Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with laptop and wireless

Laptop connects to wireless network but not to internet

criticalbill — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:50:55 -0800

Laptop (running Vista) connects to home wireless network full strength but not to internet. The other laptop (OS X) connects to internet wirelessly no problem. The Vista laptop can connect the internet via ethernet cable. This seems to be a common problem but i cannot find an appropriate solution The Vista laptop is not new, but it is new to my house; it connected to a wireless network previously.

Things I have discovered while looking through replies to similar questions: The Vista laptop has been assigned the correct IP number (which has a different last digit to the OS X one). DHCP is enabled. Node type is Hybrid. The wireless adapter driver is working. When I try to ipconfig /release it tells me: The requested operation requires elevation.

How can I maximize my laptop's ability to pick up wireless signal?

btkuhn — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:25:00 -0800

How can I maximize my laptop's ability to pick up wireless signal? Hi everyone,

I don't have regular internet access at the moment because I am traveling and staying at a (crappy) hotel for 2-3 months. Dialup is not an option because of the way the hotel's phones are set up - they are digital and I wold get charged for making calls anyways. My hotel doesn't have wireless internet but a nearby apartment complex does. I can just barely connect to their network on a good day, but it cuts in and out because I am on the outer bounds of the network. I have permission to use the wireless network, but I am just barely out of range. What is the best way to strengthen things on my end?

I have already borrowed a friend's Wireless USB network adapter - the one pictured here - which is about as strong as a wireless card you can buy, but it doesn't seem to pick up signal much better. I am reading stuff about making a coffee can directional antenna or pringles can antenna, but these would both involve building something, which I don't really have the tools for at my current location. Also, I don't understand how I would connect the antenna to the computer itself anyways. My laptop has an internal wireless antenna (like most laptops) with no external connector, and the Belkin doesn't have an external connector either.

So, what is the best way to expand my wireless pickup ability? I am willing to purchase additional products if necessary.

Thanks!

Reselecting local wireless network

diode — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:35:14 -0800

A friend of mine has a 1 Ghz Apple TiBook. He has to reselect his local wireless router in the wireless menu each time the laptop sleeps or is rebooted. What's the fix for this? The problem mentioned is a bit of a nuisance. The Airport connection to the local 2wire router doesn't stay set. The connection in OS X 10.4 keeps getting lost somehow, so the user has to go to the wireless menu and reselect his local network each time the system sleeps or reboots.

We fiddled with it a bit to no great success. What else could I try or look at to get this working right?

wirless connection slow down

tangyraspberry — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:39:50 -0800

Can anyone suggest a remedy for a slowed up wireless connection? My p.c., laptop's wireless connection has mysteriously slowed way down even though my wife's connection speed (we both work at home) remains strong. I purchased and swept my laptop multiple times with an anti-malware program which found and rid my p.c of several viruses. The program now shows my system is free of all viruses yet the problem continues.

Local Apache server + public wireless = problem?

oulipian — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 11:41:26 -0800

I have a new EeePC 1000HE with Windows XP, which I want to use for both web development and casual web browsing. Are there security issues with installing Apache and PHP on a machine that is also used to access public wireless internet? If so, what steps can I take to make my netbook more secure?

I am looking for a signal booster that will play nicely on my laptop which has Vista.

cheero — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:45:18 -0800

I am looking for a signal booster that will play nicely on my laptop which has Vista. People recommended EnGenius USB Device but from what I gathered on Amazon, it does not work past XP. I basically need something that I can take with my on the go. Intel GMA 4500MHD / Intel Wi-Fi / 10/100 Eth is what came with my laptop. Is there a signal booster compatible with Vista?

J'ai ce travail à faire, Montréal

asuprenant — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:48:23 -0800

What are good spots (cafes, libraries, etc.) for laptopping in Montreal? I'm working remotely in Montreal for a week. Where should I go to spend some time working on my laptop while also seeing a bit of the city?

Basics
Wireless network, electrical outlets, can comfortably stay for a few hours, accessible via public transit

Gravy
Atmosphere, nice music, good food, great coffee

Self-Derailing Bonus Round!
Any must-see stops (hilarious roadside attractions, etc.) on the drive between Montreal and NYC? I'd love to hear about them!

