Laptop not fully connecting to WiFi.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Hi Folks,

I've a really peculiar problem here that has me stumped and I've spent many hours on google trying to resolve.

I've a 4 year old Lenovo W530, Windows 7 Professional, all the updates. Most of her life is spent in my home office sat in a docking station and is connected to my LAN by Ethernet.

When I'm out and about I rarely connect it to Public Wireless (don't trust other people's) but if I need to, I use my phones hot-spot. However recently (actually a couple of months ago, but I've only gotten around to looking at it now) I tried and failed to connect to my hot-spot. I can see Wireless networks, it just fails to connect to them.

Things I've done:

1. Made sure the wireless switch is on. :rolleyes:
2. Downloaded latest drivers for adapter - was told the installed version is the correct version.
3. Re-seated the wireless card.
4. Home Wi-Fi Router is working fine (rebooted anyway) - all other devices connect fine.

I thought that maybe the wireless card was borked, so borrowed a friend's Netgear A6210 USB WiFi adapter and that has exactly the same problem. This works fine in my Desktop.

When I try to connect I get the following and I've run the troubleshooter:


The details from the troubleshooter are here:

InformationalDiagnostics Information (Network Adapter) 
Details about network adapter diagnosis: 

Network adapter Wireless Network Connection driver information:

   Description . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6205
   Manufacturer  . . . . . . . . . : Intel Corporation
   Provider  . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel
   Version   . . . . . . . . . . . : 15.2.0.19
   Inf File Name . . . . . . . . . : C:\Windows\INF\oem4.inf
   Inf File Date . . . . . . . . . : 03 June 2012  07:25:24
   Section Name  . . . . . . . . . : Install_MPCIEX_Gui_6205_AGN_2x2_HMC_WIN7_64_MOW
   Hardware ID . . . . . . . . . . : pci\ven_8086&dev_0085&subsys_13118086
   Instance Status Flags . . . . . : 0x180200a
   Device Manager Status Code  . . : 0
   IfType  . . . . . . . . . . . . : 71
   Physical Media Type . . . . . . : 9
 
InformationalDiagnostics Information (Wireless Connectivity) 
Details about wireless connectivity diagnosis: 

Information for connection being diagnosed
 Interface GUID: 81281a75-622a-4b1f-972c-bb265b3380d6
 Interface name: Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6205
 Interface type: Native WiFi

Connection incident diagnosed
 Auto Configuration ID: 2
 Connection ID: 2

Connection status summary
 Connection started at: 2017-06-04 20:19:15-856
 Profile match: Success
 Pre-Association: Success
 Association: Success
 Security and Authentication: Success

List of visible access point(s): 3 item(s) total, 3 item(s) displayed
        BSSID		BSS Type PHY	Signal(dB)	Chnl/freq    SSID
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
30-B5-C2-E4-7D-1D	Infra	 <unknown>	-33		11	 Thirteen_1
36-B5-C2-E4-7D-1E	Infra	 <unknown>	-33		11	 GuestConnection
30-B5-C2-E4-7D-1C	Infra	 <unknown>	-38		5180000	 Thirteen_2

Connection History

 Information for Auto Configuration ID 2

  List of visible networks: 3 item(s) total, 3 item(s) displayed
  BSS Type PHY	Security	Signal(RSSI)	Compatible	SSID
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Infra	 <unknown>	Yes		99	Yes		Thirteen_1
  Infra	 <unknown>	Yes		99	Yes		GuestConnection
  Infra	 <unknown>	Yes		99	Yes		Thirteen_2

  List of preferred networks: 1 item(s)
   Profile: Thirteen_2
    SSID: Thirteen_2
    SSID length: 10
    Connection mode: Infra
    Security: Yes
    Set by group policy: No
    Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No
    Connectable: Yes

