Comments on: Firefox to Internet

Question: Firefox to Internet

jefficator — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 18:41:30 -0800

Why won't my laptop connect to my wi-fi? :-(

I have a Dell laptop and a wireless network in my apartment. When I start up my laptop, browsing the internet works just fine. If I close it, though, when I reopen, Firefox won't let me browse! Apparently I'm still connected to the internet--Trillian connects just fine--but Firefox won't connect.

What gives? :-(

By: cmiller

cmiller — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:00:00 -0800

Sounds fishy. Firefox and Trillian are similar, in terms of how they operate.

What does "close it" and "reopen" mean?

Suppose you try other tools? Give us more data points about tools that work and don't work.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:10:07 -0800

What does IE do? (Yes, I know, but just try it.)

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:13:14 -0800

Another thing to try: when Firefox won't work, can you ping Google?

From a command prompt, type "ping google.com". If that works, it not only means that the network connection is open; it also means you have access to a DNS. If that doesn't work because of a name lookup failure, try "ping 72.14.207.99". (That's Google's IP.)

By: jourman2

jourman2 — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:14:03 -0800

I think you are referring to closing the lid of the laptop, correct?

If so, I have a Dell laptop as well and something similar would happen to me (on a wired Ethernet network though). Something similar would happen sometimes when I used "Stand By" in windows.

For me, at least, the closing the laptop lid thing was cured going to Power in ctrl panel ---> Advanced and change "when I close the laptop lid" to "do nothing".

Hope it helps.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:14:24 -0800

Yet another thought: are you trying to use a copy of Firefox you had running when you put the system to sleep? Try killing it off and starting a new instance, and see what that does.

By: jefficator

jefficator — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:14:45 -0800

I'm sorry...I worded that incorrectly.

If I close my laptop, when I reopen the laptop, this problem occurs. Every indication is given that I am connected to the internet via my wi-fi. The bars are at full-strength on my wi-fi meter, and Trillian connects both to yahoo and AIM. But Firefox won't connect to a website!! I have to restart every time.

By: jourman2

jourman2 — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:14:58 -0800

Also you can try disabling the wireless connection then re- enabling it when the problem arose. I seem to recall that helped too.

By: jourman2

jourman2 — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:15:37 -0800

* arises

By: jefficator

jefficator — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:18:27 -0800

I have disconnected from my WiFi server and reconnected, to no avail. I have reset the receiver. I have even tried using IE. Nothing works!

By: meta x zen

meta x zen — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:50:29 -0800

I was having really weird Wi-Fi problems with my laptop and my computer tech friend found out that my lappy came with two diffferent wireless device "managers" installed.

I'm not a computer person and I could ask him - but he said there was the default wireless software and some extra one as well fighting over the connection.... I'll email him and see if he can clarify that... but I had similiar issues.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:01:53 -0800

Two different things:

1) Try disabling and reenabling the wifi- not simply disconnecting.
Open Network Connection (Start --> Settings --> Control Panel --> Network Connections). Right click on the wireless connection and disable. Wait a minute and enable it (depending on what you meant, disconnecting can be the same thing or different than what I what I'm referring to). See if WiFi works now.

2) Go back to your Control Panel and open Power Options. I don't have a laptop on hand, but there's a section with an option for what to do when you close the lid. Most laptop defaults are set to "stanby." Change this to "do nothing" or "turn of monitor." I'm thinking that closing your laptop causes it to go on some kind of power-down mode turning off your WiFi and thus causing things to be screwy so we need to prevent the power-downing from happening.'

By: IndigoRain

IndigoRain — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:04:00 -0800

If your Wifi is passworded (as it should be), go into the wifi properties window and re-enter the password. (On XP SP2, I click the network icon in the systray, hit Properties -> Wireless Network tab -> select the connection -> properties -> re-enter the password, then hit OK in the boxes you have open.

For some reason my laptop doesn't always hang onto the password when I put it to sleep.

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:26:13 -0800

You might also want to check the properties of your wireless adapter. They'll often have power saving properties of their own.

For example, I have a Wireless-G adapter on this laptop. Under the properties of the Wireless Network Connection, I click on Configure and select the Advanced tab. There I've got Power Save Mode set to Disabled. Some cards will have a Power Management tab with a checkbox to Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.

By: humblepigeon

humblepigeon — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 01:57:47 -0800

Set the computer to hibernate, rather than sleep, when the lid is closed. The computer will take a little longer to start but it still won't be as long as a complete reboot. You'll also save a little electricity compared to entering standby mode.

By: cmiller

cmiller — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 05:58:20 -0800

Nothing works!

This is why I gave up tech support. Is that a sweeping incorrect generalization, or a contradiction that Trillian does indeed work?

By: Joe in Australia

Joe in Australia — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 20:21:48 -0800

You can try this batch file I made for myself:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Use a text editor and save this in text format. Rename it to DNSclear.bat (or really any name followed by .bat) Clicking on it will clear your DNS cache which might help, or not. I have lots of trouble with my WiFi and this is one of the rituals I try.

By: whatisish

whatisish — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:05:57 -0800

What OS... Vista?

By: whatisish

whatisish — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:34:28 -0800

From a command promt:

ipconfig /flushdns

???

Make a bat file if it works maybe.

By: whatisish

whatisish — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:37:43 -0800

The above suggestion is one of many stolen from this thread.

DNS issues seem to make sense given that Trillain works.

Keep us updated.

By: whatisish

whatisish — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:41:39 -0800

Oh, and does the "Fix Problem" button in Network Magic actually fix this problem? That might help diagnose it.

By: whatisish

whatisish — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 21:52:42 -0800

Another possible helpful thread.