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GyBear
join:2003-03-13

1 edit

GyBear

Member

Wireless Router Connected But Can't Access Internet (solved)

Hello,

Setup: Cable modem + Wireless router + :
- Desktop XP SP3 Pro - Wired
- MacBook Pro OSX - Wireless
- IPhone - Wireless
- Amazon Kindle Tablet - Wireless
- Laptop Win7 Home Premium - Wireless

Everything had been working fine for more than a year. About two weeks ago, we started experiencing intermittent Internet access loss on all wireless devices.

Internet was not interrupted on the wired connections.

The router and other devices were still ping-able from the wireless devices, but yahoo.com, say, wasn't and wireless icons (OSX, Win7) were showing No Internet.

Unplugging modem and router helped restoring the connections, but the issue remained.

What I tried successively, every time in vain:
- Selected a channel that was not used by any of the five other networks around.
- Set lease time to forever.
- Disabled security.
- Used WPA2 mixed instead of AES only.
- Changed for a WRT64GL with DD-WRT and boosted the signal.
- Installed an ASUS RT-N66U (802.11n).

I'm now left with suspecting the old Webstar Videotron modem.

Before going that hard hard route, I'd like to ask for some expert advice to ensure I didn't miss anything.

Thank you.

BlueMist
join:2011-01-24
Cookeville, TN

BlueMist

Member

Re: Wireless Router Connected But Can't Access the Internet

Just a little more testing to eliminate a possible problem or two. All of these except the last are based on a possible problem at the XP machine since it is the only hard wired device from what you've told us.

Next time the problem turns up with the wireless machines try unplugging the Ethernet cable at the router to the XP machine and see if the wireless boxes start working properly. A partially defective cable can cause problems like you've described.

Try a different Ethernet cable and see if that fixes things. If it does not then try leaving things cabled up but power down the XP machine. If that fixes things then the problem is either hardware or software inside the XP box.

As a test boot a Live Linux CD of one kind or another on the XP machine and make sure it is connected to the internet. You can download and burn a CD of Puppy Linux from here »livecdlist.com/ as the download is around 140MB. Verify it's working with the browser and leave it powered on for a half a day or longer and see if the problem comes back. If not then the problem is most likely in the XP software which might be fixable by using a restore point prior to when the problem started.

Finally was any wireless phone service changed, a new microwave, or any other electronic device added? I have seen removing the battery from cell phone(s) clear up problems with wireless networks, usually just the closest device to the phone is affected but a cellular type booster can wipe out the wireless feed on an entire house.
GyBear
join:2003-03-13

GyBear

Member

@BlueMist: Thank you for answering.

For the record, although I hadn't mentioned it, both cables (Modem 2 Router and Router 2 XP Wired) had been changed, and the XP rebooted more than once.

I just came back from the place and the problem has been solved.

There was another cable coming out of the router. I was told it went to the barn where they sometimes plugged a computer when being there. But not presently.

Since I couldn't see any DHCP client from the router, I didn't bother and took their word for granted.

However, today I visited the barn and there I found a wireless router at the other end of the cable. Connected to the WAN port, and running DHCP.

Case closed.