WIFI Problems
Issues with your WIFI networking connections ?

This can be caused by the distance between the computer and router or access point being too far apart.

Thick walls can also have a big impact in decreasing network range.
Interference from items such as microwaves, and now baby monitors can also cause connection issues.

Resolutions
Does your network card software offer power settings? Make sure you set it to max power.

Make sure the router is well placed, as near as possible to the computer to increase signal strength.



If necessary invest in a wireless access point and position in between you router and computer, this will boost the wireless signal.

Interference can be cured by changing the channel that the router is using, to move the frequency as far away from any other causing problems usually using either 1, 7 or 11 will solve this.

Configuration problems
Is your WIFI network card working properly? Check from control panels device manager to confirm this.

Many WIFI cards come with their own software, try using this, otherwise from the view all available WIFI networks option, advanced choose to allow windows to manage WIFI connections.

Are you using the most up to date driver available for your network card?

Is your network card capable of connecting to this WIFI network? If you have an older type card which will only support WEP maybe the router is only set for WPA, most routers offer the options of WPA only or WPA and WEP

Is the computer attempting to connect able to source an IP address? Maybe it’s set to static IP addressing and it needs to be changed to DHCP.

Do you have any firewall software preventing the computer sourcing an IP address?

Is the WIFI card enabled on your computer, many laptops having a switch on them to enable and disable the Wifi. Is the network protected? If so do you have the access key either WEP or WPA type.

Is the router configured with an access filter such as mac address filtering, if so make sure your computer mac address is added.

Are you connecting to the right network, if windows is set to connect to any network it will connect to the first it sees.

Partial connection WIFI problems
If you can connect ok, and are allocated an IP address, but still cannot browse it may be your winsock.dll file has become confused, this can happen if you frequently connect to the web using different connection mediums such as WIFI, RJ45, modem, checkout our Winsock page to rectify this.

Is the router getting too hot?
A router running too hot may perform a whole range of things such as frequently dropping connections, or even rebooting itself and losing its configuration.

Make sure the router is in a cool well ventilated location, to all sides.
If the router is going to be placed in a warm environment purchase a router with this in mind, some have built in fans to aid this.

Is the router connected to the internet? Just because we are connected to a Wifi network does not mean we are connected to the web, any router will either have lights on the front showing an internet connection or simply use the routers browser interface to check the WAN connection.

Checkout our other wifi problems and tips articles

computer adviser wifi problems article