Laptop does not see my wireless anymore. Need to restart router each time to connect

[kcaluwae]

All of a sudden my laptop does not connect anymore to my wireless network at home. My wife's laptop still does as does my smartphone. Only thing that has changed is that my wife has a new laptop which connected to this wireless network for the first time the same day as my laptop started having problems.

Workaround is to unplug the router's power and plug it back in. Than suddenly my network appears in the list of wireless networks.

Once connected the connection works fine and is stable. Each time I deconnect I have to do the same workaround.

The wireless network is not found, it's not in the list of networks so a manual connection is not possible. Checking the box to connect even when not broadcasting does not work either.

Security is WEP. Nothing has changed about the setup.

Did anybody have a similar problem before? Any suggestions or tips are mostly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[Slaymate]

Re: Laptop does not see my wireless anymore. Need to restart router each time to con

It sounds like both laptops are trying to use the same IP Address. But I'm not really a network person. Someone should be along shortly to help you out a little better

 

[CntdwnToExtn]

Re: Laptop does not see my wireless anymore. Need to restart router each time to con

First, PLEASE switch to WPA (and preferably WPA2) as WEP is an easily cracked encryption now.

Have you tried to re-install your wireless drivers on your laptop?
Is the SSID hidden? If so, don't hide it (it's pretty much useless to anyway).
Try changing wireless channels (1, 6 or 11).

 

[kcaluwae]

Re: Laptop does not see my wireless anymore. Need to restart router each time to con

Thanks for the reply!
I wanted to upgrade the network security just to discover that I cannot access the wireless routers homepage.

Laptop IP : 192.168.1.22
Wireless router : 192.168.1.15
ADSL router : 192.168.1.1

ADSL router has DHCP enabled and provides addresses in range 192.168.1.16 - 192.168.1.200
Wireless router used to have a fixed IP.

If I use tools from Norton to scan the network I still see the wireless router on the IP given above but it says it's offline...

I also tried to reach the Wireless router from another wired PC. It gives the same problems.

 

[kcaluwae]

A few days later and maybe some more interesting information.

The problem seems to be a conflict between my laptop and the desktop. Today I was working fine on my laptop untill I booted the desktop and suddenly the WIFI connection on my laptop was gone. I checked IP addresses. Desktop got 192.168.1.19, laptop has 192.168.1.22. No conflict. Although the fact that the connection was gone at the moment that the desktop was booted can't just be coïncidence according to me.

A few days ago I discovered that I had a hosts file on my laptop were the IP for my desktop was hardcoded with an alias. The desktop IP that was hardcoded was 192.168.1.22. As this was now the IP of the laptop I thaught this would be causing the problems (some kind of loop) and I removed that entry from the hosts file. It was working fine than for some days and I thaugt I solved the problem. Turns out now it was working fine because I did not use my desktop in that timeframe.

Hope somebody here can give me some advice.

- Wireless drivers reinstalled. (same drivers, more recent version was not available)
- Network is Broadcasting
- Wireless channels can't be changed. I cannot get to my routers homepage (see previous post)

 

[CntdwnToExtn]

IMO, you should just reset the router if you can't get to it cause you don't know really what it's doing now.
Yes, you'll lose configuration settings and they will have to be all re-done. But since you can't get to your router (assuming you've tried to restart it - unplugged for 10 sec) it might be worth it.

May I ask why you are using your ADSL modem as the DHCP, dialer, etc.
I much prefer using "bridge mode" when working with DSL, this way the router controls everything from the dialing, WAN, DHCP, etc. the modem would just be there to modulate/demodulate the signal. This way you don't have to troubleshoot 2 different devices.

 

[kcaluwae]

May I ask why you are using your ADSL modem as the DHCP, dialer, etc.
I much prefer using "bridge mode" when working with DSL, this way the router controls everything from the dialing, WAN, DHCP, etc. the modem would just be there to modulate/demodulate the signal. This way you don't have to troubleshoot 2 different devices.

For no particular reason. At the time I was doing the setup I was happy I got it to work.

I did some research on bridging and more or less understand what it does. Am I correct when I say the only thing I would need changing is the DHCP. Disable on ADSL modem and enable on WIFI router?

I will do a reset of my WIFI router. Hope this solves the wireless problems. Strange I only encounter them on one laptop. Those computer problems are so weird sometimes. I just don't get to see the logic.

Thanks for your help and Merry Christmas! Best wishes and happy holidays!