t get an IP in Windows Vista out towards the ISP. The network is encrypted by wired-eap (802.1x)

I’ve tried both the network adapters as the external one, neither of them are able to get an IP in Vista. But if I try in Windows XP I get one at once. I normally have one of the cards running as normal with internet connection sharing to the other card but I’ve tried turning it off and I still don’t get an IP.

I got an IP the first time I booted after installation and configured the encryption, then I ran windows update and afterwards I can’t get an ip. When I try to get an IP it sets up the Windows standard no connection IP. I’ve tried uninstalling all the updates, but that didn’t make a differense.
I’ve also tried turning off all firewalls, antivirus and other software that might be stopping it getting an IP, but that didn’t help either. And now I’m out of ideas of how to fix the problem.

Ole

Some pertinent information: Ole is in Norway and is using the Norwegian version of Vista. He is hooked into the University of Oslo network which explains the heavy security which seems to be causing the problem. His computer has an Asus P5K motherboard and the network adapters in question is the embedded one on the motherboard and a pci linksys network adapter.

I find the problem quite puzzling and I’m surprised neither Ole or my other brother Kim have been able to find a solution. So now I hand it over to the people who frequent my blog: Does anyone (some of the Microsoft people maybe?) know what is wrong here? Is it a bug? Was there a bug in XP that let him do something he shouldn’t have been able to? Or is he just being an idiot? These are all questions that need answers.