How to show computer desktop and video on LCD TV

atm — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 05:40:53 -0800

Hi, I'm looking for a way to show my computer's desktop on my large LCD TV so my wife and I can both see it. I have a used an s-video cable (along with an audio cable) from my laptop to the TV, but there are three problems with this method. 1) requires a reboot of my laptop to make it recognize the TV and play to it 2) text is blurry on the TV due to TV's unsuitability for acting as a computer monitor 3) requires the s-video cable to be plugged into the otherwise wirelessly connected laptop So I'm looking for a solution that will eliminate these problems. Like maybe something that will just play my desktop as a video signal to the TV and not try to make the TV into another monitor of my computer. Also, I'm not looking for HDTV quality, just watchable video (internet quality would be fine.) Thanks!

Help me find and fix my wifi card problem.

philomathoholic — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 13:05:46 -0800

I've replaced my wireless card, but my laptop still intermittently locks up. The problem occurs whether I'm running XP or Ubuntu, and disappears when I disable the wifi in bios. * I assume the freezes are related to when the card is transmitting.
* Ubuntu will work fine until it connects to an AP. Then it immediately has problems.
* XP has problems on the login screen, but works great (immediately) after disabling the wifi (via the wifi-radio button).
* Both XP and Ubuntu are fully up to date.

* My laptop is an HP Pavilion dv5000 (custom build), with a Broadcom mini-pci a/b/g wlan card.
* I thought the old card was the culprit, so I replaced it with an identical one from HP, but the problem remains.
* Ethernet works fine.

Should I suspect the motherboard? Do people replace the motherboard on laptops? Isn't that expensive? Don't people just replace the laptop instead?

What else could/should I be checking, to narrow down the problem?

Why does my laptop disconnect every 3 minutes?

sliderjc — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:49:33 -0800

Why does windows disconnect from my wireless network every 3 minutes? My windows xp installation disconnects every 3 minutes (to the second) but not my ubuntu installation on the same laptop. My housemates laptops don't do this, only mine. How can I fix this, i'm guessing it must be simple(ish) due to the precise amount of time it stays connected for.

Is my laptop slowing the family desktop?

andythebean — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 14:08:04 -0800

Is my laptop slowing the family desktop? I've just come home from college for the holidays. The family desktop is where the wireless router is hooked up. Since I've been home and using the wifi, the rest of my family has complained that the desktop's connection to the internet has been excruciatingly slow. My laptop, my sister's laptop, and my dad's laptop are all working fine. Is is possible that the recent arrival of my laptop is slowing the connection for the desktop?

Why, why, wi-fi?

sprocket87 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:50:18 -0800

Why does my laptop's wireless network fail to work after resuming from standby, requiring a reboot? The laptop in question is a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop, integrated Dell 802.11g adapter, Windows XP SP2. The adapter works fine and can detect and connect to the networks with no issue, normally. But it freaks out sometimes.

I'll give you a typical scenario:

I open the laptop on my lunch break at work and connect to my office WiFi network (802.11g, WPA, static IP). Works fine, stays connected through lunch. Shut the lid and take the laptop home after work.

Get home, open the laptop. It resumes from standby and I set the IP to DHCP. It sees my home network (802.11g, WPA, DHCP) and tries to connect to it, but fails. I've tried repairing/disable/re-enabling manually, hard-disabling the adapter from the laptop's front switch and re-enabling, and stopping the WZC service (which refuses to restart). When I do a repair, it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to disable/enable the adapter, and stalls at "Connecting" for several minutes, before it finally bails and errors out. No matter what, it won't reconnect until I reboot.

When I reboot it works fine (though the network services seem to take a long time to start). Even if I reboot with the IP still set to my work's static IP, I can change it to DHCP and it connects fine. (Point being that it requires a reboot for the interface to even work, and doesn't appear to be related to static IP vs DHCP)

Even stranger: If I reboot, it works fine until I shut the lid and go to standby again. If I resume, there's a 50/50 chance of it working again. It might work, it might not. It might work for 30 mins and then flake out, and nothing works but a reboot. Last night, for instance, I put the laptop in standby at home, then brought it to work today. I started it from standby during lunch and changed my IP and it connected fine. It died an hour later and wouldn't come back until I rebooted. Eh!??

