A member of another forum suggest members here would have a answer to my problem.
Having been more than happy with my previous Sony laptop I recently purchased a new Sony NS20 running vista, I soon found that when I tried to open a webpage I would get 'page cannot be displayed' even though the laptop was connected to the wireless router and this in turn was connnected to the internet (no problem sending/rec mail) Well to cut the story short niether Sony or Belkin could advise me why sony replaced the laptop but the problem remains! I have since discovered that if I remove my wireless security I do not have any problems, my old laptop (XP) and my Granddaughters (vista) are quite happy to work with the Belkin with security so realy it seems it's just this new Sony that will not. Sorry for the rambling post any ideas?
Cheers H

I see you made it here. I've sent a message to let Mike know you've posted.
Hopefully, he'll be along soon to give advice.

It seems that, for some reason, the new Sony Laptop doesn't like running "http" protocol over whatever encryption you have configured in the router, although it will run the email protocols.

You don't say what encryption you're using but, if it is WEP with an ASCII key, try changing to a Hexadecimal key.

64-bit WEP uses 5 ASCII characters or 10 Hexadecimal characters.
128-bit WEP uses 13 ASCII characters or 26 Hexadecimal characters.

The Hexadecimal characters are the numbers "0" to "9" and letters "a" to "f" only, a total of 16 available characters.

If you're using WPA encryption, I can only suggest setting up a different key using between 8 and 63 characters.

I hadn't spotted the fact that email was working. There's a similar problem with Sony Vaio and WEP/WAP mentioned here:

http://www.wirelessforums.org/troubleshooting/sony-vaio-wireless-network-connection-problems-wep-wpa-security-solution-17577.html

I don't know if it might be the same issue. Coincidentally, it's also with a Belkin router.

Worth looking at these two MS pages:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935222/en-us

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233/en-us

Also - could this be a timeout problem? SMTP does not take time to load, HTTP does?
Try this one: http://www.catonett.com/blog/archives/194

I cannot offer any logical explanation as to why the encryption allows email connections but not "http" connections. Can you try using WPA-PSK with TKIP encryption instead of WEP to see if that works with all of the computers?

Thanks Mike for the reply.
H

Have you looked at the links I gave you? (Starting with the last one.)

You may have to bite the biscuit and do that registry edit. Before you do, here's the steps to take to manually backup your registry (just in case):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756 (also has instructions on restoring it)

After backing up, just follow the instructions carefully to make the registry change required:

http://www.catonett.com/blog/archives/194 (this is to fix an apparent time out problem and relates to DHCP)

As this is for adding a new registry key, you can always delete it if something goes wrong as a result of the change.

ATTN MIKE: Could you have a look into and a think about this potential solution before anything is done. Your input would be valuable to get first.

Yes I do realise i may have to 'bite the bullet' it's working fine with no security guese it's human nature to sit back until something comes along and kick starts you. Thanks for the links will check them out.
H

The registry "tweak" does appear to be a good idea, and it has been configured that way by default in Windows 7, but I don't think your problem is DHCP or IP addressing. If it was, your email wouldn't work.

It does seem to be related to your WiFi encryption and I think changing that is the thing that you need to try.

OK, then perhaps the first link I provided has more mileage. Although the solution was for a Sony Vaio and one link is invalid, there's two things to try from it.

1. Check that the driver being used for the wireless card is the most up to date (the driver date will be on the properties tab) and then visit:

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...nav2_download# (There's a link there for wireless adapter drivers.)

2. Open Wireless Network Connection properties, go to the wireless networks tab and delete all Access Points detected before from the preferred networks box. OK and try reconnecting again. (This is for XP, the exact way to the access points may be different in Vista)

There would be no harm in trying the second action first, only need to update drivers if it is still failing.