# Tech Help: Wireless Internet



## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

I'm hoping someone on here can help me out again (as DW has come to my rescue on more than one occasion )

The problem is, i have recently transferred my ISP to Tiscali and we have gone wireless. Now there are 3 laptops in the house, my Vaio, my sisters medion and my mothers advent (9215). Both my sisters laptop and my own have no problems at all with the wireless network and on the 'connect to a network' screen they often recognise 2 other networks in the area. However the Advent doesn't see any networks at all most of the time. Any ideas? I have tried allsorts so far but with no joy. The computer is running Windows Vista (as are the other 2), the adapter is a _Gigabyte RT73 USB Wireless LAN Card_ and before anyone suggests it, yes i have turned on the receiver 

TIA


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## V8burble (Jul 3, 2007)

I had a similar problem with my father's PC. I could sit beside the PC with my IBM laptop and I would have good wireless reception whilst his PC either had nothing or low signal strength. We tried repositioning the PC on and around his desk with little effect. In the end we resorted to an external USB wireless unit that is on about a 500mm long USB cable. This sits on the mantle-piece beside his desk and it gets a good signal. I presume the wireless card in the Advent machine is just not so good. Have you tried changing the channel on your router to see if that helps?

BTW this may be better in Off Topic rather than Photographic? But then I found it hey


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

Right, i tried an alternative wireless adaptor, still nothing. I took it back to the store and (just as expected really) they said that they could view their wireless network so there was nothing wrong. This was never my complaint, the complaint is that the damn thing will not connect to the internet, it see's the network with no problem but will not connect. The store will not acknowledge that there is a problem and said it must be my settings. Now my laptop connects fine, my sisters laptop connects fine and the settings are the same on my mothers laptop yet that will not connect wirelessly. It will however connected via an ethernet cable to the router. Any more ideas?


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## bigollieg (Mar 3, 2007)

Have you checked for firmware updates on your router?

Or even driver updates for the wifi card?

GL fella


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

Have you got "mac filtering" on your Router? Do you have any encryption on it? if so what? Do you have any sort of "turbo" mode switched on at the router? 54Mb is the standard wireless speed. Does your USB adapter on the router support 802.11g? Or just 802.11b?

Try running windows update as there are a couple of bug fixes for Vista relating to wireless.

I am surprised your Medion does'nt have a built in wireless card yet it runs Vista. Check its not built in and switched off as it could be using that.

Is the SSID (name of wireless network) hidden or set to visable?

Do you have a PIR sensor in the room? If so, try turning it off.

Try popping the laptop in the car or walking around the garden, you should see other networks in the list, this will check the radio on the USB adapter is not dead.

I know that's lots of questions but I spend most of my life doing wireless networks (installations, setups) in schools and offices.


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

m0bov said:


> Have you got "mac filtering" on your Router? Do you have any encryption on it? if so what? Do you have any sort of "turbo" mode switched on at the router? 54Mb is the standard wireless speed. Does your USB adapter on the router support 802.11g? Or just 802.11b?
> 
> Try running windows update as there are a couple of bug fixes for Vista relating to wireless.
> 
> ...


I haven't seen mac filtering but i will check.

Encryption WPA2_Mixed

No turbo

supports A/B/G

I will run windows update too 

All three have inbuilt wireless cards mate. Its just the name of it says USB... i don't get it either

No PIR sensor

SSID is visible

Other networks are visible

Cheers for your help


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## timprice (Aug 24, 2007)

try changing the default gateway in vista mate. set it to your routers IP address (obviously only do this on the Wireless Network Connection)


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

Ok mate, I gather you see your network in the list, and highlight it and click connect. What happens next?


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

timprice said:


> try changing the default gateway in vista mate. set it to your routers IP address (obviously only do this on the Wireless Network Connection)


Doubt this would help as the OP is not connecting or seeing his network. If the gateway was wrong he would be connected, could ping the router but not surf.


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

m0bov said:


> Ok mate, I gather you see your network in the list, and highlight it and click connect. What happens next?


It tries to connect then just comes up with the message, cannot connect to this network


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## timprice (Aug 24, 2007)

maybe it's just a compatibility issue with your router?

it's a long shot, but these things sometimes happen.


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

V8burble said:


> I had a similar problem with my father's PC. I could sit beside the PC with my IBM laptop and I would have good wireless reception whilst his PC either had nothing or low signal strength. We tried repositioning the PC on and around his desk with little effect. In the end we resorted to an external USB wireless unit that is on about a 500mm long USB cable. This sits on the mantle-piece beside his desk and it gets a good signal. I presume the wireless card in the Advent machine is just not so good. Have you tried changing the channel on your router to see if that helps?
> 
> BTW this may be better in Off Topic rather than Photographic? But then I found it hey


Most desktops with wireless have a mini PCI card inside, the antenna is on the card and mouted inside which is bad cos the case is sheilded. Laptops have the antenna in the display which is vertical and away from the user's body. External USB adapters are very good, as you say you can mount them nice and high and out the way.


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

timprice said:


> maybe it's just a compatibility issue with your router?
> 
> it's a long shot, but these things sometimes happen.


It connects no problem when it is wired through the router....


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

If the card on the laptop is set to 802.11a then it won't see a router on 802.11g or b. The two are totally differant systems. But you wouldhave to go in and tinker with these settings, its possible that the router and two laptops are on one system and the troublesome laptops is setup for the other system. The default on laptops is to see and use both 802.11a and 802.11g/b.


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

How do i change that on the laptop then? I haven't seen that option. It does see the router....


