Home network not being detected by computer - wireless connected but no Internet

Hi all,

After downloading (and playing for a few minutes) a Free Ride game, I lost my internet connection. I am writing from another laptop in my home network, which never lost connection. This was yesterday -- My wireless (NETGEAR) appears as connected and with excellent signal; however, the network that shows is "unidentified network - public network" as if it doesn't recognize my home network. The laptop with the issues is a Lenovo with Windows 7.

I uninstalled the game immediately (I think it IS uninstalled) and also went and did a system restore to the point prior to downloading the game. Did I make things worse? Please help!!

Thank you for your attention.

Hello, Sorry to hear about your connection problem.

After you restarted, did it ask anything about connecting to a wireless network?

On the bottom of your computer, to the left of the clock is a wireless network indicator. Click on it to bring it up.

What does it say?
Mine says that it is currently connected to: My Network Name.

Hi, thanks very much for your reply.

When I open that little window, it says "Currently connected to Unidentified network - No internet connectivity" and right below it, it says "Wireless Network Connection" and my router name appears as connected and excellent signal strength. I am typing from my other laptop which has never lost the connectivity on the same network.

I'm going to ask that you disconnect from the network and try to re-establish the connection.

Before doing that you'll need the wireless network password if there is one. To check, go back to that network indicator in the lower right, open it and right click on your network. Go to Properties and look at the Security tab. It will tell you what type of encrption is being used and the security key. You may have to put a check in the Show characters box to see the key. Write the encryption type and key on a piece of papter for later on.

Then close out and go back to the wireless network indicator on the bottom right. Open it. Right click on your network and select Disconnect. After it disconnects, try to Connect again.

Unfortunately, I tried that already and it didn't work It tries to identify the network and goes from "identifying" to "unidentified network" and it says "no network access" on top of the wireless connection name that already says "connected".

I know your other laptop is connecting properly. How about we reset the router? There should be a recessed button on it somewhere along the back or side depending on the model. Some models have the reset button hidden behind one of the vent holes.

Just tap the reset button once. Do not hold it in for more than one second because that may reset it completely and you'll have to re-do your network settings.

Thanks -- Just did that and this laptop went right back online, the other went back to "unidentified network - no connectivity". Is this when I should start panicking? I really appreciate your guidance, btw.

OK - I have to think about this for a while. It's been a long day.

I have some things in mind. Are you familiar with working with DOS commands?

I know I've had to do it in the past but seems distant and foreign. It's ok, please don't keep working on this, it HAS been a long day. Thanks for your help, perhaps we can resume tomorrow?

How about going back to the wireless network indicator and right click on your network. If an option for Repair comes up, select that. Otherwise, try Status and the Diagnose button.

:-( Did that. Status and diagnose instructed me to disconnect and reset the router and modem. Did that. Same results for the damaged laptop. This immediately acquired IP address and is functioning. The other is again in "unidentified network". Sigh. Thanks for all your help today. I'll try again tomorrow. Sorry for taking up so much of your time.

ouch - I was hoping that would fix it.

Do you think you can try connecting your laptop to another wireless network? I've seen routers some how 'remember' some computers and not others when they get flaky. I have no idea why this happens.

If your laptop is able to connect to another wireless network, then we should look at doing a hard reset on your Netgear router. If we do that, you'll have to re-enter your network info, i.e. your wireless password.

Have you tried going into Network and Sharing Center\ Manage Wireless Networks and removing the network then reconnect?

Good morning,

@Jan2011: I'm not sure I can do that, there is none available. The messages I am getting indicate that my laptop is not in the HomeGroup, but is accessing a public network, which has no connectivity. @Buttons: Yes, still getting the same results.

OK. I'll leave you with Jan2011 then as I can't go anything further.

Thank you, Buttons.

Jan2011, do I have any hope??? Appreciate all your help.

I sure would like to see if this laptop can connect to another network. In the meantime:

Get to a Command prompt by going to START> ALL PROGRAMS> ACCESSORIES, and right click on COMMAND PROMPT.

Highlight RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR and left click on it.
You may have to click Yes to continue.

At the system32> prompt, type in
IPCONFIG /ALL and then hit the ENTER key on your keyboard.

You will get a screen with some info on your network settings.

Right click in the window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
That will copy the contents to your clipboard.

