Author Topic: Windows 7 laptop wifi connecion issue (Read 21349 times)

Tacotardis42 · « **on:** February 08, 2016, 07:50:03 am »

Hello! I recently moved, and I am experiencing difficulty with wirelessly connecting to the internet on my laptop only. Sometimes when the computer turns on, it will take a minute or two to conect to the network automatically. If I try to connect manually, it usually says something along the lines of "Issues connecting to network". I tried the troubleshooter, and it told me it found problems it couldn't repair. I have run windows repair, as well as complete internet repair, and they did not help. The network also doesn't like to reconnect after going to sleep. It has so far always joined eventually, but I have never had these problems before. It has also disconnected me while I was using it for no appearent reason. I have other mobile devices that connect wirelessly, and they do not appear to have these problems. Does anyone know what causes this, and how to fix it? Plugging the laptop into the modem with an ethernet cable is not an option right now. Thanks in advance!

Boggin · « **Reply #1 on:** February 08, 2016, 10:35:10 am »

I've never been a fan of Hibernation as it can hang onto the DHCP IP address it was assigned prior to going to sleep, so when the machine is reawakened, DHCP will assign it another one which will cause a conflict if different.

Do you have any other wireless devices near the laptop that could disrupt your WiFi signal and how far away is the laptop from the router ?

Drivers can cause connectivity problems,, so update/reinstall the wireless adapter driver.

You can either go to the adapter vendor support site and look for an update (recommended) or go into Device Manager by going Start - type devmgmt.msc and press enter.

Click on View/Show hidden devices then expand Network adapters - right click on the Wireless and select Uninstall - but do not check the box to include software.

You can either click on Action/Scan for hardware changes or reboot for Windows to reinstall the driver.

Sometimes the MS Virtual Miniport can cause problems and that can be turned off with a cmd run from an elevated command prompt, but it will be reinstated when the driver is installed from the vendor support site.

If you don't use a VPN then it isn't needed.

Go Start - type cmd and right click on cmd - select Run as administrator - accept the UAC and enter -

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow

exit

The next time it disconnects, can you open a cmd prompt and enter ipconfig /all

Right click in the text area - click on Select all and press enter and then you can right click in the Reply box and select Paste

One other thing to check for the disconnects is to right click on the wireless adapter in Device Manager - click on Properties and under the Power Management tab, uncheck the box for Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #2 on:** February 08, 2016, 10:48:52 am »

I'll answer in order: I use sleep mode not hibernate, and the problem can/does occur during startup. I do not have any other wireless devices "near" it, butI do havs some in the house. I will check for update to the driver, but right now I don't have access to the computer, so that will have to wait a little bit. I'll do it tonight though. As for the miniport thing, I don't use VPN. I'll also change that setting later today when I update/reinstall the network adapter. Any idea what could have cause this? I didn't have problems before. Could the laptop just be partially incompatible with the modem?

Boggin · « **Reply #3 on:** February 08, 2016, 11:17:28 am »

I had come across a while ago where there was a compatibility problem between the wireless adapter and the router.

I think it was between TP-Link and a Belkin router but can't remember the TP-Link adapter model.

Drivers are often the cause of connectivity problems where other devices aren't affected, but I'm curious as to what the trouble shooter said it was unable to repair - if it had been the driver then it wouldn't have been able to do anything with that.

If you take note of the time you get a disconnect, Event Viewer may have a time stamped error that relates to it and as the WiFi is usually the last thing to connect on boot up, it may also have something recorded for that as well - it could be listed as a DHCP error.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #4 on:** February 08, 2016, 11:34:53 am »

