Laptop wireless weirdness

For some reason one of my cetrino laptops refuses to connect to my network,
it's been working perfectly before.

It will keep comming up saying "one or more wireless networks is available,
to view a list click here etc etc..." and when I do, my network is visible
and I click connect and just does nothing, the same message will pop up
again within 2 minutes.

I've gone through all the config, changed the SSID, the channel, the WEP
password, everything!! I've reset the router and started again. But the
laptop just won't have it. It will connect, but after a reboot or standby it
won't connect again.

I have other PCs happily connected to the same network all day long,
distance isn't the issue and I have configured lan IP reservsation but it
just doesn't work...

please help?

mike wrote:
> For some reason one of my cetrino laptops refuses to connect to my network,
> it's been working perfectly before.
>
> It will keep comming up saying "one or more wireless networks is available,
> to view a list click here etc etc..." and when I do, my network is visible
> and I click connect and just does nothing, the same message will pop up
> again within 2 minutes.
>
> I've gone through all the config, changed the SSID, the channel, the WEP
> password, everything!! I've reset the router and started again. But the
> laptop just won't have it. It will connect, but after a reboot or standby it
> won't connect again.
>
> I have other PCs happily connected to the same network all day long,
> distance isn't the issue and I have configured lan IP reservsation but it
> just doesn't work...
>

Have you looked at the wireless network connection status window (right
click network connection) and click the support tab. You should see
your router IP address etc. If there is nothing there, which often
causes the sort of problem you are having, try disabling and re-enabling
the connection to see if it picks up the network. Otherwise on the
Advanced button of View Wireless Connections, check that the "Use
Windows to configure my wireless connection" is checked.

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

"Tony Raven" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> mike wrote:

>>
>
> Have you looked at the wireless network connection status window (right
> click network connection) and click the support tab. You should see your
> router IP address etc. If there is nothing there, which often causes the
> sort of problem you are having, try disabling and re-enabling the
> connection to see if it picks up the network. Otherwise on the Advanced
> button of View Wireless Connections, check that the "Use Windows to
> configure my wireless connection" is checked.
>

Thanks for the reply. The windows thing is checked. There's no IP listed
when the laptop isn't connected and I can't access my router config. It's
really weird, the signal is "excellent" and it lists the network

On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 00:21:34 +0100, "mike" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

> It's
>really weird, the signal is "excellent" and it lists the network

mine does that from time to time, you approve the unsecured network
connection then nothing happens, go to Advanced, refresh available
APs, etc etc. TBH if I just leave it for a few minutes it normally
connects ok. I keep the home network at the top of the list of visited
ones.

I often wonder if it would be more reliable with WEP or WPA enabled so
it doesn't go through the "are you sure" routine.

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali

AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

mike wrote:
>
> Thanks for the reply. The windows thing is checked. There's no IP listed
> when the laptop isn't connected and I can't access my router config. It's
> really weird, the signal is "excellent" and it lists the network
>
>

Have you tried disabling and re-enabling the connection from within
Network Connections? If my laptop doesn't connect up to the router and
shows no IP address for the router I find that usually resets it. Other
things to check. Have you got the router set up for authorised MAC
addresses only? Have you got a firewall running on the laptop. I just
installed two laptops for the children and as delivered they would not
connect until I stripped the pre-installed Norton off and put a decent
(AVG) firewall on them.

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

"Tony Raven" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> mike wrote:
> Have you tried disabling and re-enabling the connection from within
> Network Connections? If my laptop doesn't connect up to the router and
> shows no IP address for the router I find that usually resets it. Other
> things to check. Have you got the router set up for authorised MAC
> addresses only? Have you got a firewall running on the laptop. I just
> installed two laptops for the children and as delivered they would not
> connect until I stripped the pre-installed Norton off and put a decent
> (AVG) firewall on them.

T'o do what Tony is saying, go to 'my computer' icon on your desktop, open
it, and in the address bar up the top type in: my network places

You should notice it's already autocompleting it for you though... Hit
return, and in this new window right click on a blank space within it and
select 'properties', then right click the connection and hit 'disable' -
then do the same to re-enable it.

