# Solved: Laptop cannot connect to router wirelessly



## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

Heres my problem, I have an HP laptop that can connect to my router fine via an ethernet cable, but for some reason, it cannot find any wireless networks even when I am right next to my router.

Comp specs:
HP
Vista
2 Gb ram
160 Gb HD
1.7 x 2 Gh

This problem only started about a few days ago. I was able to connect to my router wirelessly before, but now I can't. I don't remember if i tweaked anything on my computer, so I have no idea what the problem is.

I have another laptop that doesn't have a built in wireless adapter, but i have an ActionTec USB adapter that connects the my router fine.

my router is ActionTec RI408WR and i have a WEP encryption

I have tried different settings inside the router, like broadcasting/not broadcasting the SSID. They router IP is default: 192.168.1.1 and gateway is 255.255.255.0

I'm sure that my router is not broken, since i can connect to it wirelessly with the other adapter. Therefore, the problem is either the hardware on my HP laptop's wireless adapter, or something that I did not set up right.

I would really appreciated if somebody could help me fix this problem.


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## thehorace (Jul 19, 2007)

Have you installed any software around the date the problem occured?

Are you connected to the wireless network? - dumb question i know.

What can you ping? - default gateway, host ips?


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Can you connect the laptop to the router with a wired connection?

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following command:

*IPCONFIG /ALL*

Right click in the command window and choose *Select All*, then hit *Enter*.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.


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## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

i don't remember what i installed the day the day the problem occured. but i did system restore to an earlier point, but that didnt help.

I'm not connected to any wireless networks.

heres the IPCONFIG:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6000]
Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Eddie-Notebook
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : home

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 4321AG 802.11a/b/g/draft-n Wi-Fi
Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1A-73-71-C5-85
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-24-69-4B-95
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::89e1:db5b:aa8c:1d15%8(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.4(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, September 12, 2007 10:15:23 AM

Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, September 19, 2007 10:15:23 AM

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 201333540
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.home
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.1.4%11(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4136:e38c:1c15:176f:3f57:fefb(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::1c15:176f:3f57:fefb%10(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Try disabling encryption and see if you can connect that way. When you're using WEP, you should always use the HEX key option, not the passcode option, which doesn't work the same for all brands of wireless hardware.


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## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

yes i was using HEX for the WEP

i tried disabling the encryption, but it still doesnt work.

the problem is not the encryption i think, because i can't even find my network even when I'm close to my router, therefore, i cannot even try to connect to it. 

I did also try manually connecting to the SSID, but that didn't seem to work either.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Well, let's do this, just to make sure it's not something simple.

*TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows Vista.*

Start, Programs\Accessories and right click on Command Prompt, select "Run as Administrator" to open a command prompt.

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: *netsh winsock reset catalog*

Reset IPv4 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. *netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log*

Reset IPv6 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. *netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log*

Reboot the machine.


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## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

nope, the resets didn't work


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Take a look at this fix: Vista Can't obtain IP address from some DHCP Servers


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## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

I disabled the DHCP Broadcast flag and it's still not working

Here what I'm going to try. I'll install the wireless adapter that is currently on my other laptop to this one. If i could connect to the internet with the other adapter, then it would mean that my built in adapter is the problem - probably something that is configured wrong.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

Sounds like a plan. You might try disabling any "turbo" or non-standard 802.11 features on the router.


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## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

darn, it seems that my USB adapter is only applicable on Windows XP OS or earlier. and my router features are set to standard


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## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

o this is very weird. in the "connect to a network" window, i can see my neighbors' networks, but not mine!

Edit: Sometimes i could see my network and connection strength is excellent. However when i double click to connect to it, it tells me that "association failed because Windows did not receive any response from the wireless router or access point." I think you usually get this error only if the wireless signal is low though...


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## hermes (Aug 12, 2000)

If you log on to the router web interface from another PC does it 'see' the wireless laptop at all? If it sees it, whether it can connect or not, we can eliminate a chunk of possibilities.


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## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

no, it does not see the wireless laptop at all


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## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

well if it helps, heres the IPCONFIG for my other laptop that actually could connect to the router wirelessly:

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Yong Gao.YONG>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : yong
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : home

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Actiontec USB 802.11b Wireless Adapt
er
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-20-E0-88-2C-4D
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, September 12, 2007 1:53:2
2 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, September 19, 2007 1:53:2
2 PM


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## EGao (Sep 12, 2007)

hmm, my problem was somehow fixed... 

it seems that my built in wireless adapter on my HP laptop could not sense signals from channel 11. I changed my channel to 8 and now both laptops can connect to my router wirelessly. 

Thanks for all the help John =D


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

That's pretty odd, glad you figured that one out.


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