Open Notepad from the All Programs> Accessories folder.
From the Edit menu, choose PASTE. That should paste the network info into Notepad. Save that file to a flash drive, floppy, CD whatever and get it to a machine that has Intenet access and past the network information in your reply.

Here you go:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\windows\system32>IPCONFIG/ALL

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Ana-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-82-BA-FD-B7
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3040:1ddd:808a:5e0b%12(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, May 19, 2011 12:59:47 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, May 20, 2011 12:59:47 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 301999746
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-13-DC-36-82-88-AE-1D-36-34-44

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gateway.2wire.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Fast Ethernet
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 88-AE-1D-36-34-44
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{4D82B6DB-0D81-43B5-BC92-047E0B2910ED}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\windows\system32>

Good. Now get back to that C:\windows\system32> prompt just as before.

This time let's see if your laptop can ping the router.

At the C:\windows\system32> prompt, type in
ping 192.168.1.1 and hit the ENTER key

Note: there is a space between the word ping and the 192.168.1.1.
Your command should look like

C:\windows\system32>ping 192.168.1.1

If you get results that look like:
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=127.
That's a good sign.

Continue to try
C:\windows\system32>ping www.google.com

Let us know your results.

Yikes. Here goes:

C:\windows\system32>PING 192.168.1.1

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.2: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.2: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.1.2: Destination host unreachable.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25% loss),

C:\windows\system32>

I think there may be an issue with the router. Reason being, in your post, you sent a ping to 192.168.1.1 and got a response from 192.168.1.2. The addresses are different.

I've ping'd a good many times and I've never seen that. I'm no expert.

Do you get the same result if you PING 192.168.1.1 from the working computer? The reply should come back from 192.168.1.1 (not ...1.2)

It comes back from 1.1 as ping'd when I do it on the working computer.

Get back to the command prompt and try:
ipconfig /flushdns - note the space between ipconfig /flushdns

!!! Do I see a light at the end of the tunnel? It says
"Successfully flushed the DNS Resolver Cache"
Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee tell me this is a good sign. And sorry for all the bugging, you are way too kind.

try the ping 192.168.1.1 again

-- it came back from 192.168.1.2 again

Can you now go back to the bottom right corner and right click your network to try to repair?

I just did that, no changes -- then I rebooted the laptop and for a second it showed my network name, "homegroup newtowrk" and "no network access", instead of "unidentified network", "public network" and "no internet access". It quickly went back to the latter. But I am thinking now I should reset the router probably -- I will do that once I can get off work since I can't lose connectivity now. Thank you for your help today (it has been LONGER than yesterday). I will post what happens later when I reset the router. Now you get some rest, I truly appreciate all the time you have devoted to this.

OK. After you reset the router, please restart the computer.

Hi, Same results, reset, restarted computer, same "unidentified network" and "not internet access". When I try to diagnose the wireless connection it says that "gateway is not available".

Good afternoon.

At this point, let's try to reset the TCP/IP connection.

Get back to the command prompt and type
ipconfig /release and hit the ENTER

Once it releases, type
ipconfig /renew and hit the ENTER

Hi, this is not looking very promising. Behold:

C:\windows\system32>ipconfig /release

Windows IP Configuration

No operation can be performed on Wireless Network Connection while it has its me
dia disconnected.
No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media di
sconnected.

C:\windows\system32>ipconfig /release

Windows IP Configuration

No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media di
sconnected.

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3040:1ddd:808a:5e0b%12
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gateway.2wire.net

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.{4D82B6DB-0D81-43B5-BC92-047E0B2910ED}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.gateway.2wire.net:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

C:\windows\system32>ipconfig /renew

Windows IP Configuration

No operation can be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media di
sconnected.

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3040:1ddd:808a:5e0b%12
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.6
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gateway.2wire.net

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.{4D82B6DB-0D81-43B5-BC92-047E0B2910ED}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Tunnel adapter isatap.gateway.2wire.net:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

C:\windows\system32>

Looks like something happened because your IP address has changed. If you haven't please restart your computer and see if it gets on the network.

