[gilmoregirlz]

I'm trying to get a toshiba laptop to connect to our wireless internet. The laptop seems to connect to other connections fine, but it just won't work with this particular setup for some reason. We have 3 other laptops and 1 desktop connected to the wireless, so I tend to think it's an issue with this particular laptop and not with the router or anything like that.

The laptop sees our wireless connection fine, but it's when I try to connect to it that I get problems. When I try to connect, it acts like it's trying, but then it puts up this error: Windows is unable to connect to the selected network. The network may no longer be in range. Please refresh the list of available networks, and try to connect again.

It won't even ask me for the password for the internet, it just acts like it's trying to connect, then pops up that error. I don't know if it matters, but our router is set up for WPA-PSK / WPA2-PSK. I dropped the security earlier today and the laptop did get on that time, but it still acted weird. It said it wasn't connected, but the internet worked fine. I really need to get it to work with our security though.

I went into the advanced area that shows all the prefered networks, and I removed our network in hopes that it would reset stuff so it could try fresh to connect. But it still won't ask me for the password, it just starts trying to connect without it. Grrr!

If anyone could help me with this, I'd really appreciate it. It's my grandpa's laptop and he's been without internet for about a month(long story), so I'm trying to get his laptop to work with our setup. (He lives close enough to pick up our home network.)

Thanks! If you need any other info, please ask and I'll post it right away.

 

[alpenadiver]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

What type of set up are you running (cable DSL), model of Modem, and Router.
For starters I would power down the router, and modem wait about a minute power up the modem, wait another minute then power up the router let the router boot up, then try to connect the toshiba. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your wi-fi card, and if you can post the output of a ipconfig /all run from the toshibas' command prompt, after both modem, and router have been restarted.

 

[johnwill]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

Remove the stored wireless profile for the network, it's using an old and incorrect password. Then it will prompt for the password and you can connect properly.

 

[gilmoregirlz]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

Our internet is DSL, modem is a Zyxel EQ-660R, and the router is a Level-One, I'm not sure of the model number.

I turned off the modem and router, gave it a few minutes, turned on the modem, waited a few more minutes, then turned on the router. After the router warmed up I tried again to get the toshiba laptop to connect, but it still won't work.

I've deleted the wireless profile for our network, but that makes no difference. After deleting the wireless profile, when I try to connect it comes up and says "Please wait while Windows connects to the network, Detecting Network Type," then it pops up with that same error: Windows is unable to connect to the selected network. The network may no longer be in range. Please refresh the list of available networks, and try to connect again.

So then I went in and manually added the wireless profile back in, and after I did that when I tried to connect it came up with the box that says "Please wait while Windows connects to the network, Waiting for Network," and the green progress bar keeps going across. It sits that way for about a minute, then the box just goes away and I'm still not connected to our network.

After doing all of the above, I did an ipconfig/all, and here is what it gave me:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : johnsonla
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Mixed
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : actcom.net

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : actcom.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5004G Wireless Network Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-F5-1A-90-6D
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.187.86.10
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 64.187.84.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.187.80.5
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.187.80.5
63.163.62.4
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, May 09, 2009 3:59:18 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, May 09, 2009 4:19:18 PM

I can't really tell much by that, but I don't know whats up with the actcom.net stuff in there, could that be the problem at all? I can't remember ever seeing that when I've done ipconfig on other computers.

 

[johnwill]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

Well, that's pretty odd! You have a public IP address, so I suspect that whatever router you're connected to is incorrect installed. Also, note that the Zyxel EQ-660R is a router, so you have two routers in the mix here.


Please supply the following info, exact make and models of the equipment please.

Make and exact model and hardware version of the router (if a separate unit).
Model numbers can usually be obtained from the label on the device.
If wireless, encryption used, (none, WEP, WPA, or WPA2)
Version and patch level of Windows on all affected machines, i.e. XP (Home or Pro), SP1-SP2-SP3, Vista (Home, Business, Ultimate), etc.

• If you're using a wireless connection, have you tried a direct connection with a cable to see if that changes the symptoms?
• Have you connected directly to the broadband modem to see if this is a router or modem/ISP issue?
• If there are other computers on the same network, are they experiencing the same issue, or do they function normally?

 

[gilmoregirlz]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

(I don't know if it matters, but I just realized that the laptop may have been connected to another area wireless connection when I did the ipconfig/all that is 2 posts above....)

I'll try to answer everything, hopefully I won't miss anything...

DSL line is hooked into Zyxel 660R (I didn't know it was a router! It came with our DSL. Can't locate the hardware or firmware version)
From the Zyxel the connection line goes to our router, a Level One WBR-6001 hardware version 1.0. (Firmware version R1.97g6-R86_20071204_1)

Wireless security on the Level One is set to "WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK" with "TKIP + AES" encryption.

The effected laptop is running XP Home SP3. We have 4 other laptops (all running XP) that connect fine, along with one Vista desktop connected with a lan cable.
I did plug the effected laptop directly into the Level One router with a lan cable, and that worked fine.

As I mentioned, the laptop will connect to other networks fine, but it's just not wanting to connect to our home wireless setup.

 

[alpenadiver]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

Your Level one 6001 uses 802.11N, the Atheros uses 802.11B or G, that is the problem with the laptop.

Scratch the above idea:

Level One website states that the 6001 is backward compatible with 802.11 B and G, maybe there is a setting you need to enable on the router.

 

[gilmoregirlz]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

Good catch, but unfortunately that's probably not it. I guess I maybe should have mentioned that we actually have two of the exact same model laptops, and only one is having the problem....

this does give me the idea to go in and double check that area in the router settings though...I think I'll check that out just to be sure...

 

[alpenadiver]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

Here's a possible work around from Microsoft KB:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/884787

If that won't work, I would backup my router settings, and restore the router to factory defaults, to see if that helps.

 

[johnwill]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

Since you have two identical routers, and only one exhibits the issue, clearly you have zeroed in on the issue, right?

I'd make sure the firmware on both of these routers is at the same level, then as suggested, reset to factory defaults and reconfigure.

One thing you can do is save the settings from the working router and import them into the non-working one after making sure the firmware is the same. That should make them identical, if that doesn't make the router work, maybe it's simply dead.

 

[gilmoregirlz]

Re: Lapotp won't connect to home wireless, connects to other things fine.

Well, I got it figured out....

It's actually two identical laptops that we have, not two identical routers....But anyway, we compared the settings on the two laptops, and noticed the driver was an older version on the one that was having the problems. So I found a newer driver and client utility to download, installed it, and bingo! That fixed it. It connects fine now!

Thanks for the help everyone!
:grin:

 

[johnwill]

Oh, I guess I got lost in the footwork here. :smile: