Laptop wireless troubles - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

JayP · 10-05-2008, 05:43 PM

So my laptop connects fine to a wireless network, but it can't get an Internet connection. This happens both at my home network and with the u of c's network. Any ideas what might be wrong?

missdpuck · 10-05-2008, 05:58 PM

A friend of mine had the same problem and it turned out there was a switch or something somewhere he didn't know about. Sounds weird to me. Does your network indicator icon (I have no idea what I'm talking about really..mine is on the bottom right of my screen) say you have local and internet access?

octothorp · 10-05-2008, 06:38 PM

Not sure if this is helpful as I'm on a Mac, but when I'm setting up my home network, I need to make sure that the computer that has the actual connection to the Internet (via Ethernet cable) has an option selected that's something like 'share my internet connection'. I need to set it to share it's connection to computers that connect to it via wireless. I'm guessing there's an equivalent option on PCs.

Rathji · 10-05-2008, 06:54 PM

This might not be your problem, but I am providing it as general info that could be related:

At the UofC they use 'b', 'g' and 'a' wireless bands. Every day from about noon till 4, g and b bands are totally useless due to excessive numbers of users for each access point. Switching to 'a' will help if you have a card that supports it.

Try and connect to the internet through your router and by bypassing it to isolate your problem. Use another wireless device to connect to rule out the possibility of your router being buggered.

What OS are you using?

JayP · 10-05-2008, 07:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

This might not be your problem, but I am providing it as general info that could be related:

At the UofC they use 'b', 'g' and 'a' wireless bands. Every day from about noon till 4, g and b bands are totally useless due to excessive numbers of users for each access point. Switching to 'a' will help if you have a card that supports it.

Try and connect to the internet through your router and by bypassing it to isolate your problem. Use another wireless device to connect to rule out the possibility of your router being buggered.

What OS are you using?

I'm on vista 32bit on my laptop. The wifi connection works fine with my ipod touch and ps3 so it must be something wrong with the laptop.

The weird thing is that it worked fine, but I didn't use my laptop all summer and now that I've pulled it out for school again it's acting up.

ken0042 · 10-05-2008, 07:25 PM

Some silly questions just to eliminate some possibilities:

- You have verified that you are connecting to your network (ie- your router's name) and not a neighbours?
- Are you getting an IP address that is similar to your PS3 and iPod? meaning if they are getting 192.168.1.101 and 192.168.1.102; is your laptop getting 103?
- Can you go to the command prompt and ping www.google.ca ? I think in Vista the command prompt is right under <Start><Programs> then type in the ping as highlighted above.

Rathji · 10-05-2008, 07:29 PM

ok, so in your system tray ( bottom right) you have the little wireless network icon that will either have a blue ball in it, a red X on it, or nothing at all on it. Mouse over that and it will say something. "Local", or "Local and Internet", and I can't remember what the red X one is.

Make a note of which it says, then try a "diagnose and repair" , by right clicking the networking icon and selecting it from the menu. Windows will do it's little song and dance and will spit out something that might help you narrow it down.

JayP · 10-05-2008, 07:36 PM

Okay I just had a total brainfart earlier. I'm on XP 32bit not vista. Sorry.

I'll try what I can though

Rathji · 10-05-2008, 07:43 PM

Ok, the only real difference I think it the mouse over on your icon wont reveal any difference between connected online and connected only to your network, however if it is not connected at all, that is important to note. Also it should give you a signal strength and a speed. If either of those is super low it might help pinpoint the problem.

There is still a repair option that you might try. Not that I expect it to work, but it might give you a hint as to what is gone wrong.

JayP · 10-05-2008, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

Ok, the only real difference I think it the mouse over on your icon wont reveal any difference between connected online and connected only to your network, however if it is not connected at all, that is important to note. Also it should give you a signal strength and a speed. If either of those is super low it might help pinpoint the problem.

There is still a repair option that you might try. Not that I expect it to work, but it might give you a hint as to what is gone wrong.

The signal strength is excellent and running a repair doesn't do anything useful unfortunately.

Rathji · 10-05-2008, 08:11 PM

Can you ping anything?

Start> Run > type in ping google.com

Ayrahb · 10-05-2008, 08:51 PM

When my desktop computer updated XP to sp3, it broke the wireless card driver. Probably not the same thing, but check the manufacturer's site for an updated driver and reinstall.

JayP · 10-05-2008, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rathji

Can you ping anything?

Start> Run > type in ping google.com

I tried pinging it and all that happens is the black ping.exe window opens and just closes after a second or two.

Rathji · 10-05-2008, 09:06 PM

and it says you are connected when you mouse over your networking icon in sys tray?

Try hardwiring in and see if you can connect, if you can I would then see if there is an updated driver for your wireless card.

ken0042 · 10-05-2008, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayP

I tried pinging it and all that happens is the black ping.exe window opens and just closes after a second or two.

No, start, run, cmd

Then ping.

JayP · 10-05-2008, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken0042

No, start, run, cmd

Then ping.

"Ping request could not find host google.com. Please check the name and try again."

HelloHockeyFans · 10-05-2008, 09:33 PM

Can you connect with other computers? Have you tried?

HelloHockeyFans · 10-05-2008, 09:35 PM

Also, are you using WEP or WPA?

JayP · 10-05-2008, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HelloHockeyFans

Also, are you using WEP or WPA?

WEP.

I haven't tried with a different computer, but my ps3, wii and iPod touch all connect.

llama64 · 10-06-2008, 08:33 AM

Run cmd.exe.

Type in "ipconfig /all".

List the results in here.

I had this problem on my Vista machine a week ago. The DHCP configuration was messed up and was not properly finding the DNS server (the machine that translates a URL: www.calgarypuck.com, to an IP number).

If you can ping another computer on your network or the router, you're connected to the wireless network just fine.