Having trouble with wireless connection on my Dell laptop

[cadenton]

My Dell laptop has always worked fine with my Netgear wireless router. Yesterday the laptop stopped connecting with the Internet. I restarted, and it started getting the Internet again. Then after and hour, I lost the Internet access again. The laptop is still receiving a very strong signal from the router. But it says, "limited access" and won't connect to the Internet.
I have another (IBM) laptop that continues to work fine with the same router -- and continues to get Internet connection.
Do you have any ideas as to what might be the problem with the Dell laptop?

 

[G0AOZ]

Maybe you just got a Microsoft security patch or update which has interfered with the Dell wireless device driver. Try re-installing the Dell driver for the wireless device. If you don't have this on the hard drive or CD, it should be available from the Dell website.

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[vacunita]

Do an ipconfig /all from the command prompt when you get the "limited or no connectivity" message and compare it to one when you can browse the internet correctly.

You may be loosing the lease on the IP from the router, and not renewing it.

You say it happens with your router, does it happen with any other router? Like a free internet access at a Starbucks or something like that?

If you look at you router's configuration page, is there any time limit set on your laptop's MAC address or name?

Also when you get the no connectivity message try issuing an
> ipconfig /renew
command from the command prompt, and see if it gets the internet back.




----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/

 

[cdogg]

I have the same problem with one of my laptops running Vista. It connects fine for 3-4 hours, but will eventually say "limited or no connectivity". I have a cheap Wireless G D-link router.

To work around it, I've assigned a static IP to the laptop by making an IP reservation in the router's settings. Give that a try and see if that works for you. You can also try changing from WPA-2 to WPA-1 security using AES instead of TKIP.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[goombawaho]

After each step, see what happens (unless you don't care about the cause).
0. Reset and start modem/router/computer in that order
1. Update (not just reinstall) wireless driver.
2. Check for router firmware update.

What wireless security are you running on your router??
If Windows XP and if WPA2, make sure you have this installed.
WindowsXP-KB893357-v2-x86-ENU.exe

 

[cadenton]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I haven't had time to try all of them yet.

BTW, I am running Vista on the Dell laptop with which I am having this problem. The new IBM laptop (which is running Windows 7) continues to work perfectly with my wireless network.

When I power-off the DSL modem and wireless router, and re-start them (in the correct order) the Dell laptop instantly re-connects to the Internet. But then, a few hours later (for no apparent reason) it still maintans a wireless network connection -- but loses the Interent access.

 

[cadenton]

Now I seem to have encountered another/separate problem.

I tried doing an ipconfig command, and when I input the run command, the command window immediately appears -- and then quickly fades away/disappears. The whole process takes less than a second.

How can I successfully open the command window -- and keep it open?

 

[goombawaho]

http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/vista/vista_run_command.htm

Maybe you should check for malware before you get started with the IP issues. MalwareByte's Anti-Malware is a good tool.

 

[vacunita]

Type:

"command"

without the quotes at the run box to open up the DOS prompt.

Then run the Ipconfig tests.

----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/

 

[BadBigBen]

Vacunita,

just 'CMD' should do...


cadenton,

I would also suggest that you turn off IPv6 on the wireless NIC...

if you have a third party software (or the manufacturers software) for the NIC, handling the connection, then deinstall it and let Windows own do that for you...

you could also run the following tool:

Internet Connectivity Evaluation Tool

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/using/tools/igd/default.mspx

also look at the PowerSaving setting for the wireless device...

1. Open Network Connections by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Network and Internet, clicking Network and Sharing Center, and then clicking Manage network connections.
2. Right-click the connection, and then click Properties. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. On the Networking tab, click Configure.
4. On the Power Management tab, clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box, and then click OK.

source: MicroSoft


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[vacunita]

True, but for some reason I like the command version as it's closer to DOS than cmd. Yes you can use long files names with cmd that you can't with command amongst other things.



----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

Behind the Web, Tips and Tricks for Web Development.

http://behindtheweb.blogspot.com/