If i were you i would disable securitiy completely for now; you'll have to
use another pc OR the laptop connected via LAN cable to get this to work of
course. The normal setup would be that you would have the SSID off, and the
security on, shared key, WPA, WEP, watever. But it's likely safe for now for
troubleshooting methods to try this.

So get the security off the router, then if it works fine you know it's a
security key problem.

With WEP i wouldn't enter the password you have on your router in readable
format, ie: password7
And if you've changed your security password (wep, wpa again) lately then go
back and double check, on mine you need to type in the new password and
click on 'generate key' instead of just 'ok' straight away!

I would enter the full hex text the router has generated; what kind of
router is it anyway?!? (apart from a crap one ;-)

The supposd idea is that if there's a security problem you should still be
able to get a 'connected' icon in windows xp (do you have service pack 2
installed from windowsupdate? [also knows as sp2?]) - but the icon would
have a yellow exclamation mark besides it.

Another possibility is a crap wireless driver with bad power mangement, so
if you want to right cloick on my computer, select 'properties', go to
'hardware' tab, 'device manager', find your wireless network card, and click
'properties' on it, then you should be able to see if it has power options
orany weird settings u mite want to try changing.

Better to assume you've never donethis before than just to give you jargon.

"Yozzi" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:xSWPe.745$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Tony Raven" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...

>
> Better to assume you've never donethis before than just to give you
> jargon.

I've tried the disable thing and it doesn't improve things. I can connect to
my network, but after a while it will suddenly connect to the wireless
network across the street with a low signal quality which is WEP protected,
it's crazy. I'm beginning to think it might be a router problem? but saying
that the other PCs connected to the router stay connected.

The only network I have in my prefered networks is my own, not the one
across the street. I'll give it a go without any security and see what
happens, but I am well and truly baffled.

"mike" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:4310ba81$0$97140$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Yozzi" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:xSWPe.745$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> "Tony Raven" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>
>> Better to assume you've never donethis before than just to give you
>> jargon.
>
> I've tried the disable thing and it doesn't improve things. I can connect
> to my network, but after a while it will suddenly connect to the wireless
> network across the street with a low signal quality which is WEP
> protected, it's crazy. I'm beginning to think it might be a router
> problem? but saying that the other PCs connected to the router stay
> connected.
>
> The only network I have in my prefered networks is my own, not the one
> across the street. I'll give it a go without any security and see what
> happens, but I am well and truly baffled.

Could just be band intereference confusing the router.

Within the router config see what it's at at the moment, and change it to an
extreme band.

ie: there's usually 10 or 12 settings, netgear routers wont say band 1 -
11.2gz, band 2 - 11.4ghz (and so on) they'll just say band 1, band2, etc.

It'll be set to band 1 or 6 by default; whatever it is, change it up or
down. if it's band 1, make it band 11 or 12, if it's band 6, choose band
11/12 again, and if it's band 11 or 12, then make it band 1 or 2.

That should mean it'll stop 'listening' to this other network that's nearby.

On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:12:55 +0100, "mike" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>For some reason one of my cetrino laptops refuses to connect to my network,
>it's been working perfectly before.
>
>It will keep comming up saying "one or more wireless networks is available,
>to view a list click here etc etc..." and when I do, my network is visible
>and I click connect and just does nothing, the same message will pop up
>again within 2 minutes.
>
>I've gone through all the config, changed the SSID, the channel, the WEP
>password, everything!! I've reset the router and started again. But the
>laptop just won't have it. It will connect, but after a reboot or standby it
>won't connect again.
>
>I have other PCs happily connected to the same network all day long,
>distance isn't the issue and I have configured lan IP reservsation but it
>just doesn't work...

Yep, I've seen that before and not found out why, using a Dell Laptop
into an EDIMAX AP.

It had a spate of misbehaving then all has been well for several
weeks. I was as baffled as you, and now suspect some sort of
temporary local interference as other posters have mentioned.


--
Mark