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

MickCTR said:


> It connects no problem when it is wired through the router....


That's cos you have a problem with the wireless and hard wiring it takes that out of the equation. All wireless products using a fix standard so there are no compatability issues. However some routers are more stable than others and some adapters are more reliable, I've found its normally the router that has the troubles. However in your case it does like a software problem on the laptop. But I'd need to know what happens when you try and connect to the network.


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

MickCTR said:


> How do i change that on the laptop then? I haven't seen that option. It does see the router....


Go into your wireless config page and click on the propertise of the wireless adapter, afraid I am not familier with Vista to do a walk through.

You can use Device manager and go that rout, make sure 802.11abg are selected, enter in the SSID of your network (the name that appears on the other laptops) and check the power saving is off or CAM. (constantly active mode).


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

I will report back tomorrow evening with my findings  cheers mate!


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

Also look for a setting with Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure, you want Infrastructure! Good luck!


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## timprice (Aug 24, 2007)

do you have wireless security enabled? WEP or WPA?


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

Done all of that and still no joy


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## Maxtor (Feb 23, 2007)

Hi mate,

I have the netgear one too and had the same probs (not with a lappy tho)
I am racking my head to remember what I did to sort it.
I had two tech guys come out and they could not suss it. I will have a play on the other pc to see if I can go back to find out what I did.

I do remember it was a simple box that was unchecked.

Sorry I know it's not much help at the mo, but I will try to post later. :thumb: 

Do you get the "No signal cross" in the wireless network and it hangs for ages?

Sorry I am not a tech.....but I will try to help.

Regards

Maxtor


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

No mate, the only symptom i get is that the computer will not connect to the network. It tries for about 10-15 seconds and then says 'cannot connect to this network'


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## andyboygsi (Aug 30, 2007)

hello mate.

i am an openreach engineer (BT) and i repair folks broadband day in day out, as much ass we dont have to as problems with end users own equipment is nothing to do with us now.

mobov knows what he is on about, he is prob much better than me but if you have any doubts a good thing is to compare two laptops, this way you can ensure that all settings are identical. whenever i struggle this is what i do.

you could always have a look in the paper for a local it guy, usually costs around 40-50 for what you want done.


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

i have compared the Advent with my Vaio but one thing that caught me out is the settings for the network adapter as they are very different. The Vaio has an Intel adapter and the advent has a Gigabyte RT73


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

Regarding the network adapter in the Advent can anyone actually find out online what the exact model of the network adapter is in an Advent 9215 laptop. Just to make sure that i definately have the right drivers.


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## andyboygsi (Aug 30, 2007)

try this

double click your wireless symbol

then properties

then wireless connection tab

then properties again

then authentication tab

if the box enable iee...... is ticked untick it and try again



then


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

is that for vista mate?


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## andyboygsi (Aug 30, 2007)

ah lol

nup xp. erm totally not got a clue. i imagine it wont be much different though. why cant you use an ethernet cable?

and just accept your laptop doesnt like wireless

its a big con anyway haha, it just prevents me making money by installing ethernet extensions lol


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## MickCTR (Mar 4, 2006)

lmao. Cos we bought the laptop with one of the main factors being that we could do away with the wires. I have been and bought a 5m ethernet cable for it but that is not the point. I refuse to be beaten but microchips and electricity


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## m0bov (May 2, 2007)

Try running the restore CD that came with the laptop, sometimes you get a restore prompt when the laptop first loads. Otherwise take it to a friends house and try and get it connected. Let us know how you get on.

Gigabyte and Intel use similar chipsets for their wireless cards, Athros is one, they are all pretty much the same. Its possible that the transmitter is dead on the laptop which is why your seeing but not talking to anything.

Do be double sure you don't have MAC filtering or any other security on the router whilst your testing!

I am the guy that normally gets called round, athough I am cheaper than £40! Depends how long it takes!!

I did have one nightmare job (BT guy might know this), a lady purchased a Netgear router for her BT ADSL, it was a 108Mbps unit. Could not for the life of me get it to authenticate on the line, it synced but would not log in. Cut a long story short it was a known issue, after the second unit she swapped it for a more basic one and that worked first time!! Arrrrrrrrrrrr.


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## andyboygsi (Aug 30, 2007)

m0bov said:


> Try running the restore CD that came with the laptop, sometimes you get a restore prompt when the laptop first loads. Otherwise take it to a friends house and try and get it connected. Let us know how you get on.
> 
> Gigabyte and Intel use similar chipsets for their wireless cards, Athros is one, they are all pretty much the same. Its possible that the transmitter is dead on the laptop which is why your seeing but not talking to anything.
> 
> ...


i think this is to do with parameters within the router. if you love next door to the exchange you wont have any problems, however as the line length increases (not as the crow flies but as the cable route goes) along with it loss and snr some fancy routers do not like it.

thats why some of the cheaper or more basic routers are better, we test using a cheap as chips voyager 100 static modem with a usb type connection as it is very basic.

some people cant get there head round that.

my job gets harder and harder these days lol


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## alanjo99 (Nov 22, 2007)

I have had this before - 

My 'Cure' was to 

1) delete your access point from your laptop 
2) rename your SSID (why i do not know !) 
3) change channel on router 
4) connect back up wireless on new SSID 

Solved ! Got this off a forum and worked for me and a lad at work with same problem.

Hope this helps !


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## mteam (Dec 8, 2007)

Just an idea did you install software for your usb wifi or just drivers
if you installed software try disabling it and letting WLAN Autoconfig manage you connection
Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
select WLAN AutoConfig properties startup type automatic


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