Windows 7 laptop not connecting to wifi

[16bwhitt]

Hi all,

I have a client who has a Windows 7 laptop that is refusing to connect to their wifi. Their wifi is working fine, as their smartphones, my laptop, etc is working fine. When Windows fails to connect, I run the troubleshooter which says the router is the culprit, but I don't think it is because there are other devices connected to it (heck, they were streaming Netflix on their Smart TV as I was there!)

To try to resolve this issue, I have
1) Restarted their router
2) Forget said network
3) Remove network profile and try to reconnect
4) Remove all profiles from the registry and through command prompt
5) Installed a wireless USB dongle and disabled the wifi adapter

None of that works - and it is frustrating me. I do not know what else to try, and I really do not want to do a N+P.

Thank you!

 

[Computer Bloke]

Can you upgrade it to OSX Sierra? I'm told that fixes everything.

Failing that, what error message do you get when it fails to connect? What does IPCONFIG /ALL say? Has someone set a static IP address or a weird DNS server? Is IPv4 turned off? Is there a VPN installed? If so, was it installed by a teenager? Can you do a System Restore to a time when it still worked? (Did it ever work?) Have you tried turning the internal adapter back on and throwing Snappy Driver Installer at it? How about Tweaking.com's Windows Repair tool?

What channel does their WiFi use? (Some devices don't like channel 1 or 11-13.) Is it 802.11b, g, n, ac, and does the computer support that? Does it use 40MHz bandwidth? (Some older machines only work at 20MHz.)

Does it work using an Ethernet cable?

Does it work on your WiFi network? Or a hotspot on your smartphone?

 

[glennd]

Hi all,

I have a client who has a Windows 7 laptop that is refusing to connect to their wifi. Their wifi is working fine, as their smartphones, my laptop, etc is working fine. When Windows fails to connect, I run the troubleshooter which says the router is the culprit, but I don't think it is because there are other devices connected to it (heck, they were streaming Netflix on their Smart TV as I was there!)

To try to resolve this issue, I have
1) Restarted their router
2) Forget said network
3) Remove network profile and try to reconnect
4) Remove all profiles from the registry and through command prompt
5) Installed a wireless USB dongle and disabled the wifi adapter

None of that works - and it is frustrating me. I do not know what else to try, and I really do not want to do a N+P.

Thank you!

Try it on a different wifi network.
Boot to linux and try to connect.

 

[Metanis]

Suggestion, reset network stack as in http://microsoft-support-squad.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-reset-tcpip-stack-in-windows-7.html

 

[Altster]

Is it safe to assume (you'all know what that word means, don't you?) that you have made sure that the wifi switch is in the "on" position?

So many laptops have that ever-elusive (read: hidden) switch on the unit somewhere....... I've been victim to those things in the past.

 

[Markverhyden]

What happens with a new user?

 

[FremontPC]

If not even a wifi dongle will connect, I'd also suggest booting off a Linux CD to ensure the hardware is ok. Could there be an AV walking on the connection?

 

[Archon Prime]

Linux desto from usb or CD for sure like these other guys are saying. If it's not connecting to Wi-fi on that.. then well.. something is seriously messed up.

another thing to try is disabling security on the router and see if it will connect on the open connection. Could be the security type or the encryption method it's whining about.

 

[mr m]

Lots of excellent advice here.

I see that you restarted the router but don't forget to reset it back to factory default and then retest before you N&P.

Over the years I've learned to always reset the router at some point in my troubleshooting, not just reboot it even though other devices on the network were connecting/surfing fine.