36 replies to this topic

[Rice4HOF]

All of a sudden last night, my laptop stopped being able to access the internet wirelessly.

I have a wireless cable modem/router. I rebooted it, but no luck. I did some more troubleshooting, and found out that it works fine. My iphone and other devices in the house can get to the internet via that without problem. I also found that my laptop could not tether wirelessly to my iphone. But it works fine if a cable is plugged in.

So I've narrowed down the problem to being on my laptop, and only for wireless connections.

Note that this happened all of a sudden, I did not change my firewall settings or install any new devices or muck around with my network settings. I was just surfing for pictures of hot, naked, girls random baseball statistics, when all of a sudden a page wouldn't load and I saw that my icon that shows my internet availability had a big red x through it. This happens once in a while when the wireless router hiccups, and it usually comes back after a few seconds. Sometimes I need to turn off my wirelss adapter and turn it back on for it to work.

But no luck this time. I did some googling of more hot naked girls causes etc, and have come up empty. I did download some network magic tool from cisco, but it tells me that my internet connection is fine. Which it clearly isn't. More unusual is that my icon does say I have internet connectivity now, but any page I load comes up with can't connect to website message - both using chrome and IE.

Any ideas? Any diagnostics I can run and post here that will help?

edit: thread title should be WTF not WFT. Apparently I'm dyslexic too.

Edited by The Four Peters, 19 August 2012 - 10:34 PM.

[SumnerH]

All of a sudden last night, my laptop stopped being able to access the internet wirelessly.

I have a wireless cable modem/router. I rebooted it, but no luck. I did some more troubleshooting, and found out that it works fine. My iphone and other devices in the house can get to the internet via that without problem. I also found that my laptop could not tether wirelessly to my iphone. But it works fine if a cable is plugged in.

So I've narrowed down the problem to being on my laptop, and only for wireless connections.

Note that this happened all of a sudden, I did not change my firewall settings or install any new devices or muck around with my network settings. I was just surfing for pictures of hot, naked, girls random baseball statistics, when all of a sudden a page wouldn't load and I saw that my icon that shows my internet availability had a big red x through it. This happens once in a while when the wireless router hiccups, and it usually comes back after a few seconds. Sometimes I need to turn off my wirelss adapter and turn it back on for it to work.

But no luck this time. I did some googling of more hot naked girls causes etc, and have come up empty. I did download some network magic tool from cisco, but it tells me that my internet connection is fine. Which it clearly isn't. More unusual is that my icon does say I have internet connectivity now, but any page I load comes up with can't connect to website message - both using chrome and IE.

Any ideas? Any diagnostics I can run and post here that will help?

edit: thread title should be WTF not WFT. Apparently I'm dyslexic too.

Long shot:
Many laptops have a button you can push to disable wireless; sometimes it's its own button and sometimes it's the function key plus one of the keyboard buttons (usually one of the F1...F12 keys). Can you stare at your keyboard and see if there's something like that, and try pressing it?

[Rice4HOF]

Yeah, thanks. I did that already. The wireless is clearly enabled. When it's disabled, it doesn't see or connect to any of the available networks. The strange thing is that it says it is 'connected' to my home network but I can't see any other devices or access the internet through it.

[VBSoxFan]

I had a similar issue yesterday, and after eliminating my ISP and modem as the culprit, a call to Dell's tech support informed me it was due to an issue with McAfee and a recent Windows update. Uninstalling and reinistalling McAfee Security Center resolved my issue.

Edit: Removed out of date link, looking for new one...

Edit 2: Updated link to Mcafee site describing the issue and workaround for what was ailing my Dell desktop:

Edited by VBSoxFan, 20 August 2012 - 07:33 AM.

[soxhop411]

Yeah, thanks. I did that already. The wireless is clearly enabled. When it's disabled, it doesn't see or connect to any of the available networks. The strange thing is that it says it is 'connected' to my home network but I can't see any other devices or access the internet through it.

Im guessing you have done the basics (reboot your laptop),
Have you tried reinstalling your laptops wireless cards driver? sometimes that usually he

Edited by soxhop411, 19 August 2012 - 05:41 PM.

[Rice4HOF]

I had a similar issue yesterday, and after eliminating my ISP and modem as the culprit, a call to Dell's tech support informed me it was due to an issue with McAfee and a recent Windows update. Uninstalling and reinistalling McAfee Security Center resolved my issue. Here's some info from McAfee.

Thanks. I don't have McAfee, I use something from my ISP that's powered by F-Secure, but in any case I disabled it entirely, and turned off my firewall etc, to make sure it wasn't anything like that. Although I just took a look at my ISPs website and I see that they're changing from F-Secure to McAfee, so the above info may be useful once I upgrade.