Either way please do an ipconfig /all and post the result.

thanks

Here goes. And thank YOU:

C:\windows\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Ana-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 802.11g Network Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-82-BA-FD-B7
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::3040:1ddd:808a:5e0b%12(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.6(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, May 20, 2011 4:00:52 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, May 21, 2011 4:00:55 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 301999746
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-13-DC-36-82-88-AE-1D-36-34-44

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : gateway.2wire.net
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Fast Ethernet
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 88-AE-1D-36-34-44
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{4D82B6DB-0D81-43B5-BC92-047E0B2910ED}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.gateway.2wire.net:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\windows\system32>

Well as I said, your IP address changed. It was 192.168.1.2 and now it's 192.168.1.6. So we have some activity.

Try again PING 192.168.1.1 and hit enter.

Horror! comes back from 192.168.1.6 and says "host unreachable". What is going on?

It's saying that it can't get to the router. However, it does have an IP address. So I'm scratching my head.

Hang on while I check something on my Windows 7 machine.

One last thing:

At the command prompt type in
netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt and hit the ENTER key

It should come back with:
Resetting Interface. OK!
Restart the computer to complete this action

Restart your computer and see what happens.

Got very optimistic about seeing the OK! message but got back to same unidentified public network with no internet access right after restart. For a minute it showed the NETGEAR and home network thing, I clicked on show map and the IP address was the .6 one. Sigh.

There are signs of hope, but my bag of tricks is empty. I see some signs that the laptop and router are talking. I'm saying this because the laptop got a new IP address. It should have however, got the same address (the .2 one).

Two things you can do:

1) Take your laptop to another wireless network and see if it connects.
** If it does not, then you have a laptop wireless network problem and it may require replacing the internal wireless card. Alternatively, you can purchase a USB wireless adapter that plugs into the USB port and looks like USB flash drives.

** if it does connect to the other wireless network, then you have an issue with your router. Yes, I know that the other computer connects.

2) The other option is to do a hard reset on your wireless router which will remove all your settings including the security. I would do this and see if it connects. After verifying it connects, re-install the wireless security.

When setting up your router, please put a password on the wireless network. Also change the default password to get into the router. The default login is admin for the user and password for the password for most Netgear routers. Check your manual to make sure. Change that password from password to something else please. Write it down along with the wireless password.

OK. I will try to find another network to connect. How do I do a hard reset on the router? I think I would try this first. Do you have any ideas as to why the IP address keeps changing? Originally it was the .1, then .2 responded, now it's .6. I wonder why. You think it has to do with that damn game? (going back to board games immediately if not before). In any case, thank you very much for your help, will keep you posted. Have a nice weekend.

The .1 is the address of the router itself. You can see that in the ipconfig readout where it says DHCP Server. It is the router that is giving your computer the IP address it needs to communicate on your network.

Yesterday your IP address was the .2 one. That would be the address that the router gives to the first computer that needs to talk on the network. The next computer would get .3 and so on.

Routers tend to remember which computers have which IP address. Since we renewed your IP address, your router gave your computer .6. Normally it would give it the same .2 address.

So why did it give it that .6 address? You have the other computer which is probably .3 and then you may have had two other computers at one point which got .4 and .5. So the next address is .6.

AHA! That is why you are the expert and I am NOT. Thank you.

Now when your friends come over you can run ipconfig /all and see what their IP address is.

Hey Jan2011, I'm back, like the Poltergeist. This past weekend I brought my laptop with me to a hotel, and tried connecting to the wireless there. It said it was connected but that I had "no internet access". So.... what to do now?

So, it seems to be a laptop issue. Let's try this:

Download SuperAntispyware from here. You'll have to use your other machine to download the program. Download it and put it on a flash drive so you can transfer it to your laptop.

It's a malware removal app, but it has other tools. Install the application on your laptop. You don't need a license number to install this free version. Once the applilcation is installed, you'll see a yellow bug icon in the notification area to the left of your clock. Open it and go to Preferences. In there, go to the Repairs tab. Scroll down to and highlight Repair broken Network Connection (WinSock LSP Chain) and click on Perform Repair. It may tell you that you have to restart.

See if that works.

Hoping here! Where do I get this download, from this site? Or is there another link to it? Thank you!

Never mind, duh! I see that you put the link on "here". Bear with my ignorance.

Regretting to say I got same "no internet access" and "unidentified network" after repairing and restarting.

At this point, we've done a lot with software. We reset everything.

It could simply be a hardware issue with the laptop.

It would be nice to swap internal wireless cards. You probably don't have a spare hanging around. (I don't either, sorry).

It might be easiest and lease expensive to purchase a USB wirelss network adapter.