Wireless connection problems, please help!!!

MistahBean

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2
Okay so this is my first post and I am hoping I am putting it in the right location. The problem I am having is that my laptop (Lenovo T61) will not connect to the internet wirelessly. It does however connect to the internet through a wired connection. The strange thing is it will connect to the network, but from there it will not connect to the internet. No other devices in the household are having this problem, 2 other laptops, ipad, itouch, iphone, multiple kindles, and an android phone, all of them connect to the internet with no issues at all. I have tried resetting the router numerous times, enabling and disabling my wireless adapter, reacquiring ip addresses, I really cannot find a solution. I am not extremely tech savvy so im sure there are options out there I have not tried but I have browsed similar forums on similar issues and have not had successful results. Please, please help me solve this problem. I start school soon and I need the wireless to be working when I get there.
 
The strange thing is it will connect to the network, but from there it will not connect to the internet. No other devices in the household are having this problem, 2 other laptops, ipad, itouch, iphone, multiple kindles, and an android phone, all of them connect to the internet with no issues at all. I have tried resetting the router numerous times, enabling and disabling my wireless adapter, reacquiring ip addresses, I really cannot find a solution. I am not extremely tech savvy so im sure there are options out there I have not tried but I have browsed similar forums on similar issues and have not had successful results. Please, please help me solve this problem. I start school soon and I need the wireless to be working when I get there.

Sounds like you have too many devices connected to the internet.
First, take some devices from off the internet connection and then try again.
If you know anything about routers wireless channel and security set it accordingly.
Change Your Wi-Fi Router Channel to Optimize Your Wireless Signal - How-To Geek
Setup a security for your network if you need it, make sure you are connected to your own home group and not someone elses.
Stuff like this, can be easily fixed, if you know whats stopping you from fully connecting to the internet.

What type of router do you have by chance, it would help to know so that we could give you a better wireless setup to prevent this from happening again.
 
Sounds like you have too many devices connected to the internet.
First, take some devices from off the internet connection and then try again.
If you know anything about routers wireless channel and security set it accordingly.
Change Your Wi-Fi Router Channel to Optimize Your Wireless Signal - How-To Geek
Setup a security for your network if you need it, make sure you are connected to your own home group and not someone elses.
Stuff like this, can be easily fixed, if you know whats stopping you from fully connecting to the internet.

What type of router do you have by chance, it would help to know so that we could give you a better wireless setup to prevent this from happening again.

By default, DHCP limit on routers is set very high most of the time; wouldn't be limited to say 10 (every router I've seen is default to like 50 or some other high number for a home). And if he already has 7+ devices able to connect to wifi... I doubt it's something wrong with his wifi; and I'm doubting that all of those devices are always on / always connected to the wifi.

Have you tried checking to see if you could find updated wireless drivers for your Thinkpad, since it's the only one not able to connect?
 
By default, DHCP limit on routers is set very high most of the time; wouldn't be limited to say 10 (every router I've seen is default to like 50 or some other high number for a home). And if he already has 7+ devices able to connect to wifi... I doubt it's something wrong with his wifi; and I'm doubting that all of those devices are always on / always connected to the wifi.

Have you tried checking to see if you could find updated wireless drivers for your Thinkpad, since it's the only one not able to connect?

I have tried connecting even when it is the only device on and it still doesn't work so I don't think that is the issue either. I tried updating the wireless adapters driver yesterday but it said it was fully updated despite the date of the update being from 2008. I tried to do the automatic and manual update and the automatic was the one that gave me the message and manual one but it still wasn't showing a newer version. Does this sound ever more like this could be the problem? In spring of 2011 I got a virus that in order to get rid of I had to restore to factory settings, I have ALWAYS used a wired connection since then because I really only use my computer at my desk. But now I have gotten a new desktop that I use the wired connection for and I plan on taking my laptop to take notes in law school.
 
Some things to check:

What are the results of the laptop when you run ipconfig from the command line while on wifi?
Check the adapter settings on the laptop to verify IP and DNS are set to obtain automatically.
When connected via wifi can you ping any sites by name? How about by ip?
 
I have tried connecting even when it is the only device on and it still doesn't work so I don't think that is the issue either. I tried updating the wireless adapters driver yesterday but it said it was fully updated despite the date of the update being from 2008. I tried to do the automatic and manual update and the automatic was the one that gave me the message and manual one but it still wasn't showing a newer version. Does this sound ever more like this could be the problem? In spring of 2011 I got a virus that in order to get rid of I had to restore to factory settings, I have ALWAYS used a wired connection since then because I really only use my computer at my desk. But now I have gotten a new desktop that I use the wired connection for and I plan on taking my laptop to take notes in law school.


Hmm, for starters what os are you running, what type nic or wireless device product do you use ?
If you have had it for awhile and it's starting to wear out on you, which is what I think is the case, you might want to invest in something new. ;)
When you have a chance, look at your network icon in your taskbar see what it says and do what lex said.
If there are no new drivers for your current nic and it's still messed up maybe time to move on.

802.11n/g/b 150Mbps Mini USB WiFi Wireless Adapter Network LAN Card w/Antenna | eBay
Just in case you decide to buy a new wireles nic, try this one out, bought this in the middle of july when my netgear wpn111 finally died after 4 years.
Very easy to use and can used for desktop or your lappy, just make sure it stays in semi cool environment so the speed will stay high and active.