I think it's a "bigger" network adapter issue. I also have a bluetooth module in the laptop and it works fine all the time, but if the WiFi drops then the Bluetooth doesn't work either. That's not even the same adapter! Is there a service that's flipping out or something?

Please throw any suggestions my way. It's not specifically related to one or even two wifi networks; it happens on whatever network I'm connecting too. It seems like it has to be an adapter issue!

Note that this system was originally Vista but I replaced it with a fresh XP install. Dell does have up-to-date XP drivers though, which I'm running.

Thanks!!

Give me internet and phone too

cashman — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:17:20 -0800

Help me use my phone's internet on my laptop, without disabling the phone. The phone is on Tmobile & has internet access. I want to use the phone's(Dash) internet on a laptop. Apparently you can buy a module that you plug the sim card into and put that into the laptop and voila, free internet access via the internet that the phone has.

But that disables the phone. Of course the option offered by them was to get a second line with internet on it - but no, you can't just get that, you'd have to get a phone plan as well, which ends up being forty or fifty bucks.

How can I have a working phone (at least receive calls) and use the free internet through the phone (Dash)? Is there a way to tap into the internet the phone has without taking the sim card out of the phone?

The phone can't be useless for large blocks of time.
Is there some other option?

Is it required that you need a print server to print over a wifi connection?

zooropa — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 05:46:26 -0800

Is there any way to emulate a print server? This may sound like a weird idea, but I'll ask anyway ...

At home, we have a laptop and a printer. We have a wireless network (802.11b) for our broadband Internet connection. Right now, anytime someone wants to print, you have to physically take the laptop over to the printer, plug in the USB cable, wait for it to come up, and then print.

I'd like to be able to print remotely without having to get up and go to the other room. I understand that you can do this with a print server, but I'd rather not shell out the cash for this at the moment. I'm curious if there is a way you can do this via software emulation. I thought I had heard you can print over a wireless network via software, but i wasn't sure.

Any ideas?

How do I get a Vista laptop over its wireless quirk?

Cricket — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 03:04:05 -0800

Why does my laptop disconnect after it wakes up? At tax time, my husband and I bought new laptops. They're Sony Vaio I-don't-know-the-models running Vista and have generally been great for what we've needed (communications, media, and schoolwork). There's one quirk, though. When either of us opens one of the laptops and enters a password, the internet will work for the first thirty seconds to a minute and look like it's been connected either the whole time or for a while (my IM will either show offline messages or messages that came through--and other people have reported me online when I know the computer was shut). After that first minute or so, the wireless loses connection and thinks there's no network at all for a few minutes. It automatically reconnects after that, and I can't manually reconnect any faster. Is there a reason it does this? Any help for the problem? Google only brought up people who were having problems with reconnecting at all after their Vista laptops woke up.

Routed by my slow router

escabeche — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:24:37 -0800

Why is my brand-new router massively slowing my Internet connection, even when everything's connected with cables? There have been several slow router questions on Ask MeFi, but I couldn't find one that really matched my situation. We recently became a two-laptop family. Our first computer is a Thinkpad T42, which we had been using connected directly to the jack in the wall via Ethernet cable. Nice fast connection. We now have a MacBook Pro, so I bought a router (Belkin Wireless G) and connected that to the wall. The Mac works fine, but the Thinkpad now loads pages very slowly. What confuses me is that this is the case whether I run the Thinkpad on the wireless, or run a short Ethernet cable directly from computer to router. Why should the latter be any different from connecting the Thinkpad directly to the jack?

Some possibly relevant data based on my reading:

* Some posters mentioned that encryption from the router might slow things down. I _tried_ to encrypt the router when I set it up, but I think I failed; at least, I was never prompted for a password when I connected to the wireless on my Mac.

* The Thinkpad can run Linux or Windows XP, and the slowdown happens either way.

* I guess one possibility is that the short cable connecting Thinkpad to router is faulty; I only have one, so I haven't been able to check. Could a bad cable slow down the network connection without cutting it off entirely? It still works fine, just much more slowly.

Thanks for all help!

