Limited Connectivity

[Bob Davis]

I'm hoping that someone may be able to help me with a problem I am having with a Vista/Epilog Helix system.
I have previously had the Epilog successfully connected to an XP system by crossover Ethernet cable. Over the Christmas break I rearranged computers to have the Epilog run by a Vista system.
It seemed to work fine on the trial run, but since then (a couple of days later) Vista has decided that it doesn't see the Helix and comes up with a balloon saying the network has limited or no connectivity. The little blue monitor-screens in the taskbar flicker for a few moments when the laser is turned on as an exclamation mark is added to the icon, but jobs don't reach the laser. The ethernet port LED also fickers continuously.
A local techie had a quick look at the settings without finding a problem and opined that the NIC or cable must be at fault.
All the ethernet settings have been checked and rechecked, cables have been swapped for known good items and I even added a new NIC, but the problem remains.
I am emailing Epilog for tech support which will no doubt result in a cure, but I am hoping somebody here may have a quick insight into the problem as the time difference between here and there is rather large.

[john passek]

Hi Bob
Is the Vista system a 32 bit or 64 bit , might be a problem with the drivers as they are different .

Good luck

[Bob Davis]

Hi John,
Thanks for your reply. That is exactly the sort of mistake I can make, but no, it's definitely the 32 bit driver.

[Rodne Gold]

Restore the puter back to the time it did work?

[rich shepard]

try deleting the laser and driver then reboot the system and reload . It worked for me when I went to widows 7. I was about to go nuts as it worked then stopped with same error as you had.
rich

[Bob Davis]

Thanks for that, gentlemen.
Rodney (or is it Rodne?), the Vista system worked initially, then it didn't work the next time I tried it several days later, then it did work, and now it doesn't. Very few if any changes to the system between boots.
This would appear to make no sense with a digital system, but there you go.
Rich, I think your idea is worth a go. I'll keep you posted.

[Rodne Gold]

Hiya , it's RODNEY :)
I hate puters...one day they work ok and you do NO changes and the next they don't work...arghhh...

[Bob Davis]

The delete/reboot/reinstall of the driver was partially successful. After reinstall the Helix worked fine, but unfortunately a further reboot saw the "Limited Connectivity" problem resurface as previously noted.

[Dan Hintz]

You should have Keith fix that, Rodney ;) Or do you like the confusion? Good to finally put a face to a name, though :)

[Bob Davis]

...but not really a solution.
After chasing the problem on the net and the assistance of a very helpfull tech at Epilog I finally decided that the Vista networking was beyond recovery and did a clean reload of Vista. Took nearly all day to load, update and then reload programs, but at least it is now back at work.
Up until now I had never had a problem with Vista and wondered what all the bad press was about.

[James Stokes]

When I first started using Vista I had no problems except how much space it took up. I now have quite a few programs on the computer and 1 gig of ram is not near enough. My computer locks down after about 3 hour of work. I am seriously considering removing it and putting xp on this computer. I have heard good things about windows 7 though. I am also thinking of buying a new laptop with it on it. Then wiping this computer installing xp on it and giving it to a friend of mine. The computer she is using has windows 2000 on it. As such she really can not upgrade her programs and she is always having problems.

[Niklas Bjornestal]

Do you have a static ip-adress for the laser? If you dont then it migth be that it gets a new adress when you start it, while the computer tries to send the jobs to the "old" adress.