Wi Fi

"dolfan22 wrote:

A question for any very computer savvy people here.

The other day lost wi fi connection on the laptop I use most. Internet signal was received by other devices, phone, tv and another laptop. So it is the one laptop that can't connect.

Problem with wireless adapter or access point is the message that pertains to the issue. I tried several fixes, was able to get one to work but then it lost connection in a couple of hours. The one that seemed to work was rolling back the network driver, that option has now become greyed out.

Running Windows 7, not the wireless key, tried to disable then enable it but to no avail. Any help most welcomed, thanks!

I don't have any great answers, but I can tell you that it happens to me too.

At my own house (before I moved in with relatives while my new one is being built), I think that the issue has been due to having satellite internet. There have been plenty of times that the laptop will not go online, but I can on my cell phone, or my wife can on her tablet. There are also other times where my laptop(s) have just decided to disconnect, and I've had to tell it go go back online.

At my parents house, they have cable, but there are times where its the same. Lightening fast on the cell phone, but the laptop will barely crawl along.

Have you tried hardwiring your laptop and seeing what it does?

"danmarino wrote:

Have you tried hardwiring your laptop and seeing what it does?

Yes, it is the wi fi connection. Can do it with this laptop and like I said my tv is non cable just internet fed and my phone also gets the signal.

I got it connected yesterday by doing one of the steps found online but it lost the connection an hour or two later. The option that seemed to work was to roll back driver , that option is now greyed out and not able to be selected.

Tried command prompt, disable/enable but to no avail.

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

I don't have any great answers, but I can tell you that it happens to me too.

At my own house (before I moved in with relatives while my new one is being built), I think that the issue has been due to having satellite internet. There have been plenty of times that the laptop will not go online, but I can on my cell phone, or my wife can on her tablet. There are also other times where my laptop(s) have just decided to disconnect, and I've had to tell it go go back online.

At my parents house, they have cable, but there are times where its the same. Lightening fast on the cell phone, but the laptop will barely crawl along.

Thanks, as I can get signals to multiple other platforms I don't think it is the internet signal or strength at all. It jus stopped a couple of nights ago and thought a reboot the next day would get things back, but not the case.

Not sure if there is some hardware that can or may have simply worn out or died? Thanks.

Does it see the WiFi? or does it not register at all?

"JDelenne wrote:

Does it see the WiFi? or does it not register at all?

It shows connections, just can't connect. Get the "problem with wireless adapter or access point" message.

Possible the chip responsible for WiFi inside just went bad/malfunctioned?

You mentioned rolling back your driver. Have you tried updating it? I'd also try forgetting your home network to reinitialize it.

https://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-281.html

Also try connecting to a different network..hotspot, McD's, Starbucks etc.. this would help rule out your home network.

"byroan wrote:

You mentioned rolling back your driver. Have you tried updating it? I'd also try forgetting your home network to reinitialize it.

https://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-281.html

Also try connecting to a different network..hotspot, McD's, Starbucks etc.. this would help rule out your home network.

Not to hijack the thread, but what would you suggest if a PC can connect to other networks without problem, but has trouble at home, while other devices have no trouble at home? Could one device and one router just "not like one another"?

"Unlucky 13 wrote:

Not to hijack the thread, but what would you suggest if a PC can connect to other networks without problem, but has trouble at home, while other devices have no trouble at home? Could one device and one router just "not like one another"?

It's usually channel interference that would cause it. I'd recommend switching from Auto which most routers default to, to a channel like 11.

There's phone apps you can download that will recommend a channel as well based on surrounding networks.

"byroan wrote:

It's usually channel interference that would cause it. I'd recommend switching from Auto which most routers default to, to a channel like 11.

There's phone apps you can download that will recommend a channel as well based on surrounding networks.

OK, thats cool. Thank you, and I'll try to remember that when I get my own setup again. When my house is finished, there won't be any other routers around to interfere with at all, but then again there weren't at the old house either.

"byroan wrote:

It's usually channel interference that would cause it. I'd recommend switching from Auto which most routers default to, to a channel like 11.

There's phone apps you can download that will recommend a channel as well based on surrounding networks.

Yeah i use WiFi Analyzer to test the network, Netgear has an Android app netgear wifi analyze that gives channel recommendations on both 2.4Ghz channels and 5Ghz channels you should use; as Byroan says I would go into the router and set it for a specific channel that has the limited amount of chatter.

