Wireless Internet Problem

[Bullgrit]

I'm having a wireless connection problem that I've spent a day and a half trying to figure out.

The setup:

Desktop computer
Toshiba laptop computer
Motorola cable modem (Time Warner Cable)
Belkin G wireless router

My setup was all working just fine a few days ago, and then one morning, the laptop just wouldn't give us the Internet.

The desktop computer gets to the Internet just fine, no problems at all.

The cable modem has all lights green; Activity light flashing (like normal).

The wireless router has all lights green.

No hardware is new. No software is new, unless something automatically updated behind the scenes. I know of nothing that "happened" to change the situation.

The laptop detects my secured wireless network, and it connects to the network with no problem. Signal strength is Excellent.

Everything *looks* okay. I can open the router setup page from the laptop (this page is "in" the router, yes?)

The laptop detects all the other networks around my home, and I've connected to a couple that are unsecured. Still can't get on the Internet.

I have taken the laptop to a couple of WiFi hotspots: same problem at the public library, but I can get online fine at Panera restaurant.

I've unplugged the modem and router, waited, then plugged them back in (modem, then router after modem fully comes up). I've shut down the computers and restarted them. I've spent a lot of time with the Belkin tech support, doing all kinds of things, directed by them, and nothing has helped. I've completely reset the router back to its original factory settings. Nothing changes the situation. I can't figure this out.

Since everything seems to be working properly, it makes me think the laptop is blocking the incoming info. When I open the connection window and see the sent and received packets info, the sent is in the many hundreds, but the received is just a couple/few dozen (not zero).

I can ping the gateway. I can ping the router. I cannot ping the DNS server (if I'm doing it right).

My only next option is calling Geek Squad or something. Before I call someone like that, I thought I'd try the tech brain trust here at ENWorld first.

Any ideas?

Bullgrit

 

[SteelDraco]

A few questions. This does sound fairly odd - particularly that you were able to get online at Panera, but not anywhere else. Up until that point, I was betting on wireless card driver wonkiness, but if it works somewhere, that's probably not the problem.

Is the desktop computer using a wireless connection, or an Ethernet port? I don't suspect the router or cable modem at this point, because the problem is consistent across other locations.

Does the computer have an Ethernet port? If so, try and plug that in with a wire, and see if it works. That would isolate the problem to the wireless card and its settings, rather than the general Windows networking stuff.

Go into Device Manager, and uninstall and reinstall the drivers for your wireless card. I'd calll this improbable, but more than once I've seen a couple of bad sectors on a hard drive screw up a driver and break stuff.

I'm guessing tech support has already had you do this, but I'll suggest it just in case. Pull up a DOS prompt (Start->Run, type in command). If you can ping the router and the gateway, you're probably getting a valid IP from them. Try the following three commands.

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

That'll force it to start over from scratch in communicating with the router. After that, try

tracert www.google.com

Hopefully, it'll start making hops and find google. Odds are good that it'll say "Unable to resolve host", though.

Do you know anybody else with a laptop that can use your wireless network?

 

[Bullgrit]

Thanks very much for the response.

Is the desktop computer using a wireless connection, or an Ethernet port?

It's connected by wire.

Does the computer have an Ethernet port? If so, try and plug that in with a wire, and see if it works. That would isolate the problem to the wireless card and its settings, rather than the general Windows networking stuff.

You mean the laptop, right? I just tried this -- took the wire from the desktop and plugged it into the laptop. The connection shows as made in the Network Connections window, but still can't get the Internet.

I'm guessing tech support has already had you do this, but I'll suggest it just in case. Pull up a DOS prompt (Start->Run, type in command). If you can ping the router and the gateway, you're probably getting a valid IP from them. Try the following three commands.

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

That'll force it to start over from scratch in communicating with the router. After that, try

tracert www.google.com

Hopefully, it'll start making hops and find google. Odds are good that it'll say "Unable to resolve host", though.

I had tried the flush yesterday, but I just did all this (your full list, above) now. It says "Unable to resolve."

Go into Device Manager, and uninstall and reinstall the drivers for your wireless card. I'd calll this improbable, but more than once I've seen a couple of bad sectors on a hard drive screw up a driver and break stuff.

Since directly plugging it in didn't work, is this step necessary? I didn't do this step, yet, because I want to ask if I need the Windows disks to reinstall. I'll have to find them, or maybe download the software on my desktop and use a flash drive to get them to the laptop.

Do you know anybody else with a laptop that can use your wireless network?

I do have a friend who can probably bring over his laptop to test if he can get wireless here, but it may be later or tomorrow before he can come.

Again, thanks very much for your help.

