A work colleague has a problem with his wireless network at home.

History:-

Until about three months ago it worked fine. He could connect wirelessly with his works Dell laptop, Wii, and his wife's moblie.

Then it stopped working for all devices. If he connects his laptop by cable directly to the router, it works. His work laptop has been replaced (unrelated to this) by an Lenovo and that doesn't work either.

He can connect with his laptop to our wireless networks at work, plus he was able to connect to a BTOpenzone out and about somewhere. At this point he assume the router had a fault so our IT department replaced his router with a new one, but that shows exactly the same symptoms.

I suggested changing his wireless security to "open" to see if it was security issues screwing it up. He says that if he tries to connect to a protected wireless network, it'll attempt to attach and then ask him for the WEP or WPA passkey. When he tries to connect at home, it doesn't even get that far. Windows (7) just says "can't connect to this network".

I've suggested interference from microwaves, DECT handsets etc. He's got a wireless scanner so he said he would see if there was some other dominant signal which is messing it up. His channel selection is set to Auto.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

Martin

Could be a faulty router. Definitely sounds like his router, anyway, if the problem is happening with more than one laptop. My money would either be on a faulty wireless chip, the antenna, or a software upgrade a few months ago which may have introduced bugs (bear in mind that depending on his ISP it may have been rolled out remotely so he may have been upgraded without knowing).

Does he have/can he borrow another suitable router and set that up with WPA to see if it works?

Hi,

Router has already been replaced by a new one. :'(

Sorry, I missed that in your first post somehow, as soon as I re-open the thread it's the first thing I lay eyes on! I blame Fridays...

Was the router the same model? There's a chance that there's a "misinterpretation" of specs between laptop and router, it's not often but I've seen it happen. One thing I would suggest is making sure that the router doesn't have any kinf of "speedbooster" technology. It's not so common now due to 802.11n but a few years ago just about every 802.11g router came with a special "125Mb/s" mode. Unfortunately they were all very vendor-specific, so would often only work if you had a wireless card with the same chipset in it. Also disable things that aren't needed like 802.11b legacy mode (there's no devices on the market for about the past 6-7 years which will be 802.11b only, they should use .11g as well), make sure the security is WPA (can be more compatible than WPA2, WEP is a waste of time). Also make sure there's no MAC address filtering.

Try changing the wireless channel on the Wifi router to another

what router is it? what mobile does his wife have?

I say this as the homehub and BB torch have issues.

Change in ISP or ISP conditions that require payment for wi-fi usuage and sign-up to a different contract before wifi access allowed ?

Linked to the above or stand alone - Automatic Router software update that set wireless to "OFF" ?

Default router settings are usually wireless "ON".

Usually, these values can be re-set in software. Either from the desktop using a web browser (Some routers use HTML to access their pages of internal variable values) or from the DOS command line. Before you can start doing this you will need to connect PC to router using a network cable.In both cases you will need to find out what the router's internal DNS/IP address is on your system and have the router access password available. Once you've gained access you can reset individual values to what you require.

Alternatively, you can Cold/hard-boot the router and re-set all its internal values in one go. This usually involves holding in a button on the back of the router for 1/2 minute and releasing. This will set the variable values to factory defaults. As this has a global effect it might be worth while noting other non-default values that pre-existed on the router so that you can restore after the re-boot

Else if that doesn't work, suspect radio frequency interference - the popular choice round here is a neighbour whose just bought an extended range Wi-Fi set-up. though usually, in that case, you do eventually get a connection if Tx and Rx are positioned close enough.

Edited 26 August, 201114 yr by Clunkclick

If it's a Homehub type B dump it, the wireless is useless, no matter how many new type B's you get they are all crap.

Currently in the same boat with a POS Netgear thing from Virgin. We're on our second at the minute, after one randomly stopped working for any device (well, it might connect, but if it did, it was at 56k-esque speeds!).

As a work around, I've got an old ADSL linksys plugged in via ethernet, which is running in switching mode, and connecting the devices to that. Really not sure where the issue is. It worked one day, not the next. Checked wireless channels, fiddled round and tried a few, but made no real difference (besides, the linksys can cope with the interference, so not sure it would disable the Netgear to the extent it has anyway). Virgin suggested (and my dad seems to believe them!) that it was my port forwarding/DMZ settings doing it, which it wasn't.

If you find a fix, I'd love to know!

Conversely, our HH2/b was much better than this! The ISP sucked, but the wifi was good!

Also if he is using the same ssid on the new router, windows 7 may have the network details stored from the old one

Go Control Panel\Network and Internet\Manage Wireless Networks and delete the old home wifi ssid and then try and connect to the new one again with the new key

Update:

He brought the offending new router to work yesterday and plugged it in (no ADSL connection obviously) in a control room out back that has to be really noisy, electrically.

Windows 7 can successfully connect to the router in this situation. This suggests to me that there's something in his home environment which is scrambling the WiFi? He thinks that it might be something to do with settings received from the isp?

You still haven't said what router your mate has.

Im pretty sure its a netgear. Have sent him a text to ask what sort.....

Im pretty sure its a netgear. Have sent him a text to ask what sort.....

He's not trying to connect his work laptop via VPN is he?.

I had this issue with a netgear router and eventually got it to connect via lots of techy stuff (nose bleed imminent!) such as "opening" ports, setting DNS servers to manual etc. Work laptop then work perfectly but i couldn't get anything else to connect!! Eventually dumped the router for a bog standard BT Homehub jobbie and all works perfectly.

Edited 28 August, 201114 yr by slider

Easiest way to prove the router is to substitute it for another known working one.

Some progress has been made this week. He's set the router and devices to specific channels rather than auto, and is able to get at least some sort of connection.

Some progress has been made this week. He's set the router and devices to specific channels rather than auto, and is able to get at least some sort of connection.

If there are similar routers around him going manual can help, a bit tedious as you have to go through the channels one by one until he finds a useable channel. This problem usually affects BT Homehubs more than most.