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[SOLVED] Wireless Network Problems

1K views 10 replies 3 participants last post by  spunk.funk 
#1 ·
Hi folks.

A new "thing" has started to happen and I don't know how to solve it.

At home I have a connection to the Internet via a cable modem. The modem only has one port so it is connected to a Linksys WRT54GL router. Two PCs (XP and Win2000) are connected to the Linksys router by Ethernet cable. Another PC (Win8) connects to the Linksys router wirelessly.

My problem is to do with the old XP PC that is connected by Ethernet cable. Apart from this new problem it runs fine and does what's required of it. Up until recently it's communication with the Internet was always by Ethernet cable to the Linksys router, and the wireless feature was never started.

But now it's just started firing up with a wireless connection. Now that's fine while the wireless is connected and stable, but wireless on this old XP unit has never been stable and frequently drops out, which is probably why I hardwired the connection years ago when I set this up. Problem now is that if I kill the wireless connection, or it drops out by itself (frequently), I have no connection to the Linksys router. Currently the PC only wants to connect wirelessly, and ignores the fact that the cable is still connected between the two. Unless the wireless is running I can't even ping the router from the problem PC, but can ping it from the other ethernet-connected PC and the one connected by wireless, so the router is OK.

It's so long since I set this up that I can't recall what needs to be done to get rid of wireless and allow the connection to always be via Ethernet cable. I guess I can always pull the wireless card, but that doesn't seem to be the core problem. Why will it no longer use the ethernet cable?

Any help most welcome.

Thanks,
- Rosie :frown:
 
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#2 ·
Re: Wireless Network Problems

If I were you I would just go to the network adaptor settings (right click the network neighbourhood on the desktop and choose properties) and disable the wireless network card. That way you always default to the wired connection. Reboot for good measure. Tell us if its ok or if you are still having problems with the wired connection. At least if you still have problems with wired, we can diagnose it without the wireless getting in the way to confuse things.
 
#3 ·
Re: Wireless Network Problems

On the XP computer, with the Ethernet Jack attached, Go to Start/Run and type ncpa.cpl and press enter. Right click your Wireless Connection and Disable it. Make sure Local Area Connection is showing as connected. If not, right click and Enable it.
Right click the Local Area Connection click Properties.
Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) click Properties.
Make sure Obtain an IP address and obtain a DNS Server address automatically are both checked.
Go to Start/Run and type CMD and press enter.
In the Command Prompt type ipconfig /release and press enter. The IP address turns to 0.0.0.0
Now type ipconfig /flushdns and press enter.
Type ipconfig /registerdns and press enter.
Now type ipconfig /renew and press enter. You should have a new IP address and be able to surf the internet using the Ethernet cable only
 
#4 ·
Re: Wireless Network Problems

Thank you both for responding.

Seems the problem might be a bit deeper than I hoped, because I'm not seeing exactly what you're telling me I should.

After a reboot the wireless connection is always up and I can ping the router. But eventually it will fail – it never stays up for very long. So after a fresh reboot, in the Network Connections dialog I see two icons:

1. "Internet Connection" under the heading Internet Gateway.

2. "Wireless Network Connection 3" under the heading LAN or High-Speed Internet.

Right-clicking each shows both are enabled.

Now if I right-click the wireless connection icon and disable it, the icon for "Internet Connection" under the heading Internet Gateway disappears altogether. If I re-enable Wireless then the other icon reappears. With Wireless disabled can't ping router.

I take it this means there is no longer any configuration in Windows XP for the Ethernet connection???

- Rosie :banghead:
 
#5 ·
Re: Wireless Network Problems

Your Ethernet Connection is not showing.
Go to Start/Run and type devmgmt.msc and press enter. In the Device Manager, Expand Network Adapters. Is there a yellow flag next to your Ethernet connection? Right click the yellow flag and Uninstall it. Now Right click any device and choose Scan For Hardware Changes. This should reinstall the Ethernet connection with a fresh driver. Attaching a screenshot of Device Manager with this view would be most helpful.
If there is no yellow flag and no Ethernet Connection. Restart the computer and boot into Setup (Bios) go to Integrated Peripherals and look for LAN or Ethernet and if it is Disabled, using your Enter and Arrow key, Enable it. Save and Exit.
 
#6 ·
Re: Wireless Network Problems

THANK YOU! That seems to have done the trick. The NIC entry was yellow flagged. It took a bit of hunting around to find the right driver for it but all seems OK now, as disabling the wireless still allows me to ping everything on both the LAN and the Internet.

However the wireless won't stay disabled. It restarts after every reboot, but isn't causing any problems. I'll eventually pull the wireless card anyway - will that leave any "residues" to be cleaned up?

Although I can now connect to the XP PC from the Win8 PC, and vice-versa, the XP machine doesn't appear in the Networks folder in Win8, though everything else does. But I can get there by typing \\XP2 into the Explorer search field, or get a Remote Desktop with something like C:\Windows\System32\mstsc.exe /v:192.168.2.101 /w:1280 /h:1024.

Anyway, they are minor things. The big problem is solved so again THANK YOU.:dance:
 
#8 ·
Re: Wireless Network Problems

I decided to just remove the wireless card as it won't be used anyway, but a window still pops up at start of Windows asking me to "Choose a wireless network" and "No wireless networks were found in range".

Clearly I've forgotten to remove/reset something.

Thanx,
- Rosie
 
#9 ·
Re: Wireless Network Problems

Go to the Device Manager, and see if there is a wireless adapter, if so, right click it and Uninstall it. Go to Start/Run and type ncpa.cpl and press enter. If there is a wireless adapter there, right click and Disable it. Though if you removed it, there should not be any wireless adapter there, unless you have another one.
 
#10 ·
Re: Wireless Network Problems

I'd already checked Device Manager before posting, but problem solved.

Earlier on while I was troubleshooting the wireless set up I placed a shortcut into the Startup folder and with so much going on I completely forgot about it :facepalm:

Thanks very much for all your assistance. Much appreciated.

- Rosie
 
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