Help me not throw my computer out a window.

December 27, 2011 7:10 AM

For some crazy reason, our netbook doesn't recognize our wireless router. Help!

Ok we just installed a wireless router at my parents house. My netbook sees it, kindles see it, cell phones see it, but my parents' netbook does not. It can only go online if it's plugged into the modem or router. The weird thing is, this netbook went all over the world and was always able to recognize wireless signals. But for some reason, this time it won't. Yes I've rebooted each machine.

When I go to the network and sharing center and click on "connect to a network", the one for our house is listed. But when I click connect, it says "Windows was unable to connect to network." That's it - no error message or anything.

Any suggestions? I'm so bad with computers, so please assume I don't know how to do anything obvious.

posted by silverstatue to Computers & Internet (23 answers total)

Are you sure the authentication scheme (WEP vs. WPA, usually) is set correctly?

Do you know how to export your router's config and then restore it? If so, export it and reset the router. Set it up with the same SSID (name), but "open" (no password). Can your netbook connect? If it can't at that point, I'd get a new router.
posted by mkultra at 7:21 AM on December 27, 2011

Response by poster: But the router works for every other device! I'm on my netbook right now and it works fine. It's just theirs that doesn't work, which makes me think I have to configure something on their netbook.
posted by silverstatue at 7:24 AM on December 27, 2011

Is it set to 802.11a only or 802.11n on 5GHz only? I've wanted to run 5GHz here, everything except the iPhone supports it, and the 5GHz band has much less contention, but if I do, everything connects except the iPhone, which only has a 2.4GHz radio block.
posted by eriko at 7:53 AM on December 27, 2011

Maybe the router is set to Wireless-N only, and the Netbook only supports Wireless-G (which is what most of the routers "around the world" are probably using).

See if your router supports using Wireless-N AND Wireless-G at the same time.

Pretty much what Eriko is saying above.
posted by backwards guitar at 7:54 AM on December 27, 2011

Is it possible that that router is 802.11n, configured not to fall back to g or b, and that the problem netbook only has 802.11b/g hardware?
posted by Edogy at 7:55 AM on December 27, 2011

Response by poster: According to the router specs, it says it's "certified to work with 802.11b, g and n wireless providers".
posted by silverstatue at 7:59 AM on December 27, 2011

Did a switch/button on the netbook get accidentally turned off.
posted by rmhsinc at 8:01 AM on December 27, 2011

According to the router specs, it says it's "certified to work with 802.11b, g and n wireless providers".

Some routers won't do both bands at the same time.
posted by backwards guitar at 8:03 AM on December 27, 2011

Response by poster: rmhsinc, there are no physical switches/buttons on this netbook model. I just got off the phone with Toshiba tech support and they weren't able to get it working either. So frustrated!
posted by silverstatue at 8:25 AM on December 27, 2011

So it's a Toshiba netbook. Can you tell us the model number, and also what is the make and model of the router?
posted by Edogy at 8:52 AM on December 27, 2011

Reset the router to not have any security at all, try to connect the netbook. If it connects, then it is a problem with the router security settings.
posted by k8t at 10:13 AM on December 27, 2011

Response by poster: The computer is a Toshiba NB305. The router is a Cisco Linksys E1000, 2.4 GHz Band.
posted by silverstatue at 10:26 AM on December 27, 2011

What are the security settings on the router? Some (but not all) hardware has problems with routers set to "WPA/WPA2" if there's a setting that is just "WPA2," try switching the router to that. This is a common but subtle problem that many people run into.
posted by strangecargo at 10:37 AM on December 27, 2011

Response by poster: How can I figure out the security settings on my router? I really think its a problem with the netbook, not the router, because the wireless indicator on the netbook is glowing orange instead of blue. As if the wireless capability has been disabled somehow.
posted by silverstatue at 10:40 AM on December 27, 2011

Most wireless routers have a web interface for administration. This is usually the default URL for the E1000. According to this site, the default username is blank and the default password is "admin", but whoever set up the router may have changed those settings.
posted by strangecargo at 10:46 AM on December 27, 2011

Response by poster: Sorry to be thread-sitting..... OK I got into the security settings and it was set to "WPA2 personal".
posted by silverstatue at 10:56 AM on December 27, 2011

Like everybody else has said, try disabling your router security settings altogether. If you still can't connect the netbook, something is wrong with the netbook. If you *can* connect, the problem is some sort of incompatibility between the netbook and your router. In that case, try to run system update on the netbook to make sure that everything is up-to-date.
posted by strangecargo at 11:11 AM on December 27, 2011

Is there a "radio"/"wireless" key in your function keys that was accidentally turned off. Although i think Toshiba Support would have checked this. Also--completely turn off/shutdown your netbook and terminate all power to your router and modem including any back up battery. Reboot modem and router and then netbook.
posted by rmhsinc at 11:37 AM on December 27, 2011 [1 favorite]

We have our router set up to filter wireless connections by MAC address and disallow any MAC addresses that are not on the white list.

If you try to wirelessly connect to the router via a computer whose MAC address is not on the list, you get a message similar to the error message you report.

You router probably has MAC address filtering capabilities for wireless connections and it is just possible that feature is turned on. If so you could try turning it off and see what happens.

More about MAC addresses and why this is a useful feature for routers, here.
posted by flug at 11:48 AM on December 27, 2011

The orange light suggests that somehow the wireless on your netbook is turned off. Go to My Computer>open>device manager>wifi adapters>click to open and make sure they are working properly and check drivers and make sure they are not disabled. frustrating I know
posted by rmhsinc at 12:02 PM on December 27, 2011

On the netbook, try holding the blue key in the lower-left labled Fn, then hit F8 and see if that changes the light from orange to blue.
posted by Edogy at 12:58 PM on December 27, 2011

Does the key happen to contain a space character? This caused problems on an old netbook of mine (other manu).
posted by melt away at 2:45 PM on December 27, 2011

Is the router broadcasting SSID? Some Windows 7 machines have a problem connecting if you're not broadcasting. (can't find a source - I just had the same problem with a Win7 netbook a year or so ago)
posted by getawaysticks at 6:38 AM on December 30, 2011