Why isn't my Wi-Fi working?

Factual Questions
1

At home I have internet from Optimum. I replaced their “Smart Router” with a Dlink DIR-645 because I wanted to be able to manage my own network.

On my network I have working without a hitch

One Android Phone, One iPhone 6 Plus, One iPad Air, a HP laptop, multiple Toshiba Laptops and an Amazon Fire TV Stick.

The problem is my Lenovo Ideapad. When it’s running Ubuntu there is no problem with the wireless connectivity but under Windows 8.1 I have a problem.

It will see my wireless network and connect to the router getting an IP and DNS info but then all traffic fails. if I use a wired cable or connect to any other wireless hotspot including my phone I have no problems.

I would like to fix the 8.1 issue but I don’t know what could be wrong.

2

Shot in the dark, but does it help at all if you switch it to use Google’s DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) instead of your ISPs?

3

It would help with troubleshooting if you showed your ipconfig result. I’m assuming you’ve already pinged your loopback address and got no errors?

I doubt it’s a DNS issue since the op is connecting fine with Ubuntu.

4

Reinstall the driver maybe? I had a similar problem (minus the Ubuntu) and that seems to have done the trick, so far.

5

Yeah, I would agree. It could also be the firmware in the router.

I would make sure the driver for the wireless card is up to date:
device manager->network adapters->(brand) wifi Adapter->drivers->update

If that doesn’t help, make sure that the firmware on your router is the latest:
http://support.dlink.com/ProductInfo.aspx?m=DIR-645

6

Reinstall the wireless adapter driver or software or upgrade the router firmware

7

What happens if you:

  1. Set a static IP address for the adapter?
  2. Change the authentication method on the router (say from WPA2 to WPA or WEP)?

It could be a router specific issue. Windows Vista had a problem with the DHCP Broadcast flag that was fixed with Windows 7 (or a registry change).

8

No change. I even tried using the IP of the router as the DNS server

yes loopback works so I don’t think there is a TCP/IP stack issue

wifi only - Pastebin.com is my ipconfig with wireless only

with wired - Pastebin.com is my ipconfig with wired connection

Firmware on the router is the latest. Driver on the wireless adapter seems to be most current for the Broadcomm 802.11n

Even with no authentication it doesn’t work.

9

Can you successfully ping the router (“ping 192.168.1.1”) when connected to the wireless network?

Can you post the output of the command “netstat -an” when connected to the wireless as well as when connected to the wired?

And just to double-check - did you try to configure it with a static IP config? E.g:

IP Address: 192.168.1.77
Netmask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DNS Server: 192.168.1.1

10

You’re using IPv4 over Wi-Fi but IPv6 via wired Ethernet. Is this intentional? It looks like something about the IPv6 protocol is interfering with IPv4, specifically with Windows.

Here are a few things you can try:

  1. Try pinging your router like sweepkick suggested. A failure here indicates a strong possibility of your firewall blocking communication for certain protocols.
  2. Check your router and OS settings for IPv4 and IPv6 for preferential treatment.
  3. Disable IPv6 temporarily and see what effect that has to both your wired and wireless connections.
11

IPv6 should now be disabled on both interfaces

Wired ethernet connected-wired_3_25 - Pastebin.com
Wired ethernet not connected-wireless 3_25 - Pastebin.com

I can NOT ping the router by IP if the wired connection is not used. I can ping if I am using the wired connection.

12

I forgot to ask in my last post, but are you able to connect to Wi-Fi with the Lenovo outside of your home network with Windows?

You cannot ping your router on Wi-Fi, but you can on wired Ethernet, is that right? It sounds like something is blocking your communication with the router. Have you tried temporarily disabling your firewall/AV to rule out a setting there? Do you have any kind of special set up like a VPN or remote desktop installed? Also, try your Wi-Fi in safe mode (with networking) just so you can rule any kind of basic driver errors. If none of these work, try resetting your TCP/IP stack by opening a cmd prompt with admin rights and entering:


netsh winsock reset catalog

and then


netsh int ip reset reset.log

Reboot to complete the reset.

13

Prior to Thursday I would have said that I had no problems with this laptop on any other network. Then I went away on vacation and I had the same issue with the hotel’s WI-FI. When running Windows 8 I could see the network and get an IP but all traffic would fail. Booting into Ubuntu allowed me to access the network.