Puzzle - I'm online but "Not Connected"

[Harvey Segal]

This has happened a few times over the last few days.

My wireless PC loses connection, I reboot the router
or just run a repair and I'm back online yet the
wireless network status shows as "Not Connected"

Any ideas please ?


Harvey

[Seattle Mike]

Let me guess Windows vista?

Reboot the computer.

I get a connection problem sometimes when disconnecting or reconnecting my sprint wireless card at times. Gets stuck halfway and I have to do the old reboot. I still don't like Vista.

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by deverell

Let me guess Windows vista?

No - Windows XP

Harvey

[Devon Brown]

Few things:
1) Is your default connection set to your wireless home? Sometimes you could be "monitoring" a different connection and it'll say "not connected"
2) The other thing you can do is rebuild the connection.. I think it's XP doing this and not the router. Either rebuild the connection or try to rename it somehow.

I don't know how tech savvy you are.. but hopefully this helped a little?

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by renault760

You aren't with Talk Talk are you?

No - Virgin

Originally Posted by Devon Brown

1) Is your default connection set to your wireless home?

Devon,

I'm not sure what you mean by that but if it helps to explain the configuration.

- One PC (Vista) directly connected to the Net
- One PC (XP) on a wireless network

The problem started a few days ago after our ISP service
was lost following a storm. When it was finally restored
I was still unable to get access. Rebootings of router and modem did not help.

It finally worked after I did two things so I'm not sure which was
the solution
- I rebooted the Vista PC
- Netgear on the Vista PC said that a wired connection
existed and asked if I wanted to create a network. I just
entered the name of the network that had originally been set up.

Originally Posted by Devon Brown

Sometimes you could be "monitoring" a different connection and it'll say "not connected"

That's almost what seems to be happening.

The problem actually happened again while I was writing the
original post. I've since rebooted the XP PC
and the message "Not Connected" has gone.

Harvey

[quantikev]

Sounds like you have more than one wireless connection software enabled.

Windows XP comes with their default wireless application, and often the Linksys or other brand wireless adapter has its own.

It doesn't matter too much which one you use, but look and see if they're both running. If the branded one is running, windows will sometimes report 'not connected'

Otherwise, click start, go to 'my network places', and look for more than one wireless connection.

[quantikev]

Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal

No - Virgin

The problem actually happened again while I was writing the
original post. I've since rebooted the XP PC
and the message "Not Connected" has gone.

Harvey

BTW... What brand is the adapter for the XP desktop, and what brand is the router? Also, what type of broadband? Cable?

http://www.computing.net/answers/net...ted/27675.html

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by quantikev

Otherwise, click start, go to 'my network places', and look for more than one wireless connection.

There is just one (though it has a '2' in the name if that helps)

- Wireless Network Connection 2

Originally Posted by quantikev

What brand is the adapter for the XP desktop, and what brand is the router? Also, what type of broadband? Cable?

The adaptor and router are Netgear with a cable broadband.


Harvey

[quantikev]

Without looking at it, that's a challenging one.

Can you tell what software is running the wireless adapter - Netgear or windows?

How many networks does it see? Just yours, or more? If more, try checking that it's connected to *your* network, and that it's monitoring your network.

It appears this may be a tough answer based on these results..
Google

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by quantikev

Can you tell what software is running the wireless adapter - Netgear or windows?

Can you explain how I would check that ?

Originally Posted by quantikev

Without looking at it, that's a challenging one.
How many networks does it see? Just yours, or more? If more, try checking that it's connected to *your* network, and that it's monitoring your network.

I can currently see 6 other networks.
Mine is the only one which says * Connected *

Originally Posted by quantikev

It appears this may be a tough answer based on these results..
Google

Yes - I can see.

Thanks
Harvey

[DougBarger]

There were some issues with att the last couple days which resulted in some connection problems for some people in the states. Not sure if it's related or not.

[quantikev]

Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal

Can you explain how I would check that ?

Thanks
Harvey

Double click the icon which says 'not connected' - that should open the software window. Then look for a logo, or an About option. Alternatively, right click it - and click About.

Usually - Windows wireless networking displays the little monitor with rounded green bars. Other software displays something completely different.

I've never seen options to monitor just one network, but I saw that solution come up several times in Google. Therefore, my next suggestion is to look for an options dialog (or right click on your network) and look for monitoring settings.

What is the model of wireless adapter you have? I'll try to download the software for it..

