Laptop WiFi connectivity issues

[weebl]

My wife's laptop is having trouble connecting to the WiFi in our house. It is a Toshiba that's a couple of years old running Windows 7. Has been running fine until this week. Router is unlikely the problem. The iPad, my laptop, our phones and our Wii can all connect and have full access. Her laptop accesses the router fine with a wired connection, however. Checked the obvious, done the iconfig thing and it doesn't help. Any ideas what to try next?

 

[Colt45ws]

At what point is it failing? Not connecting at all? Connects but does not get IP? ...etc?

 

[wkcars]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws

At what point is it failing? Not connecting at all? Connects but does not get IP? ...etc?

What colt45ws said, also, when you say that it "has been running fine until this week" are you talking about the laptop or about the wifi connection, meaning, has that laptop connected with the router before using wifi, since you say it connects fine using wired.

 

[OVERKILL]

Power cycle the router and see if it works again. I've seen weirder problem.

 

[TheThickster]

Been having problems as well with netbook and win 7. Connects for 30 mins. Then the wifi icon shows no connection and does not pickup the router. My quick fix is to use the fn key + the wifi key to turn off then on the wifi on the netbook. After that itll work another 15-30 mins. Might be an issue with win 7.

 

[Deltona_Dave]

Windows 7 may be powering the wifi card off to save power. Right click on computer, select manage. Select device manager and then open the network controllers. Right click on the wireless controller, select properties. Last tab on the right is power management. Uncheck the box that says "let windows manage". Click okay and close the management console. That may be the ticket. Dave

 

[weebl]

By running fine, I mean that the laptop would automatically connect to the wireless router and would have full internet connectivity and the ability to send print jobs to the printer. Now, all it can do is show available networks (ours and neighbours) but is unable to actually connect. Tried a power cycle on the cable modem and router and disabled power management of the network card - still no dice. Firewall has also been disabled now as well as antivirus and nothing.

 

[Colt45ws]

Couple of ideas: Try going to the "network and sharing center" and going into "manage wireless network"s. Delete the offending network and then try to connect again. It will ask for the pass to the network before it can connect. Another thing you can check is the error messages. Windows hides them a bit, but you can find them. Right click Computer -> Manage -> Event Viewer -> Applications and Services Logs -> Microsoft -> Windows -> WLAN-AutoConfig -> Operational *phew* Once you get into the operational log, it should show the errors for the failed connects.

 

[2004tdigls]

it could be the wireless card in the laptop, they tend to cook as all of the heat is dissipated through the bottom of the computer try a wireless USB stick, or replace the internal wireless card

 

[Rand]

go plop down 25 on a mini usb wireless card is the easiest solution. (the mini size barely sticks out) other options pcmcia/whatever expansion slot your laptop supports taking apart the laptop and replacing card... from moderately easy to challenging depending on design.

 

[wkcars]

Don't know if you've checked this yet, is the connection password protected, are the encryption and password matching with the router, I know sometimes I change the router password and forget to change it on the computer

 

[weebl]

Finally resolved it last night. I ended up deleting the profile for our wireless router, then added it back. Strange, as the password shown was correct.