My laptop, wireless card and VPN Client aren't playing nice.

cholly — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 20:52:45 -0800

My laptop, wireless card and VPN Client aren't playing nice. I recently did a reformat of my laptop and changed from Windows Server 2003 to Windows XP. It is a Dell Latitude X200, if that changes anything. My NetGear WG511v2 wireless card worked fine until I installed a Cisco VPN Client. I've tried to remedy this, but if the VPN is installed, the wireless card cannot be plugged into the computer without starting an endless cycle of Blue Screens of Death and constant reboots. The same combination worked perfectly fine when the laptop was running Server 2003.

An error message tells me that there is a hardware issue, but I can't work out why. I've tried reinstalling drivers, rolling back drivers, installing them in different orders, operating the card with and without the NetGear wireless wizard, and disabling the VPN from automatically booting on startup. I've also checked (and double checked) the Device Manager, and it says that everything is properly installed, until I install the VPN and then it disables the wireless card after I reboot in safe mode and normal mode after the aforementioned Blue Screens of Death.

Is there any hope of fixing this, or should be prepared to fork out for a new card?

Quick fix iMac as monitor for another Apple.

Bengston — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:16:32 -0800

Is there any way that I can easily use my iMac Desktop (Current Intel Model) monitor as a second or primary monitor for my Powerbook using either the wireless network or a monitor adapter? Would using some sort of remote desktop allow me to utilize all the extra monitor space? I just want to use some software that I have on my 12" Powerbook on my friends much larger monitor that is unfortunately also attached to his iMac. Thanks.

Help me get wireless internet working on my Ubuntu laptop.

dkleinst — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 15:36:15 -0800

Help me get wireless internet working in Ubuntu on a Thinkpad R60. I've scoured forums across the internet, but I can't seem to find a process to get wireless running on my (Ubuntu) laptop. Any suggestions?

I think the problem may have to do with the fact that the (built-in) wireless card is PCMIA.

Help me stop sitting on the floor outside the Admiral's Club checking my email.

jessamyn — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:45:11 -0800

Starting in a few weeks I will be doing a lot of travelling with my laptop. Help me choose a wifi provider for airports and possibly other locations. I do not have a cell phone, so I can't add on to a cell phone plan. My home DSL ISP does not have any roaming plan. I would like to be able to access wifi primarily at airports, but hotels and/or other places would be good too. It would help if the plan were international so I could connect when I am in Australia, but other countries don't much matter. I have a MacBook so anything requiring a card is unlikely to serve my purposes, unless there is something I do not know about how they work.

Basically I would like a way to connect to multiple access points per day a small number of days a month [N=3-7 usually] in a fairly hassle-free manner.

I had a Boingo account briefly to try it out and thought it was pretty simple and just worked. Maybe that's the answer, but I'm wondering how the other providers work in terms of a) coverage and b) price, especially "Can I get the price down by paying for a year at a time?" since Boingo was $21.95/mo, no obvious discount for multiple months. Also if there are places to look for deals and/or sales on this sort of thing, please point me in that direction. I have already seen the Free Airport Wifi list. Thanks.

Wifi, come back!

shallowcenter — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:53:34 -0800

Why has my laptop started turning off its wireless radio randomly? Just this morning, after several months of flawless wireless computing, my laptop, a Lenovo, began inexplicably booting me offline. For no apparent reason, my wireless capability suddenty disappears, requiring me to manually turn the wireless radio back on. (it's not a router issue, as, once the wireless radio is on, I have no problem picking up a wireless signal and reconnecting.) Needless to say, this is an enormous pain in the posterior. I searched through the company's online support, but found no help, so before I call/e-mail, I thought I'd throw it out to you folks. Any suggestions? (As always, thanks in advance.)

Laptop can't see secure wireless network. Can you?

Milkman Dan — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 19:24:38 -0800

PC laptop wireless issues: Can’t connect to my secure in-house wireless network. Any smart people able to help? Hey Team Internet,

I’ve got a laptop, and I can’t make it connect to my wireless network.

The wireless connection requires users to be added manually by inputting their fixed and/or wireless MAC addresses. I have added those addresses, and they have certifiably been correctly inputted. The network is not password protected, but will only let pre-authorized computers connect.

My laptop is an Acer TravelMate 280 running Windows XP. The router is a Linksys. In the “Choose a wireless network” box, the network doesn’t even show up as an option. It’s not a matter of distance – the signal is being broadcast from within my house.

When in other locations, I can connect to other wireless networks without any trouble. I can connect fine via a direct plug-in via Ethernet cable. I have another PC laptop that connects fine to the same wireless network. There’s also a new Macbook Pro that can connect fine to the wireless.

