6to4 adaptor, what is it?

Gilbretto · 3 Dec 2008 at 21:51

Microsoft 6to4 adaptor.

Can anyone tell me what this is? And what it does?

My friends been on the phone saying his internet has just stopped. Says that in device manager he has the yellow triangle business next to the 6to4 adaptor so i assume both are related?

edit;

Its also coming up with stuff about: WAN Miniport (PPPOE) unable to contact the remote host.

OS is Vista home basic

Computer is OCUK Primo basic.

Now are those errors above related to dial up in some form or another?

DevilsAdvocate · 3 Dec 2008 at 22:24

PPPoE is the protocol (assuming he is using ADSL) that his Internet Connection will most likely be using.

The 6to4 Adapter is something to do with IPv6 to IPv4 encapsulation, seems to be a common problem with people getting this adapter in Device Manager, Microsoft say it's OK and can be ignored though...*shrugs*

I'd recommend your mate checks his cables are all in, check / reinstall his NIC drivers and disable any firewalls. Might be worth checking for Spyware and Viruses at the same time just to eliminate that possibility.

Gilbretto · 3 Dec 2008 at 22:39

DevilsAdvocate said:
PPPoE is the protocol (assuming he is using ADSL) that his Internet Connection will most likely be using.

The 6to4 Adapter is something to do with IPv6 to IPv4 encapsulation, seems to be a common problem with people getting this adapter in Device Manager, Microsoft say it's OK and can be ignored though...*shrugs*

I'd recommend your mate checks his cables are all in, check / reinstall his NIC drivers and disable any firewalls. Might be worth checking for Spyware and Viruses at the same time just to eliminate that possibility.

Thanks for your response.

He is using Virgin Broadband.

Is PPPoE not a dial up protocol?

DevilsAdvocate · 3 Dec 2008 at 22:59

Yes, in essence it's a 'dial-up' protocol.

Virgin Broadband, is that Cable? I'm with Virgin which is Cable and therefore shouldn't be using PPPoE. Though I think they offer ADSL too.

Gilbretto · 3 Dec 2008 at 23:09

DevilsAdvocate said:
Yes, in essence it's a 'dial-up' protocol.

Virgin Broadband, is that Cable? I'm with Virgin which is Cable and therefore shouldn't be using PPPoE. Though I think they offer ADSL too.

yes, it is cable so it will be using cable DSL.

This is what is strange, why would the computer all of a sudden try and start to dial up for a connection? What would trigger that? and how do i stop it?

DevilsAdvocate · 3 Dec 2008 at 23:23

Well,

DSL / ADSL is a 'dial-up' broadband connection that uses the Telephone network, which would explain it needing to dial out. Cable uses the Cable TV network and is 'always on', in as much that you don't need to Dial-out to the ISP to get connected. So I'm not really sure as to what connection method he is using?

If he hasn't had to dial-out before, and hasn't changed any settings, i'd run a check for nasties (Spybot S&D, Anti-Virus) then see how that goes. I'm just shooting in the dark really, but it's worth a try. What does his 'Network Connections' area look like?

Gilbretto · 3 Dec 2008 at 23:49

He never had to dial up before. He was using 'always on' broadband.

From what i could get out of him over the phone, he has;

Local Area Network & Broadband 1 in his network connections.

Local Area Network is marked by a red cross and Broadband 1 is marked by a green tick.

Sorry this is very vague, but it was tough to get any real info from him over the phone.

I guess i'll have to pay him a visit over the weekend and try and fix it for him.

tolien · 4 Dec 2008 at 09:43

Cable and DSL are two completely separate things - neither of them need to dial up per se but if you use a USB ADSL modem Windows deals with it by "dialing".
How has he got the modem connected to his machine?

pennywise · 4 Dec 2008 at 11:58

Gilbretto said:
Local Area Network is marked by a red cross and Broadband 1 is marked by a green tick.

Right click on this and "Cancel as Default Connection". Or alternatively, just delete it. I've encountered quite a few people with this problem, and it only seems to have started recently. Once you get rid of that it'll stop the "dialling up" process, and probably let him back online via his own actual bb connection.

Gilbretto said:
Sorry this is very vague, but it was tough to get any real info from him over the phone.

Now you understand how frustrated call-centre monkies can feel