[Rice4HOF]

Im guessing you have done the basics (reboot your laptop),
Have you tried reinstalling your laptops wireless cards driver? sometimes that usually he

I did to the basics, and even uninstalled some automatic windows updates from a couple of days ago, but I haven't reinstalled the wireless driver. I'll see if I can find those and try that out. Thanks!

[Rice4HOF]

Updated driver. Rebooted laptop. Same results.

[czar]

Another option would have been to roll back the driver if you had updated it recently. Not that I recommend this, but I've also heard of people solving this problem by rolling Windows back using a System Restore checkpoint.

Could be as simple as wireless card could be shot. That or the antenna got severed/twisted (a lot of them have an antenna that runs up through the hinge into the backplate of the screen).

Boring (cheap) solution is to get a USB wireless adapter (<=$20 on Amazon for one with decent range) -- especially if the laptop itself is more than a year or two old.

[soxfan80000001]

Assuming you're on a windows laptop...
1) Open a command prompt (ctrl-R to run, type "cmd").
2) At the command prompt, type "ipconfig". Find your IP address in there that is being assigned to your computer by the router (probably 192.168.somethingsomething). Post the output here if you can't readily identify it.
3) Try to ping your router. If, for example, your IP address is 192.168.20.105, the router address is typically going to be your computer IP address, but with the last number changed to a 1 (I think the router address also shows up as 'gateway' in the output of ipconfig). Example: if you determine your router address is 192.168.20.1, type "ping 192.168.20.1"

[crow216]

Do a windows system restore to a week ago. Problems like this are sometimes easiest solved by going backwards a little.

Edited by crow216, 19 August 2012 - 07:29 PM.

[JayM913]

Did you try to reset the TCP/IP settings? Sometimes it just goes a little haywire, especially with windows 7.

Go to start --> run and then type in cmd. Once the window opens up type type: netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt and then hit enter. After it has finished close the command prompt and reboot. Hopefully that should fix everything on the restart, if it is a DNS or IP issue.


edit: Need to remember to run as an administrator on windows 7 or Vista (not necessary on XP). This is done by:

Click Start and then type CMD in the Search programs and files.
Right-click CMD.exe icon in Programs and choose Run as administrator.
When the User Account Control box pop up, click Yes.

Edited by JayM913, 19 August 2012 - 08:37 PM.

[JakeBadlands]

That's interesting that it says it's connected, and yet, clearly isn't. Do you get the yellow exclamation point indicating a limited connection? Troubleshooting WiFi is a nuisance in my experience, but there are a few things you could attempt.

The most practical troubleshooting step here is probably to take the advice of others and perform a system restore back to a time when everything worked the way it's supposed to. If that doesn't work, there are other things to investigate.

If you really feel like getting into the weeds and banging your head against a wall, there's a free program out there called Wireshark which will capture all traffic over a given network interface. So, you could get a description of what's going back and forth between your laptop and your wireless router. That might give us enough info to find you a solution.

As far as hardware goes, if you have a tech-savvy (and patient!) friend, you could have him take a look at it. It's been a while since I worked in Windows-based laptops, but I know some of the HPs I've seen have their WiFi card in an easy-to-reach area on the bottom of the motherboard, accessible by just removing 4 screws and one small panel. As someone upthread noted, a lot of the antennas will snake through the body of the laptop and up around the display. So unless you have a geek friend who owes you a favor, you might just want to drop the $10 at Newegg or Monoprice and get a USB adapter.

[timlinin8th]

but I know some of the HPs I've seen have their WiFi card in an easy-to-reach area on the bottom of the motherboard, accessible by just removing 4 screws and one small panel. As someone upthread noted, a lot of the antennas will snake through the body of the laptop and up around the display.

Not only HPs... I've seen a lot of Windows-based laptop manufacturers who use this setup. To expand on this, the antenna has two connection points to the wireless card that I can only describe as little metal snaps... If the laptop was dropped or put down hard enough its possible onevof them came loose. They're very easy to identify and usually just snap back into place. Worth a look if all else fails.

[Rice4HOF]

Thank you all for your help, but not much seemed to work. I guess I'll pick up a USB wireless adapter tomorrow.

Another option would have been to roll back the driver if you had updated it recently. Not that I recommend this, but I've also heard of people solving this problem by rolling Windows back using a System Restore checkpoint.

Could be as simple as wireless card could be shot. That or the antenna got severed/twisted (a lot of them have an antenna that runs up through the hinge into the backplate of the screen).