One thing though as Byroan mentioned Channel 11; that is for 2.4GHZ networks, if you have a router and network card that are connecting on the 5GHZ band you might be running into an issue with how your wifi is setup; 5Ghz gives greater speed but has a shorter distance that it works well on; depending on your house and where the router is, the quality of the WiFi chip in your laptop, etc you might be getting inteference on the 5GHz network if that is what you are on. I would test by forcing your laptop to only use the 2.4Ghz channels and see if that makes a difference.

The issues with the 5Ghz range is why so many companies have come out with Mesh devices; currently I use AmpliFi mesh routers but I have seen many friends use the Google Mesh routers successfully.

"dolfan22 wrote:

A question for any very computer savvy people here.

The other day lost wi fi connection on the laptop I use most. Internet signal was received by other devices, phone, tv and another laptop. So it is the one laptop that can't connect.

Problem with wireless adapter or access point is the message that pertains to the issue. I tried several fixes, was able to get one to work but then it lost connection in a couple of hours. The one that seemed to work was rolling back the network driver, that option has now become greyed out.

Running Windows 7, not the wireless key, tried to disable then enable it but to no avail. Any help most welcomed, thanks!

Dolfan22, what message are you getting? Do you have a screenshot? Are you getting this message after running the MS Troubleshooter?

The reason why your ability to roll back the network driver is grayed out is likely due to there being no further gens to roll back to.

I have seen a few issues with Win 7 and Wifi lately so a recent update might have farked things up. Send me a screenshot and I will do some more digging.

PT

"mnfinfan wrote:

Dolfan22, what message are you getting? Do you have a screenshot? Are you getting this message after running the MS Troubleshooter?

The reason why your ability to roll back the network driver is grayed out is likely due to there being no further gens to roll back to.

I have seen a few issues with Win 7 and Wifi lately so a recent update might have farked things up. Send me a screenshot and I will do some more digging.

PT

Thanks for the reply.

I get the "problem with wireless adapter or access point " message. I see connections available but connecting will not complete.

Yes, I have run MS Troubleshooter. I'll get some screen shots and forward them, have to see if I can get them on a flash drive as I have no connection on that laptop. Thanks.

There's always the hodgepodge of commands you can run in command prompt to reset the network stack as well. Hit enter after each one.

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns

"Boik14 wrote:

Possible the chip responsible for WiFi inside just went bad/malfunctioned?

Possible, I do get a message saying device is working properly though?

"byroan wrote:

You mentioned rolling back your driver. Have you tried updating it? I'd also try forgetting your home network to reinitialize it.

https://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-281.html

Also try connecting to a different network..hotspot, McD's, Starbucks etc.. this would help rule out your home network.

Thanks, I can connect with another laptop, my phone, tv so it isn't the home network. I have updated it and the message I get is that it is the latest version available.

"byroan wrote:

There's always the hodgepodge of commands you can run in command prompt to reset the network stack as well. Hit enter after each one.

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns

I did those as well, and it didn't seem to resolve the issue. Thanks.

How can I attach screen shots I took and put on a flash drive here so they can be viewed? Didn't see an option in the conversation message. Thanks.

"dolfan22 wrote:

Thanks, I can connect with another laptop, my phone, tv so it isn't the home network. I have updated it and the message I get is that it is the latest version available.

Did you follow the steps of forgetting the network?

"dolfan22 wrote:

How can I attach screen shots I took and put on a flash drive here so they can be viewed? Didn't see an option in the conversation message. Thanks.

Upload them to www.imgur.com and paste the URL's here.

"byroan wrote:

Upload them to www.imgur.com and paste the URL's here.

Will do thanks.

"byroan wrote:

Did you follow the steps of forgetting the network?

I did not do that, I'll check to see how to do that and try it.

Have been able to connect with the affected laptop for a long time. I was online and then it went offline and thought it was an issue with the router, just rest and ready to go. It wasn't as I could and can connect other devices with zero issues. Unpugged and rest just in case though, but to no avail.

"dolfan22 wrote:

I did not do that, I'll check to see how to do that and try it.

Have been able to connect with the affected laptop for a long time. I was online and then it went offline and thought it was an issue with the router, just rest and ready to go. It wasn't as I could and can connect other devices with zero issues. Unpugged and rest just in case though, but to no avail.

It's rare but it's possible an internal component failed. Especially if you didn't make any changes and it just stopped working. You can't trust the device manager when it says that it's working.