Issue connecting to wireless networks

[morkus64]

Some weird stuff going on here:

I've got an ASUS ul80vt (with an Atheros AR9285 wireless adapter) running Win 7 x64.

I've been having trouble connecting to several networks - either it is slow to connect or it connects to the network but keeps saying identifying and won't connect to the internet.

I'm currently connected well enough to an airport express.

I tried to connect to a wireless extender (Hawking HWREN1, the main signal comes from a FIOS router, I think), and it does the stuck on identifying thing. If I try the diagnostic thing it says: "Wireless network connection" doesn't have a valid IP configuration.

I tried unplugging, waiting, replugging the extender. Rebooting my computer, turning off windows firewall.

Thing is, I don't believe that other people are having trouble connecting to the extender (though I'm not 100% certain of that) , but I can't even connect in the asus quickboot thing.

 

[nboy22]

Identifiying usually means one of a few things

1. That either the signal is just too weak
2. That the network has a password and you have entered the wrong password, and now your computer is storing that password as a "preferred network." In that case, you would need to delete the preferred network.
3. That the router may have mac address filtering or something of that sort
4. Possibly a wireless card driver issue. (Rare, although I've seen it). In this case you would want to download the new driver, make sure you uninstall the driver and device completely through your device manager, restart the computer, install the driver again and try connecting again.

If you have a friend with a laptop or another computer that has wireless capabilities use that to your advantage in this scenario. Another computer would greatly help out in this situation so that you can determine what is happening.

 

[morkus64]

Thanks!

I'm certain it's not #1. I tried reinstalling the drivers - didn't help, so it's not #4. I also tried a wireless usb adapter i have just in case - no go.

I'm starting to suspect that my landlord forgot the proper password. Oy.

 

[morkus64]

Update:

The password I have is correct, and I'm able to connect to the main router just fine, but when I try to connect to the extender it says I'm connected to the network but not to the internet (and sometimes it gets stuck on identifying).

So, we've ruled out #1, 2 and 4, and I don't think it could be #3 because the MAC address filtering would be on the main router, not on the extender, correct?

So what else can I try?

 

[nboy22]

If you can connect to the main router just fine, but not the extender then that would mean that the extender is the source of your issues.

Do you know if there is anyone else that is able to use the extender successfully? That would really help if you could find out a for-sure answer. I'm guessing it's just something wrong with some settings on the extender (if it has settings), but if other people can use it successfully that would be quite strange.

 

[morkus64]

Checked with another laptop, and no go. So it must be router settings.

But - my computer is being weird with other networks... It seems to be taking a long time to connect to anything, even networks it had no trouble with before. And it's been having trouble connecting sometimes to the one network around here that does work - i just had to reboot to get it to connect after several fails. WTF?

 

[nboy22]

Hmm.. Well I have seen these issues before and it could be attributed to the channel that the network is running off of. If it is on the same channel as another router or 2.4 ghz home telephone in the area, that could be an issue.

I would do some further investigating with a program like NetStumbler. You will be able to see a list of wireless networks in your area, their channels, signal strength, etc... This may help you crack down on determining whether it is an interference issue or not.

It's hard for me to judge the situation since I don't have the actual laptop in front of me, but I am personally becoming less of a fan of wireless because of inadequate equipment and wireless signal congestion in certain areas.

 

[morkus64]

I'll give it a try - thanks for your help nboy.

 

[morkus64]

Figured it out!
The extender had for some reason become disassociated from the router - just ran the setup again and its working just fine. Thanks for your help nboy22!

 

[nboy22]

Yep! No problem, glad I could be of assistance