xp wifi issue: stumped!

Devrij · 13 Oct 2013 at 23:57

I spent the last couple of hours trying to sort out my neighbours netbook and I am at my wits end! Running XP SP3 i believe

Connects to WiFi network fine, no internet connection though. Ethernet is fine.

So far I have tried: winsock reset, dns flush, ipconfig/release and renew. Reinstalling NIC, removing avg and disabling firewalls, setting up static ip and reserving that ip for it on the router.

When on dhcp, the ip address won't renew, and the router doesn't see it as an attached device despite it being connected by WiFi. Tcp/ip settings are all back on auto at this point. The netbook works elsewhere, it's just this one network at home.

Any ideas?

bledd · 13 Oct 2013 at 23:59

Update driver.
Reset firewall
Remove 3rd party firewall

Devrij · 14 Oct 2013 at 00:06

bledd. said:
Update driver.
Reset firewall
Remove 3rd party firewall

I've done the last two, and the netbook is ancient so it already has the latest 2008 drivers. I suspect it's a compatibility issue with the card, since none of the old faithfuls are coming through for me this time.

bledd · 14 Oct 2013 at 01:38

I imagine there will be a newer driver, get it from the makers of the network card, not the netbook maker

Nevakonaza · 14 Oct 2013 at 01:58

I had issues like this with my laptop..ended up having to pick up a cheap micro USB Wireless Adapter and bypass the built in.

bledd · 14 Oct 2013 at 07:52

It's easy to replace the internal module with another model too. Saves wasting a usb port

oll3h · 14 Oct 2013 at 08:54

Try locking down the mode that the wireless adapter uses in device manager if possible. So if its set to use wireless N in the device properties change it to b/g etc.

paradigm · 14 Oct 2013 at 08:57

Does the wireless card have it's own WiFi network management, and has it disabled the Wireless Zero Config service?

Windows XP and wireless is a bodged-together joke, not in the least part helped by the shonky software most manufacturers used to bundle with their wireless cards during the XP/Vista era.

Check for any 3rd party wireless configuration software (and uninstall if present), and make sure the built-in Wireless Zero Config service is running and happy.

Devrij · 14 Oct 2013 at 13:23

bledd. said:
I imagine there will be a newer driver, get it from the makers of the network card, not the netbook maker

I'll have a dig, it's an aetheros card so maybe I'll luck out

oll3h said:
Try locking down the mode that the wireless adapter uses in device manager if possible. So if its set to use wireless N in the device properties change it to b/g etc.

g only, but the router is n. Could that be an issue? Is it trying to use n or something?

paradigm said:
Does the wireless card have it's own WiFi network management, and has it disabled the Wireless Zero Config service?

Windows XP and wireless is a bodged-together joke, not in the least part helped by the shonky software most manufacturers used to bundle with their wireless cards during the XP/Vista era.

Check for any 3rd party wireless configuration software (and uninstall if present), and make sure the built-in Wireless Zero Config service is running and happy.

I don't know about zero config, but I have already removed the third party WLAn config rubbish Toshiba dumped on it.

bledd · 14 Oct 2013 at 13:44

http://www.atheros.cz/

linktoinsanity · 14 Oct 2013 at 13:54

Devrij said:
g only, but the router is n. Could that be an issue? Is it trying to use n or something?

No, the router will be sending g to the g adapter. This won't cause an issue.

Nikumba · 14 Oct 2013 at 14:22

You have not mentioned it but have you turned the router off and on at the power?

Tried a different wireless password?

Hardware reset the router?

Caged · 14 Oct 2013 at 16:00

A mate of mine had a Samsung netbook that did this, and it turned out the wifi adapter had given up somehow. A new internal one was about £15, and we bought an Intel one because it's not worth the hassle of dealing with half the crap out there.

RHS · 14 Oct 2013 at 16:18

Wireless Zero Config is a sure fire way to knacker up your wifi settings in general, I used to have a 3Com wifi dongle and it would not work when WZC was used. Disable the service and then try and I bet it will work fine.

Devrij · 14 Oct 2013 at 16:38

RHS said:
Wireless Zero Config is a sure fire way to knacker up your wifi settings in general, I used to have a 3Com wifi dongle and it would not work when WZC was used. Disable the service and then try and I bet it will work fine.

What so I just go into the services and stop it?

And yes, I have done the rebooting/unplugging/shaking/pleading with the router to no avail.

The netbook does work on other networks, so I'm hoping it's a software issue I can resolve somewhere. She's only using the netbook because she's too broke to replace the PSU in her desktop (which incidentally also had issues using wifi using a dongle on the same network), so replacing the wifi adapter is not really going to be worth it.