Wireless signal strong - yet no internet access

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by pvbeach, Jan 1, 2010.

  1. pvbeach

    pvbeach Member

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    Ok... it's now desparate time for me after three days of unsuccessful research - so I come once again to the AfterDawn professionals for help:

    In a nutshell I cannot access any internet webpage thru my browser even though the internet icon shows a strong signal from the router AND indicates there is internet access available.

    HOW I'M SET UP:

    Windows 7
    D-Link ROuter DIR-628
    Two wireless access computers (my wife's and my own)
    comcast ISP

    RECENT PAST:

    My wife's wireless internet works beuatifully (I'm on it now), but mine cannot access any web page - immediate rejection on every attempt.

    It all went bad shortly after I installed a web utility called PageFix (utility that helps access pages that otherwise cannot be opened). I trashed the utility since it failed to perform but it may have fouled the works... who knows.

    I do have some connectivity to the internet becasue windows updates and Norton's 360 seem to update properly. Just no browser web page access (IE 8.0),

    When I select the command to "Diagnose Connection" from the failed web page load attempt I get the following message: "Windows can not automatically detect this computer's proxy settings".

    I've screwed around with just about everything from TCPIP settings to router adjustments etc... but keep in mind that my wife's computer performs correctly (we both have windows 7)and mine doesn't and we are both set up for wireless internet. My d-link network usb adapter passes all checks that I can find.

    So what the hell, guys??? I'm not a techie guru - far from it - but usually have been able to figure out problems so as not to burden this forum with my messes! But, this time I guess I really need some direction.
     
  2. dailun

    dailun Active member

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    What are your encryption settings?

    Go back to square one. Turn OFF encryption at the router and see if you can connect one, the other, or both computers.

    Then work forward from there.
     
  3. pvbeach

    pvbeach Member

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    Thanks for that suggestion. I tried ur recommendation and it didn't work so I REALLY went back to square 0! I did a new clean install of Windows 7 on my machine and then reloaded my software. I now have internet access but the current problem is .....

    I get the "Internet Exlorer can't open the page... etc" error quite frequently. Usually a page refresh will access the page, but not always. I get this error about 1/3 of the time. I use DHCP on the system and router. Loading of web pages is usually very slow.
     
  4. dailun

    dailun Active member

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    A strong wireless signal doesn't necessarily = a high transfer rate.

    "internet icon shows a strong signal from the router "

    If you open the wireless card utility, what does IT show?

    Try this.

    Open a command prompt window.

    type

    ping <IP address of the router> -t

    Watch it for about 2 minutes. If you see a high amount of lost packets, it may be that your wireless connection is dropping in and out and/or resyncing.
     
  5. pvbeach

    pvbeach Member

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    Dailun:

    I pinged the router and let it run for about a minute. No lost packets, 0ms per round trip average (0-2ms was the range).
     
  6. dailun

    dailun Active member

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    Well, the problem with an issue like this is you have to have several windows open at once to "catch" the problem.

    Looking at the ping for a minute will only show you what's happening during that particular minute.

    You didn't say what the Wireless utility said about signal strength and transfer speed. Are you using the wireless manufacturer's utility or Windows 7 to manage the wireless connection.

    You could try running a ping -t while you're browsing and see if any "hiccups" correspond with a loss in ping.

    I would be more curious to see what the wireless utility says about signal strength and transfer rates.

    Are you using a native Windows 7 driver for your wireless card? Is there an updated one from the manufacturer?

     
  7. pvbeach

    pvbeach Member

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    Thanks so much for your interest!!

    First... the wireless utility says that the signal strength is "Ecellent" (meaning the carrier signal from router to Wireless card and not necessarilly the quality of the modem signal being carried). The speed was stated at 130 Mbps. I did a "Speedtest" on the router/modem and found that download speed was 3.5 Mbps and Uplink speed at about 1.5 MBps.

    When I do a download on the internet I note that typical website download speeds range from about 50Kbps to 500 Kbps. Quite acceptable since the actual experience is on average closer to the 400-500 Kbps range.

    Second, I pinged both the router and the modem in separate CMD windows simultaneouly and let them both run for about 3 minutes while I tried browsing. Most windows opened acceptably (though slowish) but one window came up with the "Windows Can't open this page.." error which then opened quickly after refreshing the url command in the browser. I then checked the CMD windows and saw only a 75 ms deviation when that error occurred and that was in the modem ping. The router ping continued perfectly. In both cases (router and modem) there were 0 packet losses and average speeds for the router were 0ms and for the modem were 1ms.

    I use the dLink DIR-628 router and the dLink DWA-140 wireless N adapter in the computer in question. The router is wireless N type.

    I used the manufacturer's drivers from their installation disks for the router and wireless card.

    I wonder if the issue may be with DNS? I tried changing to google's public DNS servers in my network's tcp/IPv4 specs (changed from "auto select" to 8.8.8.8 primary and 8.8.4.4 secondary). I made those changes in the network's tcp/IV4 properties settings and the router's manual DNS settings. Didn't seem to make any difference to performance.

    So... that's what I think you requested for addl info.. :)

    Thank you again.

    Bill
     
  8. neoanyan

    neoanyan Member

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    hi,

    seems your browser has some proxy set..

    tools-internet options -connections--lan setting

    or

    try install a new browser and see if it connects

    Best
     
  9. pvbeach

    pvbeach Member

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    Thanks Neoanyun...!

    I checked for any proxy settings, and there are none. I also loaded a new copy of Google Chrome browser and I still have the same problems... very slow web page loads and/or "Windows cannot display this page..." error.

    Thanks for the thought though!! Appreciate..
     

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