Those are the clues to the puzzle! Any ideas how to make this work?

How can I get my laptop to print wirelessly again?

stleric — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:15:48 -0800

How can I get my laptop to print wirelessly to an HP DeskJet 6980 like it used to? Okay, so I've got a ThinkPad T42 with XP Home SP2 and Intel 2200BG.

I bought one of HP's DeskJet 6980 inkjets with wireless built in, and I used to be able to connect and print to it flawlessly for the first few months, but just as soon as I installed this IPSec client for my school's wireless network (I never got the client to work), I couldn't print to my printer wirelessly anymore. My laptop still connects to the printer's ad hoc network, but I can't get access anything that requires communication between the computer and printer (printer status, remaining ink levels, etc.), and every time I attempt to print, the print job hangs for about a minute and I get this message. Trying to ping it through DOS returns some message along the lines of "configuration error." Given that I could never get the IPSec software to work, I uninstalled it, but the problem remained. (Incidentally, the laptop still works just fine with every other wireless network.)

I've tried contacting HP support on the issue both over their online chat (not helpful at all) and their phone number (at least the guy tried), but nothing that they suggested ultimately helped. I've tried different IP and firewall configurations, I've attempted all sorts of ipconfig trickery, I've reset the printer to factory settings several times, and I've uninstalled and reinstalled the printer software probably about 5 or 6 times. Every time, it still works completely the same - it prints fine and easily via USB, it works over an ethernet/patch cable after about 10 minutes of cajoling.

The curious thing, though, is that I can get it to print wirelessly just as easily as it used to when, and only when I connect the computer via ethernet cable to my desktop (which, incidentally, is neither wireless, nor is it connected to the printer). Every time, I connect the cable, the local area network icon in the system tray comes up with the little yellow/exclamation point warning bubble (this happens every time), I select "repair connection," and like magic, not only does this let me access shared folders on the other computer, the wi-fi printing on my laptop works again. I know that repairing the wired connection seems to go through some things like renewing the IP address and clearing (I think) NetBT cache or something to that effect. Nevertheless, after that, every time I wake the computer from standby or restart, I can't print wirelessly again.

So what gives? How can I get my laptop to do whatever it's doing when it connects to the other computer and repairs automatically, or figure out what the IPSec install screwed up in the first place?

If anyone can actually help me out with this, much, much, much thanks - I've been trying to fix this for months...

Coal-burning wifi

sonofsamiam — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 06:54:16 -0800

I have an old laptop and want wireless on it. Are there any wifi cards that fit the OLD pcmcia I/II slots? All the wifi cards I can find are Cardbus-era, which won't even fit in the slot. I don't have USB on this thing either, so that's not an option.

Charming road warrior seeks smart and sassy net protection software for fulfilling relationship.

chrominance — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 23:22:17 -0800

Help this desktop power user protect his new laptop from evil internet demons while using public Wifi hotspots. I am utterly thrilled at the prospect of being able to surf the internet in locations other than my home, but there's one glaring problem to which I don't have a comprehensive solution. You see, my desktop Windows system has been fairly well taken of. Up-to-date antivirus and anti-malware packages and the presence of a hardware firewall have kept my system free of viruses, worms and spyware (yes, it is indeed possible!). I'd like to keep my laptop similarly free of such ailments.

Unfortunately, I can't rely on a hardware firewall when I use public hotspots. I may not know or trust the owners of the open hotspots, for one, and even if I do (thank goodness for the volunteer-based Wireless Toronto!) I can't necessarily trust other wireless users on the same hotspot. And I'm not fooling myself; I know a big reason why my desktop continues to have a clean bill of health is because of that hardware firewall, far more so than the antiviral and anti-malware software.

My experience with software firewalls have led me to believe they are clunky and annoying; an earlier AskMe question also indicates they are unreliable at best. So what should I do to protect my vulnerable laptop from the dangers that await it in the outside world? Are there any firewalls that are at least somewhat effective, and what can I do to patch the holes that remain in my security regimen?

(Please, no "get a Mac" snarks, I already weighed the pros and cons when I bought my laptop and I'm quite happy with my decision despite the superiority of the Mac with regards to internet security.)