Laptop wireless connection issue

DawgTalkers.net

This one has me stumped. Trying to get my sisters laptop to connect to her wireless network at home and I keep getting the message "Windows is unable to connect to this wireless network."

Laptop is running Windows 7. Connecting to a modem/router combo device installed by ATT. WPA2 is setup, when I connect, the error occurs before ever getting prompted for the network key.

The laptop is able to connect to other wireless networks. I turned on the mobile hotspot on my android phone with WPA2 and the laptop connected to that with no problem. It can also connect to other networks in the area (to the point of being prompted for the network key)

My laptop and my android phone can connect to the ATT wireless with no problem.

My sisters laptop can connect to the ATT wireless if I disable wireless security. It won't connect if security is set to WEP, WPA or WPA2.

On my sisters laptop, wireless network card driver is up to date, Windows 7 is up to date, no spyware, malware or any of that stuff was detected.

At this point, I'm stumped, anyone have any ideas?

I'm assuming that SSID Broadcast is turned on in the router and that you can see the network just fine.

Check the AT&T router... is MAC filtering enabled? If so, add the MAC address for your sister's laptop to the list of Allowed MAC's

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I'm assuming that SSID Broadcast is turned on in the router and that you can see the network just fine.

Check the AT&T router... is MAC filtering enabled? If so, add the MAC address for your sister's laptop to the list of Allowed MAC's

Yep, SSID broadcast is on, and I can see the etwork. No issues with signal as I am in the same room as the router. No mac address filtering.

It seems to be an issue with encryption as it will only connect with the encyption disabled. If WEP, WPA or WPA2 is turned on, it won't connect. I have no idea how to fix that though.

I have a laptop that occasionally will not connect to my network and doing a repair of the connection always fixes it. In WinXP, I right-click on the wireless icon in the system tray and click repair. I have no idea why this 1 laptop does this to me, but one day I finally stumbled on that and it's worked since. Not sure where this is in Win7, but maybe an idea to try.

Go to your list of available wireless networks. Delete yours, shut down, reboot.
Then attempt connection again, you should be prompted for the key.

Usually I see this when the security has been changed on the router, and 7 seems to insist that the initial settings are OK and do not need to be changed.

It is also possible that the router and laptop wireless are just not totally compatible. Rare, but it does happen. You could try a USB wireless unit as a test, or a final answer.

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Go to your list of available wireless networks. Delete yours, shut down, reboot.
Then attempt connection again, you should be prompted for the key.

It doesn't get far enough to where Windows is caching any connection information so there is nothing to delete.

What happens if you go into *Start*, *Control Panel*, *Network and Internet*, *View Network Status and Tasks*, and you try to manually connect to the network there, and/or can you set up your connection there?

I would also ask if you can access the setup/administration menu?

I think it's http://192.168.1.254 on an ATT router IIRC.

Also ..... was the router/laptop properly set up in the first place? I recall that an ATT wireless router requires a wired connection on its initial install.

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Also ..... was the router/laptop properly set up in the first place? I recall that an ATT wireless router requires a wired connection on its initial install.

Yes I can access the router setup page. ATT has it setup with a default WPA connection for wireless. I connected a laptop and my android phone to the network with no problem or additinal setup. The laptop with the problem just doesn't like the encryption. WEP, WPA or WPA2, it won't connect. Turn off encryption, it connects.

There are other ATT networks in the area that the laptop can connect to(at least to the point of being prompted for the network key).

That's strange.

If you go through the control panel to the networks, does it show up at all there? Can you set it up manually, or does it kick you off before you can get to setting it up?

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That's strange.

If you go through the control panel to the networks, does it show up at all there? Can you set it up manually, or does it kick you off before you can get to setting it up?

I can set it up manually, but it still errors out at the same point when it actually tries to connect.

Wow, that's really odd. Did you try calling ATT? It sounds like some bizarre, brand specific laptop/router problem. They probably have a solution.

Are you sure DHCP has enough addresses available? When Embarq set up my mom't they set it up with only 2 available addresses.