WiFi Issue

BC1994

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Dec 16, 2001
747
In sake of full disclosure, I am not tech savvy in the least and may well be missing something obvious. I have looked on the web and haven't found anything that helped, so turn my lonely eyes to SoSH.

The players: 2 year old Asus laptop. Nothing great, but have not had any hardware issues.
Netgear WNDR3700v3 router
Modem from Comcast

A few days ago my laptop stopped connecting to the Wifi network it uses after 2 years of having no problems. The strange thing is, every other device we have (iphones, ipads, work laptop) still connect to this network perfectly fine. The router broadcasts in 2.4 and 5, but the computer can only see the 2.4. I have other devices broken up between the 2 networks, so I don't think it is overload.

At first I thought maybe the internal wifi was shot, but the laptop apparently can connect to the neighbor's free Xfinity network.

Is there something that would all of a sudden make one particular network incommunicado to a laptop? The laptop can see the network, it just can't connect (or occasionally may connect briefly, but "limited" and have no internet access).

I have bought a cheap USB wifi adapter as a stopgap (which also works, so far as a cheap adapter goes), but wondered if there was something i was overlooking. I have tried resetting the router, modem, laptop. I have deleted and reinstalled the laptop wifi drivers, etc.

Any ideas? The ONLY thing different is that the night before this happened, we both got new iPhones (6s). Not sure how that could affect anything, but that is only difference I can point to.

Thanks for any thoughts- sorry if too verbose.
 

The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

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Sep 9, 2006
7,876
SS Botany Bay
I used to get this problem with my thinkpad laptop. It used its own lenovo software to manage wifi and that would sometimes lead to your situation. The solution was to disable the proprietary wifi manager and let Windows manage wifi. This was on Windows 7. Not sure if this would apply to later versions or your laptop.
 
Sep 13, 2013
97
Has anyone modified the router config recently? If the router is filtering access by MAC address (unique network hardware identifier) and theinternal wifi MAC is on the 'deny' list, it would explain the issue.
 

timlinin8th

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Jun 6, 2009
1,521
I know it says you reinstalled wifi drivers, but just to be certain did you delete the wireless network from the laptop's network settings (essentially making the laptop "forget" the network) and then re-set up the network from scratch?
 

Back Bay

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Dec 9, 2008
15,701
Try changing your router to channel 6 or 11 see if it your laptop can connect.
 

cmac24

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 2, 2001
2,003
For some reason I can't access my wireless with any devices. I have a netgear R7000. I've been through some of the troubleshooting steps (updating firmwhere, resetting etc) and have gotten nowhere. Any other suggestions? I did switch to a new computer a few days ago but the wireless worked fine after switching. Thanks in advance.
- NM Fixed it.
 
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BC1994

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Dec 16, 2001
747
Changed the router to channel 11 (from channel 6) and now it works! Thanks!
 

Hendu for Kutch

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Apr 7, 2006
6,920
Nashua, NH
FYI, I had a similar issue with my Netgear router a few days ago and it was driving me nuts. 2.4 ghz was recognized on all devices, but would either not connect or run slow as shit. 5 ghz continued to work flawlessly.

Turns out it's ties to a Netgear update on the router. Apparently they are trying to fix the problem, but I had to do a factory reset and use different network names to connect. Sorry, don't have the link to message board where I read this as I'm on my phone, but thought the info could be useful if your problem came back again.
 

75cent bleacher seat

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My T/W wi-fi speed was averaging 4mbps...I was paying for up to 30...technician plugged in a NETGEAR N300 Wi-Fi USB adapter, the speed increased to 30mbps+

Ignore the above...it failed soon after the change...signal strength dropped and I had to constantly re-boot the adapter. T/W swapped out my Ubee modem for an Arrris model no. TG1672G and the signal strength and speed has never been greater and more consistent.
 
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