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by quantikev

Double click the icon which says 'not connected' - that should open the software window. Then look for a logo, or an About option. Alternatively, right click it - and click About.

Usually - Windows wireless networking displays the little monitor with rounded green bars. Other software displays something completely different.

Just to make sure we are referring to the same thing -
in the notification area of the taskbar there is an icon
showing a monitor with rounded bars on the right, which says

Wireless Network Connection2
Speed; 54.0Mbps
Signal Strength: Very good
Status: Connected

There is no About option , the options on a right click are

- Disable
- Status
- Repair
- View available wireless networks
- Change windows firewall settings
- Open network connections

Originally Posted by quantikev

What is the model of wireless adapter you have? I'll try to download the software for it..

It's Netgear WG111v3


Thanks
Harvey

[quantikev]

Ok - that is Windows - the default wireless software.

In which case, it should be reporting that you're connected at all times if you can access the web.

And just to confirm - you can access the web normally even when it says disconnected, right? And it says 'disconnected' until you do something to fix it?

If that's the case, then it sounds like a problem with the wireless adapter reporting its status to windows.

Try unplugging the adapter and shutting down. Then turn the PC back on, wait until windows loads, and plug it back in.

I think I've ruled out everything else I can think of - it sounds like a problem with the adapter.

[Snappinn]

There are German computers in my country that are called Medion and this is a very common on those computer, i know with the Medion computer there was something wrong with the wireless adapter, back then the only way was to restart the computer until it will be ok. I dont know if it is the same thing with your case

[CDarklock]

Netgear's management software is crap. I have no end of trouble with it, and I'm sick of trying to fix it. I actually uninstall and reinstall it every time I boot my PC; the manager won't start until I reboot again, but the drivers work fine.

When I boot, the management software partially crashes (illegal instructions), then slows down my machine with constant retries to go through the crashed portion of the software. Netgear sucks. I hate them.

I also hate the way everybody blames ****ty programming like that on Windows. When your hardware doesn't work right, it's probably your drivers. And the reason it's your drivers is that hardware people build software the way bum marketers buy articles: cheap and fast, and quality be damned. I'd bet nine out of ten people who wrote drivers for Vista never even SAW the Vista DDK.

[JayXtreme]

YUP..

This is an inherent problem with the Netgear hardware.. windows is telling your hardware over and over again that it needs to do it's job.. and the Netgear hardware, like the soggy Rich Tea biscuit that it is, is failing to recognise the command with any consistency and falling to pieces.

Only to have it's ass kicked a few seconds later by Windows again, which jumps it into action.

You'll never lose this problem as long as you remain using Netgear.. although it shouldn't actually affect your internet connection too much.. it is a pain in the rear to see it flashing up saying not connected.

Peace

Jay

[Intrepreneur]

It's a network configuration somewhere but also you mention a storm.. it could be something else.. I hope you are using a safety plug too.. in fact you just rose something to my attention that I need to get done.

I would head into your start menu >
Then go to Connect To
All Network Connections
Have a look around in there and see what all connections are and if the wee screens are flashing or any have any exclamation marks.

[quantikev]

You'll never lose this problem as long as you remain using Netgear.. although it shouldn't actually affect your internet connection too much.. it is a pain in the rear to see it flashing up saying not connected.

In which case you'll want to uncheck the box in the following screenshot

1. Go to Start, Control Panel, Network Connections, right click on your wireless network and click Properties from the right-click-menu.

2. Uncheck 'Notify me when this connection has limited or no connectivity'.

Kevin

(and yes - I have Windows XP)

[Gail Sober]

Sounds like Vista disabled the drivers for your netgear. ("Netgear on the Vista PC said that a wired connection existed and asked if I wanted to create a network. I just entered the name of the network that had originally been set up").

Since being disabled, windows took over management and is now going through what JayXtreme said.

A friend of mine has Vista and his wireless card gets disabled every time Vista does an update and he has to reinstall each time to get it working properly again.

Of course, this is all speculation on my part. I don't know that much about networking but that is where I would probably start looking if it were me.

Maybe allowing netgear to create a network when it asked would have avoided the issue.

[xiaophil]

Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal

This has happened a few times over the last few days.

Hi, Harvey.

Just a thought - if things were OK before, has someone nearby decided to use the same wireless channel as you?

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by quantikev

And just to confirm - you can access the web normally even when it says disconnected, right? And it says 'disconnected' until you do something to fix it?