Boring (cheap) solution is to get a USB wireless adapter (<=$20 on Amazon for one with decent range) -- especially if the laptop itself is more than a year or two old.

I tried the rollback to about a week ago and that didn't work. I do think the card got shot or maybe the antenna has just gone haywire based on some other behavior I've seen.

Assuming you're on a windows laptop...
1) Open a command prompt (ctrl-R to run, type "cmd").
2) At the command prompt, type "ipconfig". Find your IP address in there that is being assigned to your computer by the router (probably 192.168.somethingsomething). Post the output here if you can't readily identify it.
3) Try to ping your router. If, for example, your IP address is 192.168.20.105, the router address is typically going to be your computer IP address, but with the last number changed to a 1 (I think the router address also shows up as 'gateway' in the output of ipconfig). Example: if you determine your router address is 192.168.20.1, type "ping 192.168.20.1"

Ok... I pinged it, and it pinged successfully. Every time, and quickly (<1ms) So, what does that mean???

Did you try to reset the TCP/IP settings? Sometimes it just goes a little haywire, especially with windows 7.

Go to start --> run and then type in cmd. Once the window opens up type type: netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt and then hit enter. After it has finished close the command prompt and reboot. Hopefully that should fix everything on the restart, if it is a DNS or IP issue.


edit: Need to remember to run as an administrator on windows 7 or Vista (not necessary on XP). This is done by:

Click Start and then type CMD in the Search programs and files.
Right-click CMD.exe icon in Programs and choose Run as administrator.
When the User Account Control box pop up, click Yes.

Did this... no difference

That's interesting that it says it's connected, and yet, clearly isn't. Do you get the yellow exclamation point indicating a limited connection? Troubleshooting WiFi is a nuisance in my experience, but there are a few things you could attempt.

This is the odd part... The yellow exclamation mark is not there at the beginning. I then try to access a website, it say I can't, and the yellow exclamation mark shows up. About 10-20 seconds later, the exclamation mark disappears. It's almost as if it thinks it can connect, and when it tries and figures that it can't it then displays the no internet access warning. This and the fact that I can ping the router makes me think that it may be an antenna issue - it sort of works but only for small amounts of data. Does that make sense?

[SteveF]

It could be interference on the wireless channel. Pick a different channel (either 1, 6 or 11) and try again.

[soxfan80000001]

Since you can ping your router, that means your wifi card is on and able to talk to the router.

Now open a web browser, and put the router's address in the address bar. Hopefully this will bring you to the router's configuration page. You don't need to log in or do anything here, just confirm whether you can reach it or not. (BTW, did you try unplugging the router and plugging it back in?).

Also in the web browser, put "74.81.91.189" in the address bar.

Either of those two things work?

Edited by soxfan80000001, 20 August 2012 - 06:58 AM.

[Gambler7]

This is weird. The same exact thing happened to my Dell on Saturday night. Still will not connect. My Desktop works fine off the same wireless router, but no matter what I have done the laptop will not connect.

[VBSoxFan]

This is weird. The same exact thing happened to my Dell on Saturday night. Still will not connect. My Desktop works fine off the same wireless router, but no matter what I have done the laptop will not connect.

This exactly describes my situation, and a call to Dell support informed me that is was an issue with a recent McAfee update, which was resolved by uninstalling McAfee Security Center and reinstalling from the McAfee website, more info here.

[kneemoe]

sounds like you have manually assigned either the IP or DNS (or both) to stuff that won't work. if that's the case soxfan80000001's suggestion of typing/pasting the ip into your browser might reveal that it's just DNS that's your problem.
What did the ipconfig command output?

[Max Power]

Sounds like the wireless card is working and able to reach the router, but it can't get to locations outside your network. That could happen because of a modified routing table, which any piece of malware could do. To check that out, look at the Details... button on your wireless network adapter in the Network and Sharing Center and make note of the IP Address and Default Gateway. Then at the command prompt, type

route print

Check out the Gateway column for the 0.0.0.0 Destinations, and make note if there's anything in the Persistent Routes: section. If the Gateway doesn't match the Default Gateway you see in the Network and Sharing Center, your config has been messed with.

[Gambler7]

This exactly describes my situation, and a call to Dell support informed me that is was an issue with a recent McAfee update, which was resolved by uninstalling McAfee Security Center and reinstalling from the McAfee website, more info here.

Yup, this simple fix did the job. Thanks!

[Rice4HOF]

Since you can ping your router, that means your wifi card is on and able to talk to the router.

Now open a web browser, and put the router's address in the address bar. Hopefully this will bring you to the router's configuration page. You don't need to log in or do anything here, just confirm whether you can reach it or not. (BTW, did you try unplugging the router and plugging it back in?).

