Wapsi Square Forum

Calling all techies:

My laptop can't seem to stay connected to the internet when using a specific wireless network. When it is connected to the personal hotspot on my phone, it works fine. But if I connect it to an AT&T Uverse wifi network, it will be able to access the internet for about thirty seconds before it fails. And when it does, it remains connected to the wifi, but the wifi can't connect to the internet. When I attempt to enter in the router number (###.###.#.###) in order to try to troubleshoot from that angle (setup menu for the router?) my computer says "the connection timed out."
According to my laptop.
My phone and other devices, however, have no problem staying connected to the internet on this network.

Now, when I called AT&T, the robot eventually says a tech needs to come and fix the problem, but he doesn't tell me what the problem is. So I refuse to schedule a tech visit.
This sends me to a human, who insists everything is working properly with the internet and the wifi network, and insists the problem lies in my computer.

I have tried rebooting both the network and my computer. I have tried resetting my internet options to default. I have tried using different browsers (Waterfox and Internet Explorer).

I'm stumped. Totally, mercilessly, unequivocally, absolutely stumped.

Please help. Even if someone has a name for this problem, that would help. Or tell me what to tell a computer fixer person so they know what to fiddle with. Something. Because I got nothin'.

more info!

the laptop seems to be able to stay connected when using the ethernet cord. So that narrows it down to something involving the wireless adapter on my laptop, right?

Ugh. This sort of thing is hell to try to troubleshoot at a distance. It might indicate:

- A problem with the encryption key management between Uverse and your laptop. Modern WiFi security systems change the over-the-air encryption key periodically, and if this key exchange fails for some reason, your laptop and the Uverse access point would cease to be able to decrypt each others' packets. [Key updates are usually less frequent, though - 30 seconds is far more aggressive than most systems would ever do.]

- Some sort of firewall feature on the Uverse access point, being triggered by packet activity from your laptop. If the AP detects something it considers suspicious, it might be automatically blocking your laptop from further access.

- VPN software. If your laptop is configured to set up any sort of virtual private network (e.g. an encrypted tunnel to a VPN server elsewhere on the Internet) and send traffic through this VPN, the Uverse AP might be blocking the VPN traffic and this would appear to cut you off from the net.

- Similarly, if your web-browing activity is being directed to an Internet proxy, and that proxy isn't accessible, you'd find yourself cut off.

The fact that the laptop is apparently staying associated ("connected") to the WiFi network, but can't get a response when it tries to access the router's config page, suggests that the problem is at the IP layer or above, and not with the WiFi per se.

A cautionary note: there's a lot of dodgy software out there ("tool bar" collections, and outright malware) which can cause your PC to misbehave badly... scanning around on the net for exploitable systems, routing your traffic through proxies or VPNs you don't know about so it can be intercepted, and so forth. If the problem is truly specific to one laptop, then making sure that laptop is thoroughly clean of malware ought to be a priority!

The first thing I'd do, to try to debug this, is to access the management interface on the Uverse access point from another PC or tablet (either wired or wireless) which doesn't exhibit this problem. With luck you can view some event logs, see what "client" systems the AP/router knows about, check for firewall blocks or security alarms, etc.

A more "invasive" techie approach would be to temporarily disable encryption on the wireless network, and use a second laptop to "spy" on the first laptop's WiFi traffic and capture it, so it can be analyzed.

Did it always do this or did it just start? My old laptop can't establish an internet connection with my U-Verse box. After researching it turns out the Wi-Fi on that router is incompatible with Windows Vista. It wouldn't surprise me if there is a variety hardware and software it won't work with.

Ok. I can rule out the VPN and the Proxy. I don't use those on my laptop. (I use an adblocking proxy on my phone, and it's working just fine.) unless Adblock plus or ghostery do that too, which I doubt.

As for nasties in my computer:
I highly doubt it. I have glary, malwarebytes, malwarbytes anti-exploit, and windows defender. I run all of those weekly. I don't have any shady plugins on Waterfox, no toolbars at all. And I really only used IE for downloading Waterfox and troubleshooting internet issues (making sure Waterfox wasn't the thing being goofy).
I also run ccleaner, ninite, and auslogics defrag every week to keep my computer clean and healthy. And finally, if I ever visit a shady website, I make a restore point before hand and I'm not afraid to use it. Same for whenever I install anything.

@shadow: it... Did it once several months ago, then it was fine... But it crapped out on me today again, and it seems to be staying crapped this time.

Oh, and when I right-click the wireless button in the lower right corner and click troubleshoot problems, the result is this:

Windows Network Diagnostics wrote:Your broadband modem is experiencing connectivity issues

And then it tells me to reboot the damn modem... Which isn't doing jack shit.
(Ahem. Sorry, just getting a bit annoyed.)
When I click next, I see this:

Windows Network Diagnostics wrote:The connection between your access point, router, or cable modem and the Internet is broken

It detects this problem and can't fix it. Yaaay. -.-

I'm running Windows 8.1
Processor:...................Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4702MQ CPU @ 2.20 GHz

Installed memory (RAM):..16.0 GB

System Type:................64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

This does sound like an issue with your wireless adapter on board your laptop. Does it have an on-off button, somewhere on or near your keyboard? It's possible that you might have switched the Wi-Fi antenna off when doing something. The on-off button might be an alternate use of one of the function keys.

jwhouk wrote:This does sound like an issue with your wireless adapter on board your laptop. Does it have an on-off button, somewhere on or near your keyboard? It's possible that you might have switched the Wi-Fi antenna off when doing something. The on-off button might be an alternate use of one of the function keys.

