Still having same problem - Comp connects to Network but not internet

[paluca1982]

Hello everyone and thank you for your help.

My father's computer was infected by a virus so we restored everything to the original form (and later running windows updates for hours by connecting computer directly to router). After all this we tried to reconnect to the home network wirelessly, but the computer wont access the internet. I have excellent reception and we have no problem being connected to the network ( I can see the connection in the Network and Sharing Center and it says "Access: Local only") , but that is as far as it goes. I have tried to fix it with the auto repair feature in the computer and it tells me to reboot my router. I do and still the same problem. All my other laptops work fine. This one had no problem connecting to the internet before.Any ideas how to fix this? Thanks! I have posted this before, but none of the responses have been able to solve the issue...

The computer is running on Windows Vista Home Premium

[paluca1982]

Also, I forgot to mention, I have taken the laptop to my house and connected to my home network and internet and it worked without a problem. Which leads me to believe that it is a router issue. Any ideas?

[Scubbie]

Have you reinstalled all the latest updates, drivers, etc.?

It may be something as simple as WPA2 not working on the Laptop.

Also check all the settings/properties for the WiFi adaptor. It may be necessary to alter them.

[paluca1982]

Thank you Scubbie for your help. I have updated windows and also the drivers for the wifi adapter. Are there any other drivers i should update? How can I check if the WPA2 does not work with the laptop? Also, I have tried the computer on a different network and it worked perfectly, which leads me to believe that the settings are all correct. Any other ideas?

[jmizoguchi]

find the model of the wifi adapter and get the spec.. you will find what encryption it will support unless this is 80211N adapter then should support WPA2 fine.

google and do some homework

[Scubbie]

It may be worth temporarily disabling the router's security settings to confirm that this is the problem too. If you do this, change the SSID to something else too, just for the test.

Finally, an issue I have seen with some Sky customers, if you are using capital letters in your passkey, try changing them to lowercase on the router instead. Sky uses capital letters for their passkey and some laptops have refused to connect in the past. I think that this has been fixed in subsequent M$ updates as I haven't seen the problem posted for a few months now.

[paluca1982]

Thank you both for your help. Unfortunately, I was unable to fix my problem. So I called the Netgear help line, paid the $80, and now it is fixed. Here is what the lady over the phone told me (please let me know if it sounds true, because I have my doubts): We first tried changing some settings within the router, but this did not work. She said that the WPA2, even though it worked before, it most likely did no longer work because of a new update of some sort to Windows Vista, so in order to make it work we had to downgrade the security to WEP. This made it work again. It seems to me somewhat strange that it worked for six months and now when I re installed everything it is now working. My gut feeling tells me that I did not update something and thats why it is not working as it did before. What do you think? Also, how much "less" secure is WEP from WPA2? Should I be concerned? Thank you again for all your help.

[jmizoguchi]

WEP is 100% hackable...

[Scubbie]

I mostly haunt another forum and I haven't seen a huge influx of people complaining that their Windows Vista Laptops no longer work on WPA2. I also help a few friends to look after their computers, of which 3 Laptops also have Vista. Each works on routers with WPA2.

If there is an issue, then I'd suggest that it is compatibility. It could be related specifically between your WiFi adaptor and the Netgear router.

As for WEP, it is being phased out by all the router manufacturers over the next couple of years because it is insecure.

Also on some Netgear routers you have to dial back the speed to 54mbps in order to be able to utilise WEP.

Sorry, but this is a bad deal that you have received. I would search the Internet for other similar issues with M$ Windows Vista to see if there is another solution.

[paluca1982]

So do you think what she said is correct? Is there no way to change it back to WPA2?