 Information for Connection ID 2
 Connection started at: 2017-06-04 20:19:15-856
  Auto Configuration ID: 2
  Profile: Thirteen_2
  SSID: Thirteen_2
  SSID length: 10
  Connection mode: Infra
  Security: Yes
  Pre-Association and Association
   Connectivity settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No
   Security settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No
   Profile matches network requirements: Success
   Pre-association status: Success
   Association status: Success
    Last AP:  30-b5-c2-e4-7d-1c
  Security and Authentication
   Configured security type: WPA2-PSK
   Configured encryption type: CCMP(AES)
   802.1X protocol: No
   Key exchange initiated: Yes
    Unicast key received: Yes
    Multicast key received: Yes
   Number of security packets received: 0
   Number of security packets sent: 0
   Security attempt status: Success
 Connectivity
   Packet statistics
    Ndis Rx: 0
    Ndis Tx: 0
    Unicast decrypt success: 5
    Multicast decrypt success: 0
    Unicast decrypt failure: 0
    Multicast decrypt failure: 0
    Rx success: 823
    Rx failure: 0
    Tx success: 211
    Tx failure: 0
    Tx retry: 0
    Tx multiple retry: 0
    Tx max lifetime exceeded: 0
    Tx ACK failure: 0
   Roaming history: 0 item(s)

 Information for Auto Configuration ID 1

  List of visible networks: 3 item(s) total, 3 item(s) displayed
  BSS Type PHY	Security	Signal(RSSI)	Compatible	SSID
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Infra	 <unknown>	Yes		99	Yes		Thirteen_1
  Infra	 <unknown>	Yes		99	Yes		GuestConnection
  Infra	 <unknown>	Yes		99	Yes		Thirteen_2

  List of preferred networks: 1 item(s)
   Profile: Thirteen_2
    SSID: Thirteen_2
    SSID length: 10
    Connection mode: Infra
    Security: Yes
    Set by group policy: No
    Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No
    Connectable: Yes

 Information for Connection ID 1
 Connection started at: 2017-06-04 20:14:22-501
  Auto Configuration ID: 1
  Profile: Thirteen_2
  SSID: Thirteen_2
  SSID length: 10
  Connection mode: Infra
  Security: Yes
  Pre-Association and Association
   Connectivity settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No
   Security settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No
   Profile matches network requirements: Success
   Pre-association status: Success
   Association status: Success
    Last AP:  30-b5-c2-e4-7d-1c
  Security and Authentication
   Configured security type: WPA2-PSK
   Configured encryption type: CCMP(AES)
   802.1X protocol: No
   Key exchange initiated: Yes
    Unicast key received: Yes
    Multicast key received: Yes
   Number of security packets received: 0
   Number of security packets sent: 0
   Security attempt status: Success
 Connectivity
   Packet statistics
    Ndis Rx: 0
    Ndis Tx: 128
    Unicast decrypt success: 1
    Multicast decrypt success: 0
    Unicast decrypt failure: 0
    Multicast decrypt failure: 0
    Rx success: 899
    Rx failure: 0
    Tx success: 101
    Tx failure: 0
    Tx retry: 0
    Tx multiple retry: 0
    Tx max lifetime exceeded: 0
    Tx ACK failure: 0
   Roaming history: 1 item(s)
     Times: 2017-06-04 20:19:13-775
    Roamed from BSSID:  00-00-00-00-00-00
     Reason: 0x00000007
 Disconnected from BSSID:  00-00-00-00-00-00   Reason: 0x00000101

InformationalDiagnostics Information (Wireless Connectivity) 
Details about wireless connectivity diagnosis: 

For complete information about this session see the wireless connectivity information event.

Helper Class: Auto Configuration
 Initialize status: Success

Information for connection being diagnosed
 Interface GUID: 81281a75-622a-4b1f-972c-bb265b3380d6
 Interface name: Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6205
 Interface type: Native WiFi

Result of diagnosis: There may be problem

InformationalDiagnostics Information (Wireless Network Adapter) 
Details about wireless network adapter diagnosis: 

For complete information about this session see the wireless connectivity information event.

Helper Class: Native WiFi MSM
 Initialize status: Success

Information for connection being diagnosed
 Interface GUID: 81281a75-622a-4b1f-972c-bb265b3380d6
 Interface name: Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6205
 Interface type: Native WiFi
 Profile: Thirteen_2
 SSID: Thirteen_2
 SSID length: 10
 Connection mode: Infra
 Security: Yes
 Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No

Result of diagnosis: There may be problem

InformationalNetwork Diagnostics Log 
File Name:  337C6B0B-20AF-4984-BD0A-990E3B308798.Diagnose.Admin.0.etl 
 
InformationalOther Networking Configuration and Logs 
File Name:  NetworkConfiguration.cab 
 
Collection information 
Computer Name:  Name of computer 
Windows Version: 6.1 
Architecture: amd64 
Time: Sunday, June 04, 2017 8:19:48 PM

Can anybody toss a few ideas my way to try, please?

