help me diagnose my network problem (pls)

[lakers4sho]

Hi everyone, I'm trying to figure out what exactly is the problem of my current network setup.

Actually, only one of my computers (laptop) is experiencing a problem. My other devices can access the internet flawlessly no matter where I am at my house. However, this laptop can only connect when I'm close to my router.

I thought that the internal wireless adapter might be the one having issues. So I decided to stick in an external wireless adapter. Still had the same problem.

So now I am not sure which among my devices has a problem. Not sure either how to diagnose to figure out which one. Restarted my router a couple of times already, plus like I mentioned everything else works perfectly. Any sort of help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Ketchup]

Does the laptop in question say that it has lost connection, or are pages on the Internet just not coming up? If the latter, have you tried a different browser? Do you have shared folders on the network that you can test with? Does the problematic laptop have bluetooth? If so, does it perform better with the bluetooth disabled?

 

[lakers4sho]

Does the laptop in question say that it has lost connection, or are pages on the Internet just not coming up? If the latter, have you tried a different browser? Do you have shared folders on the network that you can test with? Does the problematic laptop have bluetooth? If so, does it perform better with the bluetooth disabled?

>> lost connection to internet completely, and yes I've tried both browsers
>> still experiencing problems wiht bluetooth disabled

 

[lakers4sho]

ok, so I found a fix that has worked so far

Right click the wireless signal, open network and sharing center. Click on change adapter setting on the top left corner, right click your WIFI adapter and go to properties, click on configure. Click on the advanced tab on the top. There should be a setting which says something akin to address (locally administered mac), change the value to a random string of 8 characters, apply and retry the internet.

my question now I guess is why does this work? What was the problem with my laptop?

 

[lakers4sho]

actually, nvm, internet remains spotty at times when im farther away (inside a room)

 

[lakers4sho]

bump, help pls? How can I diagnose which one has a problem?

 

[Ketchup]

If you run a wired connection from the router to the laptop, does the connection stay stable?

You may want to try a program like this one and make sure that there aren't other wireless networks conflicting with yours.
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html

 

[lakers4sho]

If you run a wired connection from the router to the laptop, does the connection stay stable?

You may want to try a program like this one and make sure that there aren't other wireless networks conflicting with yours.
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html

ok so I installed the software, it shows some other wireless networks in the same channel as mine...?

 

[sdifox]

Change to a less crowded channel amongst 1,6 and 11.

 

[Ketchup]

Change to a less crowded channel amongst 1,6 and 11.

Yes, especially if those other networks show decent strength from your location.

 

[Cozarkian]

Did you make sure you were connecting via the external wireless adapter, e.g., by disabling the internal one?

 

[lakers4sho]

Did you make sure you were connecting via the external wireless adapter, e.g., by disabling the internal one?

yep

 

[sdifox]

Have you changed your radio channel yet?

 

[JackMDS]

Assuming that the Router's Wireless is configured correctly that there is a strong signal and the Wireless card on the Computer is physically on. Maybe this can Help.

Go over these steps and tell us where the breaking point is.
Check the Device Manager for valid Wireless card entry.

http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/net_dm.jpg

If there is No valid entry, delete any Bogus Entry, and re-install the Wireless card's Drivers.

Check the Network connections to make sure that you have a Wireless Network Connection Icon/Entry, and that the Properties of the Icon (right click on the Icon) are correctly configured with TCP/IPv4 protocol in the Network Connections Properties.

http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/net_connection_tcp.jpg

------------------
Many Wireless cards' drivers also install the vendor's Wireless utility.
Make sure that if there is a vendor's Wireless Utility is Not Running together with the Windows native Wireless utility (WLAN Service) .
----------------
Make sure that No Firewall is preventing/blocking the Wireless components to get to the Network.
Some 3rd party Software Firewalls/AV/Security suit,s keep blocking aspects of Local Traffic even it they are turned Off (disabled).

If possible configure the Firewall /Security suit correctly, otherwise totally uninstall it, and get rid of its residual processes to allow clean flow of local network traffic.
If the 3rd party software is uninstalled or disables, make sure that Windows native Firewall is On .
3rd party Network mangers like Bonjour, and NetMagic can block local traffic too.
---------------------------

Working TCP/IP stack should look this way.
Right click on the Wire card Network Connection, choose Status, Details, and see if it got an IP and the rest of the settings.

http://www.ezlan.net/Win7/status-nic.jpg

Description is the card manufacturing data.
Physical address is the card's MAC number.
The xx should be a number from 0 to 255 (all xx same number).
yy should be from 0 to 255
zz should be from 0 to 255 (all zz the same number.
The lease date should be valid to the current time.

*Note 1. IP that starts with 169.xxx.xxx.xxx is not valid functional IP.

*Note 2. There might be an IPv6 entries too. However, they are not functional for Internet traffic or LAN. They are needed for Win 7 special HomeGroup configuration. ---------------------------------------------------

A message in the Wireless little Window that says Connected does not means that your are really have a valid functional connection.

If everything above is OK you have to be able to connect to the Router.

Connecting to the Router means that you can enter the Router's core IP into an address bar of a browse, be able to connect, see, and configure the Router's menus.

If it does not connecting to the Router, log from any computer that can connect to Wireless Router with a Wire, disable the Wireless Security, make sure that the Wireless broadcast SSID is On, and try to connect with No Wireless security.

Enable the Wireless security after you mange to establish a functional connection.