Bullgrit

 

[SteelDraco]

You mean the laptop, right? I just tried this -- took the wire from the desktop and plugged it into the laptop. The connection shows as made in the Network Connections window, but still can't get the Internet.

Before I go on, did you turn off the wireless card, then restart the computer with the Ethernet cable plugged in? It shouldn't really be necessary, but if it's having trouble figuring out which connection to use, that would solve it.

Alright. Assuming that didn't work... That narrows the list of suspects down considerably. Your modem and router work fine, and (probably) so does your wireless card. Your trouble is somewhere in the Windows connection and networking stuff.

Probably the easiest way to fix this is to run the Network Setup Wizard, because that will verify everything and (hopefully) overwrite whatever isn't working. Get everything set up back to the way you want it, with your laptop connected wirelessly to the right network, and the desktop plugged in via the Ethernet port. Go to your Network Connections (Start->Settings->Network Connections), and run the Network Setup Wizard you find there. That'll run through a bunch of prompts that will let Windows figure out how you're trying to connect to the Internet. The one you'll want is the one that says "This computer connects to the internet through a residential gateway or another computer on my network." That's your router. It'll run through a few more things you'll probably just need to confirm, like your computer and workgroup names. After that, it should prompt you for a restart. See how things go after that.

Since directly plugging it in didn't work, is this step necessary? I didn't do this step, yet, because I want to ask if I need the Windows disks to reinstall. I'll have to find them, or maybe download the software on my desktop and use a flash drive to get them to the laptop.

Yeah, no. Wireless card wonkiness was my first guess, but that doesn't appear to be the problem.

 

[Thanee]

Is there anything important on the laptop or anything that is hard to setup?

Otherwise, you could just restore the original operation system setup from your recovery disk, but it might be some work to get all the programs set up again, depending on how much you change there usually.

It's a bit drastic measure, though.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Bullgrit]

Before I go on, did you turn off the wireless card, then restart the computer with the Ethernet cable plugged in? It shouldn't really be necessary, but if it's having trouble figuring out which connection to use, that would solve it.

Yes, that's how I did it.

Probably the easiest way to fix this is to run the Network Setup Wizard, because that will verify everything and (hopefully) overwrite whatever isn't working. Get everything set up back to the way you want it, with your laptop connected wirelessly to the right network, and the desktop plugged in via the Ethernet port. Go to your Network Connections (Start->Settings->Network Connections), and run the Network Setup Wizard you find there. That'll run through a bunch of prompts that will let Windows figure out how you're trying to connect to the Internet. The one you'll want is the one that says "This computer connects to the internet through a residential gateway or another computer on my network." That's your router. It'll run through a few more things you'll probably just need to confirm, like your computer and workgroup names. After that, it should prompt you for a restart. See how things go after that.

I did that yesterday, but to follow your advice here, I did it again. It didn't help.

My mother-in-law has a secured wireless network, so I took the laptop over there to see if I could get to the Internet. She doesn't know her network key. She doesn't know what a network key is. She paid a company to set up her computers and network -- she has 2 new desktop computers and a laptop computer; 1 desktop and the laptop are connected wirelessly. She called the company and asked to get her key, but the person she needed to talk to wasn't there right then.

I did what I could to find the key, even searching 2 of her computers for a file with the installation info (the company said there should be such a file if they did the install). I also ended up putting in a new ink cartridge in her printer, and fixing the font and icon sizes on one of her computers so she can read them.

How is that someone who can't install an ink cartridge, and can't change their display settings has 3 kick-ass computers and a wireless network? A secured network, and not know the key?

Anyway, I brought her laptop to my network and it got to the Internet just fine. So this seems to confirm (if it needed more evidence) that the problem is in my laptop, not in my network. I checked her settings for connectivity, and everything looks the same as on my laptop when connected.

I then took my laptop back to Panera and got on the Internet. Now, the Panera connection goes through some kind of portal or something -- a page comes up and you have to click "Go Online". I wonder what it is about that step that makes the Internet access work?

I then took my laptop to the local public library and failed to get on the Internet (just like at home).

This is mind boggling to me.

Otherwise, you could just restore the original operation system setup from your recovery disk, but it might be some work to get all the programs set up again, depending on how much you change there usually.

That would be a pain in the butt, to restart and then reinstall everything, but, you know, if I was sure it would work, I'd do it. But right now, the way my luck with this thing has been going, it wouldn't help, and would just be a big waste of time and effort.

Bullgrit

 

[SteelDraco]

I did that yesterday, but to follow your advice here, I did it again. It didn't help.

Alright, good to know.

How is that someone who can't install an ink cartridge, and can't change their display settings has 3 kick-ass computers and a wireless network? A secured network, and not know the key?