My last resort of course is a clean Windows install, but I can ill afford the downtime.

Thanks in advance.

ressem

Thirteen_1 is ?, operating on 802.11b/g's channel 11 in the 2Ghz band

Thirteen_2 is ?, operating on 802.11 a/n's 5.18Ghz channel 36 in the 5Ghz band.
(Mac address suggests a TPLINK network device, not a phone as expected? )



Does Thirteen_1 works with your laptop?

For Thirteen_2, that seems to be giving the problem?

On your laptop, find computer management\ device manager \ network adapters \ Intel 6205 advanced n

Before changing these, write down the existing setting
Right click on the 6205 and choose properties.

Under advanced, look for preferred band. (probably defaulting to No Preference)
Try changing to 'prefer 2.4Ghz Band'
And see if it works? If not, undo.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Thanks for the response. Tried changing as you suggested ... no joy.

Sorry for confusion, I was doing the troubleshooting on my home network and so the 2 Thirteen's are my 2.4GHz (Thirteen_1) and 5GHz (Thirteen_2) SSIDs from my Archer C9. My reference to the phone was for when I am out and about.

My laptop cannot connect to either of those or the phone's hotspot or friends networks or any WiFi.

ssmith6287

any chance has it been set up by your employer to only work on their network?

ItHurtsWhenIP

ssmith6287 wrote: »

any chance has it been set up by your employer to only work on their network?

I am the employer - tis me and only me.

It had worked fine for the last few years, but then back in March (I think) I tried to connect to my phone when I was out and it gave me the problem mentioned above. Been that way since, but I only got around to troubleshooting it recently.

I've resigned myself to doing a clean install next weekend.

ssmith6287

Haha no prob. Just from my experience there would be some kind of proxy software added to business machines to prevent foreign software and networks... obviously in your case this isn't relevant. Love the name by the way, it's my home network

ressem

Doubt it, but any chance that it's an issue with DHCP address assignment?

Can you get the IP address settings (IP / subnet / gateway / DNS) from the working phone, or the laptop while connected by LAN and manually set an IP in the same subnet

e.g if the phone's 192.168.1.3 / 255.255.255.0 /192.168.1.1 / 8.8.8.8
then try manually statically setting something like 192.168.1.13 / 255.255.255.0 / 192.168.1.1 / 8.8.8.8

or through a command line on the laptop ipconfig /all

ItHurtsWhenIP

ressem wrote: »

Doubt it, but any chance that it's an issue with DHCP address assignment?

Can you get the IP address settings (IP / subnet / gateway / DNS) from the working phone, or the laptop while connected by LAN and manually set an IP in the same subnet

e.g if the phone's 192.168.1.3 / 255.255.255.0 /192.168.1.1 / 8.8.8.8
then try manually statically setting something like 192.168.1.13 / 255.255.255.0 / 192.168.1.1 / 8.8.8.8

or through a command line on the laptop ipconfig /all

I didn't think so, as other wireless devices were connecting without issue. I forgot phone and tablet connections and when they reconnected, they came back OK.

There was something else really weird gong on with it, where I couldn't authorise a payment on BoI's insanely stupid business banking yoke, where I could about 6 weeks ago. Nothing had changed and all the technical requirements were met, it just wouldn't do the auth.

I used to clean install my machines on a 12-18 month basis. This puppy hasn't been re-built in nigh on 3 years. No wonder it's making strange.

So, I've wiped her and put the base Win7 SP1 on and loaded Network drivers and ... <drum-roll> ... she can connect to my home Wi-Fi.

All drivers loaded now and patching like hell as we speak.

Hopefully be back up and fully running before the weekend is out. I've a lot of grass to cut, so I can't be watching the laptop every 5 minutes.

Thanks for the help folks. I'll advise when the re-build is finished.