I'll check the event viewer if/when I get disconnected again. Also the troubleshooter may have detected the fact that I was not plugged into ehernet as an issue, it mentioned something about that. Also, I use driver booster by iobit as my driver updater, although it does limit the driver database unless you have premium. Anyway, it has a tool in it that claims to fix "cannot connect to internet" errors. I ran it while my internet was "down" and it said something like "error has occured cannot fix". Just thought I'd mention that too. Also, Windows Update broke my internet twice trying to update my wireless driver. The first time, about a year or two ago, I was updating it manually. The update failed so I had use system restore to get it working again. I hid the update so it wouldn't auto install. Next time, my wifi just conked out for no reason (about 2 months ago I think) and I found out it had tried to update a "critical" update which was probably my wireless driver again. I found that out because it had automatically made a restore point before it installed (thanks for not failing utterly Microsoft!). Everything worked fine afterwards, and I think I got the driver updated hrouh a different way, but I'm not sure. I only moved a week ago, and it was workig fine before than, so the two aren't necessarily related, but I thouht I should mention that as well.

Boggin · « **Reply #5 on:** February 08, 2016, 11:56:36 am »

Windows Updates has tried to install a WiFi driver for my Realtek, but I already have the latest from Realtek.

I tried IObit's driver updater program and it downloaded the wrong one - had to use my restore points to resolve and out went the updater.

To prevent MS installing updates that you don't want, change your update settings to Check for but let me choose.... then when you get the notification, you can click on Important or Optional to view the updates.

One for your wireless driver will be obvious but other updates may be undesirable and clicking on one then More info in the right pane will give you a MS page which tells you what it is for and if you don't want it, right click on the update and select Hide - although that won't prevent it being offered again at some time, but will slow it down.

It's not the first time I've come across where after a home move that connectivity problems have arisen with a change of ISP and router.

While in your case it only affects the laptop, a change of channel in the router can sometimes help.

To view which is the best channel for you, download inSSIDer3 - http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html

Click on Networks and it will show the other local users around you and the channels they are using.

Some router's channel setting is default set to Auto which can flip channels at any time.

Normally this doesn't cause a problem, but will disrupt streaming which is why it's best to set it to a specific channel.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 08, 2016, 12:04:36 pm »

Interesting about them both being wrong. I'll check that program out. Also, I named my network in my new house exactly the same as the old house, and that did cause some confusion amoung all of my wireless devices, trying to connect with the old network password instead of the new one, but that got sorted out fast. Could that also be a problem? I did make sure that the laptop deleted the network and then tried connecting, but who knows :p

Boggin · « **Reply #7 on:** February 08, 2016, 12:29:41 pm »

I had thought about deleting your previous SSID in Manage wireless networks, but it should only connect to the nearest one.

You may have two keys with the same name in the registry which may cause a problem, but I'm not sure on that.

Deleting those keys then rebooting will cause the computer to create a new key for just this SSID.

If you want to check, first create a restore point the go Start - type regedit - press enter and accept the UAC then navigate -

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/WindowsNT/CurrentVersion/NetworkList/Profiles

Click on each key and you'll probably have a duplicate with another for Network - that one is for the LAN.

Right click on the duplicates and select Delete - close up the sections - File/Exit and reboot.

It will auto pick up your SSID but can't remember if you then need to re-enter the router security password.

I'm not sure if MS is ensuring the wireless adapter is up to date to ensure compatibility for Win 10 which they've become quite aggressive in pushing.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 08, 2016, 12:41:50 pm »

I might try that as a last resort, but I'll try the others first. And p.s I'm full member on the forums now! Guess there's a perk or two for having tech issues, even if it's just a title

Boggin · « **Reply #9 on:** February 08, 2016, 12:44:22 pm »

5 bars gets you Hero Member

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #10 on:** February 08, 2016, 01:01:52 pm »

At this rate, I'll be there in a month XD

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #11 on:** February 08, 2016, 04:54:21 pm »

I tried checking the channel, as that was the least "dangerous", but I seemed to be already on the best channel. I then made a restore point, clenched my teeth and uninstalled my wireless driver. After reboot I got a scare how the wifi icon was displaying a symbol that meant no wireless adapter, and then it worked. I connected to the network (after inputting my password), and it worked! At least it did. I put the computer to sleep, and it didn't want to connect. Back to square one. At least it automatically reconnected after a minute :p

Boggin · « **Reply #12 on:** February 10, 2016, 01:23:47 pm »

Have a look to see what Event Viewer has recorded.

