Need some Vista tech support

[Qwerty 42]

Ever since I got connected to the school's network, an error message has been popping up that briefly forces Firefox to behave as if it is not connected.

Connecting through the WAN Miniport (PPPOE)...

Error 815: The broadband network connection could not be established on your computer because the remote server is not responding. This could be caused by an invalid value for the 'Service Name' field for this connection. Please contact your Internet Service Provider

Now, the only thing that ever freezes is my default Firefox: Chrome and AIM continue to work.

Could anyone lend a hand? It would be much appreciated.

[Netko]

PPPoE is essentially dial-up DSL that used to be used back when there were actual DSL modems around (as opposed to what you get today - a router with integrated DSL modem) or rarely when the router is functioning in bridge mode. If that was your setup at home, it conflicts with the purely network based setup at your school because your computer is trying to get that dial-up connection up rather then just using the network.

Things to check (after each step confirm that the problem is not resolved):
1. Internet options in the control panel (or IE) - under Connections, check that "Never dial a connection" is selected.
2. There should be a similar option somewhere in FF's settings unless it just uses the system settings above
3. Finally, you can just go into the Network and Sharing Center>Network Connections and just delete all dial up connections

The reason only FF freezes is that it is likely using some sort of setting to always try to dial-up (unless you already have a dial-up connection going), while AIM and Chrome simply assume the existence of a Internet connection and send packets to connect to the server which triggers a dial-up prompt in Windows if you have a setting other then "Never dial a connection" unless you are already connected (including by network). The way FF handles it is actually better for a browser since this way you never get a timeout on you homepage(s), compared to AIM, which checks the status of the server every once in a while anyway so it not connecting successfully one time is not a big loss. Unless, like in your case and often these days for mobile 3g connections, you have a dial-up connection set up that you aren't using.

[Qwerty 42]

Hey, thanks, I really appreciate it. Indeed, the "Never Dial a Connection" option had not been selected.

[Edi]

Another thing that you should in all likelihood do is simply turn off IPv6 from the network connection properties, since most networks don't use it but Vista will automatically try to use it if enabled (which it is by default) and switching to IPv4 when v6 fails to get a response is iffy. This is one of the fucked up issues that I constantly run into at work.

[TempestSong]

Another thing that you should in all likelihood do is simply turn off IPv6 from the network connection properties, since most networks don't use it but Vista will automatically try to use it if enabled (which it is by default) and switching to IPv4 when v6 fails to get a response is iffy. This is one of the fucked up issues that I constantly run into at work.

Out of curiosity, does this happen with a wireless network or with a regular wired LAN? In my university, normal IPv6 lookup then IPv4 seems to work OK on wired connections, but it's the wireless network that always has problems. I literally need to "repair" dozens of times just to get some computers to obtain an IP.

[Edi]

Another thing that you should in all likelihood do is simply turn off IPv6 from the network connection properties, since most networks don't use it but Vista will automatically try to use it if enabled (which it is by default) and switching to IPv4 when v6 fails to get a response is iffy. This is one of the fucked up issues that I constantly run into at work.

Out of curiosity, does this happen with a wireless network or with a regular wired LAN? In my university, normal IPv6 lookup then IPv4 seems to work OK on wired connections, but it's the wireless network that always has problems. I literally need to "repair" dozens of times just to get some computers to obtain an IP.

It fucks up both of them, but the LAN has a better chance of working while the WLAN is almost always borked. Just turn it off on both, less hassle that way. There is no conceivable reason to have IPv6 enabled outside of test lab environments due to the way networks are set up with internal addressing these days.