By default, DHCP limit on routers is set very high most of the time; wouldn't be limited to say 10 (every router I've seen is default to like 50 or some other high number for a home). And if he already has 7+ devices able to connect to wifi... I doubt it's something wrong with his wifi; and I'm doubting that all of those devices are always on / always connected to the wifi.

Sorry, but I dont fully agree with your reply Carne, not "ALL" routers can handle more than 10 devices at a time, also depends on what type you have.
Some are for homes, Homeffice/Media/Gaming or all of the above.
"basic routers to professional routers"

I have tried connecting even when it is the only device on and it still doesn't work so I don't think that is the issue either. I tried updating the wireless adapters driver yesterday but it said it was fully updated despite the date of the update being from 2008. I tried to do the automatic and manual update and the automatic was the one that gave me the message and manual one but it still wasn't showing a newer version. Does this sound ever more like this could be the problem? In spring of 2011 I got a virus that in order to get rid of I had to restore to factory settings, I have ALWAYS used a wired connection since then because I really only use my computer at my desk. But now I have gotten a new desktop that I use the wired connection for and I plan on taking my laptop to take notes in law school.


Hmm, for starters what os are you running, what type nic or wireless device product do you use ?
If you have had it for awhile and it's starting to wear out on you, which is what I think is the case, you might want to invest in something new. ;)
When you have a chance, look at your network icon in your taskbar see what it says and do what lex said.
If there are no new drivers for your current nic and it's still messed up maybe time to move on.

802.11n/g/b 150Mbps Mini USB WiFi Wireless Adapter Network LAN Card w/Antenna | eBay
Just in case you decide to buy a new wireles nic, try this one out, bought this in the middle of july when my netgear wpn111 finally died after 4 years.
Very easy to use and can be used for desktop or your lappy, just make sure it stays in semi cool environment so the speed will stay high and active.
 
I have tried connecting even when it is the only device on and it still doesn't work so I don't think that is the issue either. I tried updating the wireless adapters driver yesterday but it said it was fully updated despite the date of the update being from 2008. I tried to do the automatic and manual update and the automatic was the one that gave me the message and manual one but it still wasn't showing a newer version. Does this sound ever more like this could be the problem? In spring of 2011 I got a virus that in order to get rid of I had to restore to factory settings, I have ALWAYS used a wired connection since then because I really only use my computer at my desk. But now I have gotten a new desktop that I use the wired connection for and I plan on taking my laptop to take notes in law school.
Have you tried going directly to Lenovo's website to get the wifi driver? What chipset is the card (check through device manger > network connections > find the wireless card and it should list the brand), e.g. is it Intel, Broadcom, etc.?

Some things to check:

What are the results of the laptop when you run ipconfig from the command line while on wifi?
Check the adapter settings on the laptop to verify IP and DNS are set to obtain automatically.
When connected via wifi can you ping any sites by name? How about by ip?
Good call, I always forget to check the IP/DNS settings first. That's come to bite me several times lol.

Sorry, but I dont fully agree with your reply Carne, not "ALL" routers can handle more than 10 devices at a time, also depends on what type you have.
Some are for homes, Homeffice/Media/Gaming or all of the above.
"basic routers to professional routers"


Hmm, for starters what os are you running, what type nic or wireless device product do you use ?
If you have had it for awhile and it's starting to wear out on you, which is what I think is the case, you might want to invest in something new.
When you have a chance, look at your network icon in your taskbar see what it says and do what lex said.
If there are no new drivers for your current nic and it's still messed up maybe time to move on.

802.11n/g/b 150Mbps Mini USB WiFi Wireless Adapter Network LAN Card w/Antenna | eBay
Just in case you decide to buy a new wireles nic, try this one out, bought this in the middle of july when my netgear wpn111 finally died after 4 years.
Very easy to use and can be used for desktop or your lappy, just make sure it stays in semi cool environment so the speed will stay high and active.

And I don't fully agree with you either, Mike. All of the routers I've owned or worked on can handle more than 10 by default. This is anywhere from the low-end Linksys / Netgear routers, to business-grade AP's. My I remember limiting DOWN my Linksys WRT54G to 10 from it's default 30 (or something like that).

Although, that's a moot point since the OP just said that he's tried it when it was the only device on the network.

And if the wifi card was starting to wear out, then either he would be able to connect sometimes and the connection would randomly drop, or he wouldn't even be able to see any networks at all - those are usually the signs of a dying wifi card.

Also, the Thinkpad T61 isn't that old. I had a T61p, and that was only made in 2009 - so I'm sure the normal T61 was made around that time as well. Three years for a Thinkpad isn't that long..
 
Have you tried going directly to Lenovo's website to get the wifi driver? What chipset is the card (check through device manger > network connections > find the wireless card and it should list the brand), e.g. is it Intel, Broadcom, etc.?
And I don't fully agree with you either, Mike. All of the routers I've owned or worked on can handle more than 10 by default.

Its official then, you don't agree with what I say I don't agree with what you say.
We're not talking about 2 name brand routers only, next time your out shopping have a look at the products and the main default specs.
I know what I know is true and so do you for that matter.
I'm tired of talking about this with you, so lets just help him out and drop the petty chat. :\
 
Its official then, you don't agree with what I say I don't agree with what you say.
We're not talking about 2 name brand routers only, next time your out shopping have a look at the products and the main default specs.
I know what I know is true and so do you for that matter.
I'm tired of talking about this with you, so lets just help him out and drop the petty chat. :\
Those were just 2 brands that are the most common that people buy from a store, not necessarily the only ones.

And I was helping him out, hence his quoted reply and my text with suggestions underneath it...
 
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