Also in the web browser, put "74.81.91.189" in the address bar.

Either of those two things work?

Yes, yes. I can access my router (and did that to change the channel to see if it would make a difference), and putting in the address directly got me into SoSH. Of course, no links that I clicked on afterwards would work. Which does make it sound like a problem with the DNS lookup.

Sounds like the wireless card is working and able to reach the router, but it can't get to locations outside your network. That could happen because of a modified routing table, which any piece of malware could do. To check that out, look at the Details... button on your wireless network adapter in the Network and Sharing Center and make note of the IP Address and Default Gateway. Then at the command prompt, type

route print

Check out the Gateway column for the 0.0.0.0 Destinations, and make note if there's anything in the Persistent Routes: section. If the Gateway doesn't match the Default Gateway you see in the Network and Sharing Center, your config has been messed with.

Gateways match, and the persistent routes show none.

Anyhow, I've spent too much time on this already. I stopped at a computer store on the way home and bought a USB wireless adapter. I'm going to plug it in now, hopefully that will work right away.

[crow216]

Please just do a system restore. Sometimes Windows gets glitchy and despite all the driver fixing, network configuration fixing, and weird solutions that people have it just takes Windows dumb restore tool to fix this stuff. 99% of the time, these problems can be solved with simple solutions but it seems you've exhausted all the basic solutions. Just give it a try. Go to start > applications> system tools > system restore.

[Rice4HOF]

I don't know if I can trust a Yankees fan

I tried the system restore last night. Didn't help. I have the USB adapter on it and it's working now.

Root cause of the problem is unknown, and in fact unresolved, but I have a working workaround and that's good enough for me. My family is away all week, and it was going to be difficult to stream adult video in HD look up baseball stats while physically tethered to my iPhone and using up my limited data plan. Glad for under $20 it's all working good again.

[soxfan80000001]

This resolution is unacceptable to me.

[Rice4HOF]

I'll buy you some vodka and chicken when I have the good fortune of meeting you, in exchange for the help you provided

[kneemoe]

This resolution is unacceptable to me.

+1
There's nothing wrong with the adapter, its the settings - if you got to SOSH using the IP its undoubtedly a DNS issue, and the fact that the USB adapter works means its almost certainly not malware related. Go into the wireless adapter's settings and set DNS resolution to the IP for your router. 10:1 everything works after that.

[JerBear]

What are you using for DNS? I assume your router. Change your DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 and see if that helps. These are Google's public DNS servers which probably allows them to track everything that you do but they are fast.

[crow216]

Rice, have you uninstalled the adapter completely? Forget upgrading or rolling back, what about uninstalling and having your PC recognize it again? Is there a way for your adapter to "forget a network" and delete all of the settings you have for the connection? It's very clearly a settings issue and I'm trying to find a way to get you back to default.

[Rice4HOF]

Ok, I'll try some more things tonight and report back to satisfy your inner geeks' curiosity.

[crow216]

Ok, I'll try some more things tonight and report back to satisfy your inner geeks' curiosity.

PS- If I get it right, you have to use a Yankee desktop wallpaper for a week.

[Rice4HOF]

Ah, sheeeeet! I'll start looking for a suitable wallpaper to download. I uninstalled the adapter, and then scanned for hardware changes, and it worked.
I'll post a picture of my work PC tomorrow. Thanks for the help!

On a completely unrelated note, does anyone want to buy a USB wireless adapter? Almost new, only used for 1 night.

[crow216]

Zing! I'll allow it to be Varitek manslapping A-rod if you want.

[The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa]

If anyone is still having this problem, one of the issues I've encountered in the past is that some laptops have their own program to handle networking/WiFi (i.e. IBM/Lenovo Access Control Center), and they get screwy for no good reason and leave one disconnected even though everything else appears ok. A very simple and effective solution is to disengage whatever local program is handling the networking/WiFi and in the control panel settings turn over control to let Windows to handle networking/WiFi.

[SteveF]

If anyone is still having this problem, one of the issues I've encountered in the past is that some laptops have their own program to handle networking/WiFi (i.e. IBM/Lenovo Access Control Center), and they get screwy for no good reason and leave one disconnected even though everything else appears ok. A very simple and effective solution is to disengage whatever local program is handling the networking/WiFi and in the control panel settings turn over control to let Windows to handle networking/WiFi.

This is good to know. Having DNS randomly stop working mid connection and not have the problem be the actual DNS server itself is just a really, really odd thing to have happen.

[Rice4HOF]

Ok, here's my work PC with the new wallpaper. I have 2 screens so it's twice as bad!