Go Start - type eventvwr and press enter.

When it has read the data, click on Error then on Show All Instances of This Event in the lower right pane.

You are looking for time stamped errors for when you awoke the machine or when you switch the machine on.

For any you find, click on the blue online help link to see if MS has any suggestions for it, or you can Google the Event ID No.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 12, 2016, 02:47:58 pm »

Ok, I'll try and do that next time I encounter it.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 15, 2016, 12:24:41 pm »

Two things, number one I now have it hardwired with ethernet so it shouldn't be a problem anymore and two, I have a promising looking error that says: "Your computer was not assigned an address from the network (by the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address *excluded by me, just in case*. The following error occurred: 0x79. Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server." And when trying to fix it with the instructions, it was incomprehensible (to me). Any idea of a simple solution? Or should I just let it go since I have ethernet access?

Boggin · « **Reply #15 on:** February 15, 2016, 01:57:27 pm »

Can you go back to my Reply #7 and follow those steps to remove the SSIDs from the registry.

Disconnect the Ethernet cable before you reboot so that it has to try and wirelessly connect.

If DHCP still fails to assign an IP address then go Start - type services.msc - press enter then check the following services are showing as Manual or Automatic - the auto ones should also be showing as Started.

COM+ Event System
Computer Browser
DHCP Client
DNS Client
Network Connections
Network Location Awareness
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Server
TCP/IP Netbios helper
Wired Autoconfig is set to manual.
WLAN AutoConfig
Workstation

If a service is not running, click on it to highlight then click on Start (top left).

If it fails to start then right click to open its Properties and check the Dependencies and that each of them are running.

Any Dependencies not listed in services.msc can be found in Device Manager/View/Show hidden devices/Non-Plug and Play Drivers which is where I want you to also go to look for any yellow alerts.

With a laptop, the Wireless NIC is a chip attached the motherboard with its aerial cable routed around the screen.

With the opening and closing of the lid, cables can become damaged, but to see if your computer has a wireless interface, run a command prompt as an admin and enter -

netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces

You should get something similar to mine - I don't have Ethernet connected and I've changed my MTU to 1492.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>netsh interface ipv4 show interfaces

Idx Met MTU State Name
--- ---------- ---------- ------------ ---------------------------
1 50 4294967295 connected Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1
19 25 1492 connected Wireless Network Connection
12 5 1492 disconnected Local Area Connection

If you have a wireless interface then enter -

netsh winsock reset catalog

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /renew

ipconfig /registerdns

shutdown /r /t 00

and then see what happens after the reboot.

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 15, 2016, 03:23:05 pm »

Ok, I'm working on, and so far the deleting the SSID "did" help, but I seem to still be getting the error, even though I'm connecting properly. Huh. I'll check the services out, but I'll let it be after that unless it keeps failing to connect. EDIT: The services were fine, so I'll do those commands if I need to. Thanks for all the help by the way, on this and my other threads! It is greatly appreciated.

Boggin · « **Reply #17 on:** February 15, 2016, 03:33:04 pm »

Is it still disconnecting ?

Tacotardis42 · « **Reply #18 on:** February 15, 2016, 03:44:46 pm »

As far as I can tell, no. Either something I did fixed or it was a fluke. Eitherway, with an ehernet cable I won't need to go wireless. If I do experience wireless problems again though, I will try what you said out.

Boggin · « **Reply #19 on:** February 15, 2016, 11:59:13 pm »

If you are close enough to the router and it's practical, then it makes sense to use Ethernet, but it would be nice to know that wireless connectivity has also stabilised.

Julian · « **Reply #20 on:** February 16, 2016, 11:30:37 am »

well something easier I use a lot is a tool Shane made it's fast and simple http://www.pcwintech.com/files/shanes_toolbox/Repair_Network.exe