BleepingComputer.com: sudden problem with connecting to wireless network.

ok i have a belkin wireless network. it's worked completely fine since we got it several months ago. But recently, about a week ago, my computer just refuses to connect. there are two other computers connected to the same network and they have had no problems what so ever. I have noticed something odd when I attempted to figure out why this was happening, about 1/3 of the time I start up my laptop my wireless zero configuration service, which I have under automatic start up, doesn't start up, and I have to manually start it up. But starting that up doesn't always fix the problem either. I've scanned my laptop with an antivirus, AVG, and an anti-walware, Malwarebytes'. I only got tracking cookies, which I removed successfully. I even tried running chkdsk. Occasionally it will connect but my laptop will be on for at least 5 minutes before it actually connects to the network. I go to my fathers house on weekends and he has the same type of network which my laptop seems to have no problem connecting to. The network I've been having trouble with will occasionally disconnect itself. When it does connect it shows good to very good connection speed. My laptop is also up to date and just installed updates 2 days ago. When hitting the repair button to try and repair the connection it always stops at the 'connecting to wireless network' stage.

I don't know what to do. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

-kanagen

This post has been edited by kanaGen: 13 October 2010 - 10:37 PM

If you are using the wireless somewhere else you are probably holding a DHCP lease from your fathers which is conflicting with your home network. Try doing an ipconfig /release before you leave your fathers and see if that helps. doing an ipconfig /release then /renew may help at your residence but sometimes windows just getshung up because the DHCP server cannot release an address you were never supposed to have (at least according to it)

Specs please. OS? Belkin comes with no wireless config utility? if it does i would turn the zero config off through services,msc, and use that.
otherwise i'll await your reply.

for baltboy i don't think that's the case i've been using my fathers wireless every weekend for several years and my moms on the weekdays for at least 6 months. these problems just started happening at the begining of last week. I use intel proset wireless to configure the connections however even when I have windows configure the connection it still takes quite some time and often a few restarts and fiddling to get connected. Yesterday in fact it took about 5 retarts and about 1 1/2 hrs to get connected to the internet. I have noticed that resently my intel proset wireless has bee giving me this message when i start it up
Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software version 10.1.0.2 does not support Intel® PROSet/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection device driver version 10.5.1.59. Please either update the driver to one of the following versions: 10.0.0.X;10.1.0.X. Or update Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software to one of the following versions: 10.0.0X;.
I don't know if this has anything to do with the problem i'm having. Oh and I'm not sure but my registry might be messed up a bit from past malware attacks so If there is a free registry cleaner thing that you would recommend that I could try maybe that would fix it.

Best to stay away from the registry cleaners unless you know a bit about the registry and can confirm what they aredoing isn't going to cause more problems than it helps with. Given what you stated I would do the following. Download the most recent driver and software for your hardware. then uninstall the driver for the NIC, uninstall the NIC, uninstall the software, then restart the computer. Windows should recognize the device, install the driver, install the software and check for functionality.

Sounds like you are connecting to the internet every once in a while and other times you are not if this is correct please let me know in your next reply. The problem sounds like it may be related to bad drivers have you looked in your device manager to see if your wireless connection has an exclamation mark beside it? When you can't connect to the internet have you tried pinging any websites or your default gateway? If you can ping your default gateway you know your laptops wireless is working properly and points to something being wrong on the router. Make sure your TCP/IP settings are correct also they should be configured automatically. If your looking for a program to clean the registry I personally like CCLeaner.

Yeah with the internt sometimes i'll have no problem getting connected like just now it connected emmidiately but most other times it'll take time and usually a couple restarts to get connected like yesterday it took an hour and I believe 3-4 restarts before I could get connected. I'm not sure what you (curryjl) mean by pinging a website and i'm not sure what a default gateway is. I'm not good with terminology so you'll have to explain it in a way that a high schooler can understand. And im not so sure about the TCP/IP settings either. And for baltboy's suggestion I don't even know where to go for the correct software. I didn't see when it was installed s I don't even know if it was a disk or from the web.

Alright, what I want you to do when your connected to your router but can't connect to the internet is:
Open command prompt and type ping www.google.com if it times out please let me know.
With command prompt still open ping your routers IP address like mine is linksys and by default is 192.168.1.1 (Default Gateway) and let me know if it's timing out. ex: ping 192.168.1.1

While you have command prompt open go ahead and do a ipconfig /all and if you could send me the results of that also via message to me or a link on here.

TCP/IP settings on windows xp:
Start > Control Panel > Network Connection > Select wireless and right click properties > Internet Protocol TCP/IP > properties button > Make sure both options are set to obtain automatically.

curryjl, on 18 October 2010 - 01:28 PM, said:

Bleeping Computer DOES NOT recommend the use of registry cleaners/optimizers for several reasons:

• Registry cleaners are extremely powerful applications that can damage the registry by using aggressive cleaning routines and cause your computer to become unbootable.

The Windows registry is a central repository (database) for storing configuration data, user settings and machine-dependent settings, and options for the operating system. It contains information and settings for all hardware, software, users, and preferences. Whenever a user makes changes to settings, file associations, system policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in this repository. The registry is a crucial component because it is where Windows "remembers" all this information, how it works together, how Windows boots the system and what files it uses when it does. The registry is also a vulnerable subsystem, in that relatively small changes done incorrectly can render the system inoperable. For a more detailed explanation, read Understanding The Registry.

• Not all registry cleaners are created equal. There are a number of them available but they do not all work entirely the same way. Each vendor uses different criteria as to what constitutes a "bad entry". One cleaner may find entries on your system that will not cause problems when removed, another may not find the same entries, and still another may want to remove entries required for a program to work.

• Not all registry cleaners create a backup of the registry before making changes. If the changes prevent the system from booting up, then there is no backup available to restore it in order to regain functionality. A backup of the registry is essential BEFORE making any changes to the registry.

• Improperly removing registry entries can hamper malware disinfection and make the removal process more difficult if your computer becomes infected. For example, removing malware related registry entries before the infection is properly identified can contribute to system instability and even make the malware undetectable to removal tools.

• The usefulness of cleaning the registry is highly overrated and can be dangerous. In most cases, using a cleaner to remove obsolete, invalid, and erroneous entries does not affect system performance but it can result in "unpredictable results".

Unless you have a particular problem that requires a registry edit to correct it, I would suggest you leave the registry alone. Using registry cleaning tools unnecessarily or incorrectly could lead to disastrous effects on your operating system such as preventing it from ever starting again. For routine use, the benefits to your computer are negligible while the potential risks are great.

• Ed Bott's Webog: Why I don’t use registry cleaners
  
• Do I need a Registry Cleaner?

This post has been edited by ThunderZ: 19 October 2010 - 10:29 PM

curryjl, on 19 October 2010 - 09:45 PM, said:

Hello this is not what we want to do here. SEnd or reciving help via the PM system is board defeating. The purpose of the public forum is so ALL members can benefit from the advice. Also and perhaps more important hidden advice can be dangerous. Our job as Moderators is also to be sure advice posted is accurate and not harmful to the posters PC. Something we cannot not do when the advice is hidden. It would be terrible if such advice clunked someone's PC.

My wireless just suddenly started working again without me doing anything different so at the moment I'm having no problem but i will write back if it does start happening again. My laptop can be screwy at times so chances are this WILL happen again sometime and probably stop doing it suddenly again so I'll post again when it starts acting up again.