Yeah, it's a function key. However, when I turn the antenna off, the computer doesn't connect to wireless networks at all.
...
Just turned the antenna off and back on again, and it did the same "connected for 30 seconds" thing.

AT&T has the worst customer service. If their service was the only one available for internet in my area, I'd be sitting at a restaurant coffee house with access instead.

Someone got cellphones in my name in a state I have never even visited, and they refused to believe I'm a fraud victim. They insist I pay the over thousand in charges, and I just handed the paperwork over to the FTC. They told me the FTC ID THEFT department has no jurisdiction. I just forward all the threatening mail to the FTC, and refuse to do business with them.

That said, I think it's possibly your wireless router/modem or wireless card on your laptop. Get youself a usb wireless stick, plug it into your laptop, and try to connect. I just had to replace my router because of the same issues you are having. If it doesn't, it's on their end.

Since my phone works, and everyone else's devices, I think it's my computer... Or some weird techno communication encryption gobbledygook stuff Dave was talking about, which means I gotta call someone in to fix the bloody thing.
Until then, I'm tethered by an Ethernet cord or I'm stuck using my iPhone (my iPad is currently sitting at a relative's house, forgotten).

Grrr.

Unfortunately a failing NIC probably is the problem. The part itself should be easy to replace, the hard part is often opening the case without breaking anything or losing screws.

(Had to google that I know too much and not enough at the same time)

Well, I'm glad it's not one of those components that get welded to the motherboard to save space. I can handle careful deconstruction.
...
Buying a new NIC will be difficult. I'm a bit strapped for cash.

Q1: does your laptop have a PCMCIA card slot? What model laptop is it?
Q2: what OS and version are you running?
Q3: what security mode are you running on WiFi?

I have a bunch of older WiFi cards and might have one which could work for you until you can afford a new internal card.

There are also very cheap WiFi USB adapters available... under $10, delivered, on eBay.

A1) Uhhh... It's an HP Envy... Hold on, gotta turn it upside down... I'll edit this post in just a second.
...ok, it's an HP Envy 17 Notebook PC.

A2)

GlytchMeister wrote:I'm running Windows 8.1
Processor:...................Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4702MQ CPU @ 2.20 GHz

Installed memory (RAM):..16.0 GB

System Type:................64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

A3) How do I tell?

GlytchMeister wrote:A3) How do I tell?

If you can get to the router admin screen, look under Wireless, then Security. It will probably say either WPA2, WPA, or WEP (or Disabled).

There may also be mention of either TKIP or AES (the actual encryption algorithm).

I'll look up the specs on your Envy and see what we have to work with.

A3) WPA-Default Key... Other options are WPA-PSK, and WEP-manual. The WPA version is listed as "Both (WPA-1 and WPA-2)", if that helps. WPS is turned off.
20MHz bandwidth. Mode is listed as B/G/N.

Uhhhh... Dave? I just thought of something. I live in Chicago. You're apparently in California.
>_>
That shipping bill is gonna be hella expensive.

OK, good info, thanks. WPA2 is good - although if you're still using the default passphrase I'd recommend changing it (WPA-PSK, and then choose a random passphrase of 20 characters or so.).

Your Envy 17 is too new and too slim to have a PCMCIA or PC Card slot (they're older standards). None of the cards I have will fit.

What you can try, is a USB adapter. One example would be eBay item 200755616792 or similar - this style has an external dipole antenna for better range and sensitivity. 300992969685 is just a dongle with an internal antenna - smaller, lighter, less likely to bump something, but possibly less range. Either will set you back the price of a fast-food lunch. There are many other examples on eBay - these things are cheap commodities now. I don't have a specific seller to recommend, other than to say "go with the feedback" and "pick a U.S. seller if you want it in less than a month."

What you'd probably want/need to do, when you get it, is first use the Windows Device Manager to disable the on-board WiFi interface, so that the networking system doesn't get confused. Then, install the drivers for the new interface, plug it in, and reconfigure.

Oh... just saw an article about an HP Envy WiFi problem, in which a couple of people reported a very similar problem (WiFi would connect, but then drop out after a minute or two). They were able to fix the problem by stopping the laptop's BlueTooth processes, and disabling them so they wouldn't restart when the laptop was rebooted.

BlueTooth operates in the same frequency band as 802.11b/g/n WiFi. It's not uncommon for the two radios to interfere with one another. You could be running into a timing-sensitive interference, which your hot spot can work around but your Uverse AP/router cannot.

Try disabling the WiFi interface (in the Device Manager) or the software processes which manage it (not sure how this is done in your version of Windows) and see if that restores reliable contact.

Buggah.

Do you think I'll be able to replace the NIC myself?
...*youtube session*

Well, shit. That looks easy. And a quick look at google shopping shows prices around $25-$35. Not bad. I can handle that.
I was expecting it to cost a hundred bucks or something ridiculous like that.

I just hope that will actually fix it.

Off topic: somehow, my iPhone can't correct my various butcherings of ridiculous unless I type the anti-boggart spell Ridiculus. Then and only then will auto-correct figure out what I'm trying to say.