Solved: Windows 7 laptop cannot connect to home network.

For some reason my cousin is now unable to connect his Toshiba Windows 7 laptop to my home network. I don't understand why I'm able to connect with my Toshiba Vista laptop but he cannot We've had this same problem before, but I can't recall what we did to fix it. For what it's worth, my router is a BELKIN N F5D8236-4 ver. 1, and I'm pretty sure my Security is WPA - Personal and my Encryption Type is TKIP.

The strange thing is that last night and this morning the situation was reversed. He was connected to my network while I had lost my laptop connection and was unable to reconnect last night and this morning. When I tried connecting I kept getting the message "Connected with Limited Access," but I couldn't get online. Out of frustration I went in and fiddled with my network settings. Actually, I believe I went in and created a new network, although I used the same network name. I let the computer choose my new security key/passphrase, which I entered and, voila, I was back online immediately. When my cousin came in I gave him the new security key/passphrase and told him he'd probably need it to get online. Unfortunately, it didn't work for him. So now the situation has been changed to where I'm online and he isn't.

As I said, this same sort of situation happened at least once or twice before a few months back. There was a time when he could get online and I couldn't, and then there was another time when I could get online and he couldn't. It's too bad I can't remember what we did to finally straighten things out. I'm pretty sure the solution was quite simple. I would greatly appreciate hearing from anyone who can tell me what must be done in order to get both of us back online simultaneously.

(This is probably a stupid question, but could the directional positioning of the router be affecting his ability to connect? Even if that were a possibility, I don't believe that was the answer the last time we had this problem.)

Thank you.

 

Is he putting in the correct WPA code?

 

I'm pretty sure he entered the correct WPA code, but he's asleep now, so I'll have to ask him in the morning. Thank you for your reply.

 

By the way, how do I bring up my Security and Encryption settings? Where do I have to go to find them? Like I said, I believe they're (1) PERSONAL and (2) TKIP, although I'm not certain of that.

Also, I have File Sharing turned off. Must it be turned on for my cousin to be able to connect?

(Also turned off are Sharing & Discovery, Network Discovery, Public Folder Sharing, Printer Sharing, & Media Sharing. Should any of them be turned on?)

 

Those settings shouldn't matter.

The security settings will be found on your router setup page. Usually you enter that with a 192.168.XXXX --- unless you changed it, you can google to find the default IP number for the router page.

 

Okay, I found them: WPA - Personal and TKIP.

Still, I wonder if having File Sharing turned ON would make any difference.

 

No, file sharing is for inside the network. You only need to enable that if you plan on sharing anything from computer to computer.

 

That's what I thought. Thanks again for your input.

I guess I'll resume addressing this problem in the morning.

 

Sounds good. Until tomorrow

 

At this point I'm still at a loss as to what to do. Would it make sense to once again create a new network and get a new passphrase? Since it didn't work the first time, I doubt that doing it again would solve the problem. Should I try unplugging the modem and router for several minutes before reconnecting them? Should I press the Reset button on the router?

I'm open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

 

First off, How to Remove Stored Wireless Network Profiles for XP, Vista, and Windows 7, then search for the network and try to connect again. Make SURE you're using the correct encryption key, and CASE MATTERS!

If that doesn't work, I'd like to see this.

Download and run this Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector, click the Networks link on the upper left and paste a screen shot of that screen here. Note that this application requires NET Framework to run. If you get an error about a missing function, download and install NET Framework.


To post a screen shot of the active window, hold the Alt key and press the PrtScn key. Open the Windows PAINT application and Paste the screen shot. You can then use PAINT to trim to suit, and save it as a JPG format file. To upload it to the forum, open the full reply window and use the Manage Attachments button to upload it here.

 

Thank you very much for your help.

Now that you've mentioned it, I believe that deleting a profile was exactly what I had to do a few months back in order to allow both of us to get back online simultaneously.

I just went in and removed the OWNER-PC_Network profile from my Vista laptop. Then I disconnected from my home network and reconnected without any problem. Of course, the problem of the moment has been with my cousin's Windows 7 laptop. When he comes in from work I'll tell him to try to get online. I believe he should be able to. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again.

 

Great, hope it's really that simple.

 

Unfortunately, it must not have been that simple.

I'm out of town now and tonight I got a message from my cousin who's staying at my house. He said he still can't get online. I presume he entered the case-sensitive passphrase correctly and that he was using the proper security and encryption settings. It'll probably be a week or so before I return home, so I guess I'll have to postpone dealing with the problem until then. I figure there's not much I can do about it at the moment since I'm 150 miles from home. Also, even though he's staying at my house, I doubt there's anything my cousin could do to help

I'm wondering if simply removing the OWNER-PC_Network profile was all that needed to be done, especially now that my cousin tells me he still can't get online. I can't understand why both of us can't get online using the same passphrase. Should I also remove my main network profile and then start from scratch and create a new network with a new passphrase?

I'm still open to any suggestions which might help.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

I'd start anew