M... money? She paid for it, therefore she can have nice things, even if she doesn't really know how to use them. You have to pay extra to be taught how to use things, after all. ;-)

Anyway, I brought her laptop to my network and it got to the Internet just fine. So this seems to confirm (if it needed more evidence) that the problem is in my laptop, not in my network. I checked her settings for connectivity, and everything looks the same as on my laptop when connected.

You're starting to approach the 'burn it down and start over with a fresh Windows install' solution here. It's a bit time consuming, but 95%+ effective in my experience. Particularly with weird Windows problems like this.

I then took my laptop back to Panera and got on the Internet. Now, the Panera connection goes through some kind of portal or something -- a page comes up and you have to click "Go Online". I wonder what it is about that step that makes the Internet access work?

I then took my laptop to the local public library and failed to get on the Internet (just like at home).

Off the top of my head, the Panera routers are probably set up to direct you to that web page, and then from there it sends you out to the real Internet. I'm not entirely sure why it would work there, but not anywhere else. Possibly... hm.

Pull up your list of wireless networks in the Network Connections window. Right-click on the one you're trying to use, and make sure the authentication settings are the right ones for your router. I don't have a XP box handy with a wireless card so that I can look around and see just what you need to change, but you need to make sure your router is set up for 802.11g Wi-Fi. I presume you're using WPA2 for your wireless encryption, so make sure that's set up there as well. There's quite a few more settings about security settings and privileges. This might very well be what your problem is, but I've honestly never had to mess with them, so I'm not sure what does what.

Hmmm. This is darned puzzling, and now I'm not going to be satisfied until I know why this is going wrong.

 

[azhrei_fje]

Sorry for jumping in so late in the game, but I have a couple questions about your setup.

First, are you using the Windows wireless manager or a third-party manager? For example, when I got my PC Card wireless adapter (D-Link) I installed the drivers and wireless manager that came on the CD. I later found out that I shouldn't have done that ... apparently the Windows wireless manager beats up against the D-Link and network connections either won't happen at all or they'll periodically drop. I guess the problem is that both managers are trying to control the same card. (The wireless manager is the software that searches for available networks. The driver is the software that actually controls the chips on the adapter. It's important to have the right driver(s), but the manager you use is up to you.)

After I found that out, I uninstalled the D-Link manager and everything worked fine. However, I don't like the Windows manager at all but I was never able to find instructions for 100% disabling it. Now I'm not using Windows any more (woohoo!) so I don't have this problem.

Second, you might try looking at the configuration settings for the device. I've heard that some of the network adapters have bugs in the firmware checksum algorithm. If you look at the Properties of the adapter in the Device Manager, the last tab is a list of settings. One of those controls whether the firmware calculates the packet checksum or whether it's done using host software. I don't remember the name of the setting, but Google should be able to help you find it.

HTH. Good luck.

 

[Barrataria]

Sorry for jumping in so late in the game, but I have a couple questions about your setup.

First, are you using the Windows wireless manager or a third-party manager? For example, when I got my PC Card wireless adapter (D-Link) I installed the drivers and wireless manager that came on the CD.

My wife has a Toshiba laptop, and it took me three days to figure out how to get it to log on to my wireless network. In our case, the 3rd party wireless card had its own software to recognize and access wireless networks. The Windows "wizard" (is it a wizard if it doesn't ever work?) had to be disabled so that the NIC software would work. Problem solved.

So, as an utter and complete conjecture, maybe you installed something that re-activated the windows "wizard". You haven't said the dread word Vista, but if you are using that I have no answers. I recently installed IE7 and that utterly mangled all sorts of things from my .mp3 jukebox software to I forget what all. So, if you recently tried IE7 or whatever the latest Windows Media Player is, that might have buggered up things. I'd try to uninstall those before you get a hammer out.

Also, call the Toshiba customer service line: my wife's Satellite laptop was subject to a recall to replace the motherboard So the power port that had stopped working was fixed for free. However, the warranty was only extended until 11/7 so you'd have to do that ASAP. There was apparently an overheating/shutdown/shortout problem with the original boards.

PS for future posters: Don't buy Toshiba.

BB

 

[Thanee]

I then took my laptop back to Panera and got on the Internet. Now, the Panera connection goes through some kind of portal or something -- a page comes up and you have to click "Go Online". I wonder what it is about that step that makes the Internet access work?

Did you actually get on the internet? Or only to that page?

Just asking, because when only connections to the internet do not work, but network internal connections do, then maybe some protocol files are corrupted or something, which are only used for the internet connections, but not for local network connections.

Bye
Thanee