Can't sleep…clown will eat me…
After the registration annoyances and the three separate attempts it took to get the damned thing to install, there's been one more annoyance that I've encountered with Release Candidate 1 of Windows Vista. After waking up the computer from sleep, it seems to have forgotten its network connection settings.
This problem would become apparent whenever I'd attempt to use the browser. The browser would display “Waiting for URL of site…” in the status bar for about 10 or so seconds, after which I would be informed that I was not connected to the internet. After checking to see that the cable was properly plugged into my PC's network card, the router was working properly and that my internet connection was indeed active, I fired up the “Network and Sharing Center” control panel and attempt to get Vista back on the LAN.
There was just one problem: connecting to the LAN wasn't an available option. The only options that Vista provided were:
- Connect via PPPoE with your username and password
- Connect via modem
I searched through the various control panels, looked at numerous help windows and even tried a couple of wizards, but in the end, I went with the tried-and-true fix of “shut up and reboot”. Upon rebooting, the network connection worked just fine…
…until the machine went to sleep again. Then I was back in “You are not connected to the Internet” land again.
The fix was simple: don't let the machine sleep. In the “Power Options” control panel, I set the “Put the computer to sleep” control to “Never” and haven't had a problem with my network connection since.
When dealing with nightmares, whether they're Freddy Kruger or Windows Vista, sometimes the best thing to do is not to sleep.
Bonus Cultural Reading Material
Wikipedia has an article on the catchphrase “Can't sleep…clown will eat me”.