At my wit's end "windows was unable to connect"

lorraineg said:

I have been messing with my daughter's computer (Sony Vaio VGN-CS320J with Win7 professional) for days now and cannot connect to the wireless network that our other two laptops running Vista work fine on.

This all started when my router went wonky and I had to go buy another power adapter for it. For some reason (I realize this is illogical.) I've been unable to get her back to our wireless network since then. Things I've tried:

1. Unplugged, reset both router and modem probably 50 times.
2. Connected her laptop directly to the router and confirmed the router settings that way.
3. Uninstalled wireless adapter (Intel Wi-Fi link 5100 AGN) and let startup re-install (numerous times)
4. Downloaded and installed latest drivers for said adapter
5. Copied my network settings from working laptop to the one that won't connect.
6. Deleted the network and recreated it (numerous times)
7. Tried to ping router unsuccessfully. (general failure)
8. System restore to a few different dates when said laptop WAS connecting.
9. Reset all the router settings via 192.168.1.1 (New name, SSID, key, etc.)Then created new network on non-connecting laptop with new settings.


I can see the wireless network, that's not the issue. However, I can't connect to it. I ran ipconfig/all and the adapter is listed as "media not connected". I'm using WPA2-personal for security if that matters.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it. What makes it so frustrating is that it worked fine a week ago and now I can't get it working for the life of me. The only other think I can think of that it may be would be her antivirus software causing an issue. But then again, she had the same software installed and running a week ago and it wasn't an issue.

TIA,
Lorraine

Hi and welcome

Three things come to mind

1- your av/ firewalls. Disable to test

2- your network setup. If you are using "homegroup" it has issues on some systems (especially mixed OS networks). You can test by making a new network connection using "workgroup" instead

3- Your encryption. Run in the clear to testLet us know if you need help with these.

Ken

I've got a friend with the same problem. In her case, I think it may be traced to a virus definition update.

We need to make sure the wireless adapter in the laptop is still functional. Try disabling security in the router and see if you can connect. Don't keep it that way, but see if disabling security allows it to connect. If it does, try installing a different antivirus package, then try connecting to the secure network again.

<UPDATE>
By the time I registerd for the forums and finished posting my reply, zigzag beat me to the reply!

Gundark said:

I've got a friend with the same problem. In her case, I think it may be traced to a virus definition update.

We need to make sure the wireless adapter in the laptop is still functional. Try disabling security in the router and see if you can connect. Don't keep it that way, but see if disabling security allows it to connect. If it does, try installing a different antivirus package, then try connecting to the secure network again.

<UPDATE>
By the time I registerd for the forums and finished posting my reply, zigzag beat me to the reply!

Okay, after hesitantly disabling the security via the router, I got online with her laptop. Then I tried changing the security to WPA-PSK which I figured would be okay...not too up on the security stuff. Then once again I wasn't able to connect. Then I changed the security setting on the non-connecting laptop to WPA-personal (from WPA2 personal) and it connected immediately.

Is this going to be secure enough? The WPA2 just sounds more secure...hehe. I don't understand why my older Vista laptop can connect with WPA2 but her not even a year old (Win 7 professional) can't?

Is there a problem leaving hers set to WPA-personal? Should I try a different security setting? (Besides WPA2-personal which doesn't work)?

Thanks so much for the help.

I'd compare WPA to a deadbolt on a door, and WPA2 to a deadbolt and a padlock. Either one will discourage theives, who would rather check for another house without locked doors.

WPA is less secure than WPA2, but any security is better than no security. Just make sure the password used for WPA is a secure password. That means no real words, and the password must contain upper case, lower case, numbers, and at least one special character. It's best to have a password at least 12 characters long, as well. Something like "Y5x#Nv23&kcU" is a secure password. "MyDogHasFleas?1987" is not a good password.

If you were using the wireless for business with critical and highly valuable info, then WPA2 would be the way to go. But WPA works well for personal use.

Gundark said:

I'd compare WPA to a deadbolt on a door, and WPA2 to a deadbolt and a padlock. Either one will discourage theives, who would rather check for another house without locked doors.

WPA is less secure than WPA2, but any security is better than no security. Just make sure the password used for WPA is a secure password. That means no real words, and the password must contain upper case, lower case, numbers, and at least one special character. It's best to have a password at least 12 characters long, as well. Something like "Y5x#Nv23&kcU" is a secure password. "MyDogHasFleas?1987" is not a good password.

If you were using the wireless for business with critical and highly valuable info, then WPA2 would be the way to go. But WPA works well for personal use.

Thanks for the info. I'm just wondering why the WPA2 works on my laptop which is at least a year older than hers, which isn't even a year old yet. Every time I try to
connect her with WPA2 I get the "Windows is unable to connect" message but if I change it to WPA, it connects almost instantly.

This is no doubt another A/V software causing a connection problem. Which ever A/V software or third party networking software is installed will need to be uninstalled completely in order to fix this problem. Disabling them doesn't work for some reason.

Dear Mate,

It looks like Your AV is going crazy try using a different AV( i Personally recommend Microsoft Security Essentials- Free of cost, Valid very good detection rate and cleans infections on the go which is unique to MSE)

If you do not want to change the AV atleast reinstall the AV and update

pcs3657 said:

Dear Mate,

It looks like Your AV is going crazy try using a different AV( i Personally recommend Microsoft Security Essentials- Free of cost, Valid very good detection rate and cleans infections on the go which is unique to MSE)

If you do not want to change the AV atleast reinstall the AV and update

It may be but I do know she has the exact same AV software on it that she had a few weeks ago when it worked fine.

At least it's working now, I just need to know if having WPA security instead of WPA2 is going to be an issue security wise.

chev65 said:

This is no doubt another A/V software causing a connection problem. Which ever A/V software or third party networking software is installed will need to be uninstalled completely in order to fix this problem. Disabling them doesn't work for some reason.

Maybe if I type everything in bold it will keep it from being repeated LOL.



Could have sworn I just mentioned that...is there an echo in here?