That is correct. Not sure what makes the 'disconnected' status
go away but a reboot of my XP PC did it.

Originally Posted by quantikev

If that's the case, then it sounds like a problem with the wireless adapter reporting its status to windows.

Try unplugging the adapter and shutting down. Then turn the PC back on, wait until windows loads, and plug it back in.

That sounded a good idea however after doing that it
showed Not Connected while still online (whereas before
this it was correctly showing Connected).

And since then it has got worse. I am getting online for a few minutes
at a time (again and again) before losing the connection in which case
a Repair sometimes works.


Just to recap, when the ISP resumed service after the storm
I expected the Vista PC to go online normally.
However it came up with the router login page, which
makes the following suggestion from Gail seem plausible

Originally Posted by Gail Sober

Sounds like Vista disabled the drivers for your netgear. ("Netgear on the Vista PC said that a wired connection existed and asked if I wanted to create a network. I just entered the name of the network that had originally been set up").

Since being disabled, windows took over management and is now going through what JayXtreme said.

Harvey

[Gail Sober]

Also, how old is the router? Maybe it's fried (frying).

I had a netgear a while back and it only lasted about two years. I kept having problems though I can't remember if it's what you're going through or something different but I ended up replacing the router and everything went back to normal.

Do you have another router you can test?

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by Gail Sober

Also, how old is the router? Maybe it's fried (frying).

Gail, it's 4 years old.


Update on the following ...

Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal

And since then it has got worse. I am getting online for a few minutes
at a time (again and again) before losing the connection in which case
a Repair sometimes works.

I must have done about 20 Repairs in two hours - the
connection was genuinely down not just showing an erroneous
message. It's as if this suggestion
"Try unplugging the adapter and shutting down. Then turn the PC back on, wait
until windows loads, and plug it back in"

had made it worse.

However I did one more reboot of the wireless PC (leaving
the adaptor in) and since then it's been perfect (no loss
of connectivity and no disconnect messages).


Harvey

[rosetrees]

My 2c. I'm assuming the PC that is wired to the router isn't losing connection. That makes it sound to me is if either a) the router is dropping its wireless connection or b) the wireless adaptor to the PC is failing.

Do you have a laptop? If not, do you have a friend with a laptop who will come round. Connect that to the router along with your wireless PC. If the laptop loses connection at the same time as the PC - then the problem lies with the router. If the laptop doesn't lose connectivity along with the PC then the problem is the wireless adaptor.

In my experience, both are notorious for failing. Some fail suddenly, some die slowly.

Carol

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by rosetrees

I'm assuming the PC that is wired to the router isn't losing connection.

Most of the time that PC is off.
It's in another room and belongs to my daughter who has
banished me to a wireless spare room.

However if I have further problems I will switch it
on and confirm that it connects.

Originally Posted by rosetrees

Do you have a laptop? If not, do you have a friend with a laptop who will come round.

I don't have a laptop.

I don't even have a friend.

Harvey

[int-mark]

Have you inputted your WPA key. Maybe best to contact your internet service provider

[Harvey Segal]

Originally Posted by int-mark

Maybe best to contact your internet service provider

A phrase that strikes fear in my heart.

When I first found that the wired PC would not connect I
phoned my ISP. I could hardly hear, much less understand,
what the support person was saying but it involved, it
seemed, removing all the cables from the router and modem
and plugging them back in again in a certain order but was
not clear whether it was back to the same configuration or
not.

I pleaded insanity and gave up.

I was about to call out an engineer when I thought of one
last thing which was mentioned earlier - rebooting that PC
and entering the name of the existing network - and that
worked. I was surprised that it did not ask me for the
router password - would that be the same as a WAP key ?


Harvey

[Thomas]

Originally Posted by Harvey.Segal

I don't even have a friend.

Aw, poor Harvey.

[Gail Sober]

I don't even have a friend.

This should go in the "how do you know if you're a real internet marketer" thread. lol

[Harvey Segal]

Just to bring you up to date on this.

My connection suddenly deteriorated to the point where
I was losing connection every few minutes.

I called an engineer who found the reason - which was
suggested by Phil above

Originally Posted by xiaophil

Hi, Harvey.

Just a thought - if things were OK before, has someone nearby decided to use the same wireless channel as you?

My neighbour's network was the culprit. The engineer changed
the channel and for the last two weeks it's been perfect.


Harvey