OT:Windows 7 wifi oddity

[Jethro]

I have 2 wireless networks, one for work, and one for play. My home PC (mainly used by SWMBO) is running windows 7, and has a cable connection to the "play" router.

I installed a Belkin USB wifi stick which appears to work fine ... except it resolutely refuses to see the "work" network. It sees the "play" wifi network, and next doors network, and across the roads networks. But the "work network" - nada.

My phone sees the work network. My Kindle sees the work network. The Mrs' phone sees the work network. But this sodding PC ?

I even put the USB key on a cable, on the off chance that moving it from 6ft to 5ft from the router might help.

Reboots, removing and replacing the USB stick, and changing it do nothing.

Anyone any hints ? It's annoying as the house printer is a wireless one that hangs off the work network, so the home PC can't print.

[Bob Eager]

Is the work network on a channel that, for some reason, the USB stick doesn't support? Might be one intended for a market/country where the chosen channel is prohibited.

Try moving the channel used by the work AP.

[Huge]

He already mentioned why it doesn't work; Belkin.

Throw it away and buy a USB dongle from someone, anyone, else.

[Jethro]

Solved ! Router was set to Auto (Channel 13) for some reason changing to Channel 6 fixed problem. Now have Windows PC connected at 100% signal, and printer happily gurgling away.

[T i m]

I don't know if W7 has a suitable tool built in but Vistumbler might be handy for seeing just how many APs are on the same channel as yours. ;-)

install, turn off your router / AP and see what's out there. Compare with yours and if necessary, move yours to a 'free' channel (especially if you are using 802.11g).

And/or see if there is a better / later driver for the USB stick? That can sometimes make a big difference.

Get yerself a Linux LiveDVD and boot from that and see if /that/ can see / use the dongle and your 'Work network'. (Mint 10 is a good all rounder).

this to burn the .ISO you don't have anything else: )

Cheers, T i m

[bof]

In message , Jethro writes

I've had a lot of trouble with Wi-Fi since going to Win 7 64, particularly VPN.

AFAICS it's associated with the 'doze firewall, never really got to the bottom of it, but launching the Wi-Fi from: "Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center" > "Connect to a Network" seems to work reasonably reliably.

Whereas launching the Wi-Fi from the "Notification Area" all but never works. And once the VPN's failed to connect once it won't connect again until after a reboot, no matter how I connect to the Wi-Fi.

Not quite sure what you mean by "see" but I've had lots of trouble being unable to connect to Wi-Fi networks at all with Win 7, but not being networks under my control or ones I regularly use, I can't say whether it's a base station or Win 7 problem.

So in summary: if you're attempting to connect from the "Notification Area" try connecting from the "Network and Sharing Center" straight after a re-boot.

[Nick Leverton]

I bet the Belkin has a Broadcom chipset. It's probably the crappy Broadcom installer which defaults to only allowing channels 1 to 11.

(has also bitten me on W7).

Nick

[Invisible Man]

I gave up on Belkin long ago.

Thinking on giving up on Windows 7 64 bit. Quite a few problems that googling suggests are fairly widespread. I have a 32 bit disk and if I ever need to reinstall .....

[D.M.Chapman]

IIRC, 13 is limited to the UK (and maybe a couple of other countries in the EU). Some cheapskate companies (HP, I'm looking at you) just make one model for the entire EU and limit it to the channels you can use everywhere.

Has caused us grief at work. Think we have abandoned ch 13 now as it generates too many "your network is broken" complaints :-(

Not a new issue - I remember having an ipaq (4150 IIRC) that had the problem. That was a bloody HP as well now I think about it!

Darren

[Mr Guest]

bof wrote (apparently) in uk.misc on Mon 18 Jul 2011 18:08:41:

I did the same as I have been doing with Vista on other PCs with Win 7

64-bit on this PC, which was to disable any mention of IPV6 anywhere on the network card/wireless settings. That has made things a lot more reliable. And actually made them work in the first place for some issues.

Go to a command prompt and type "ipconfig /all" Enter to see if there's any mention of it. Doubtless there is a good reason for it. Until I can't do something due to not having it I'll not investigate further.

[The Natural Philosopher]

there are several modulation types..no idea how you set those up in WinDoze - - maybe its not set to the right one.

[Man at B&Q]

I've had nothing but trouble with those damn things. Even if they see the network they will disconnect randomly at the most inopportune moment.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

+1 for the dongles, although the Belkin ADSL wireless router is fine.

MBQ

[bof]

Ta, I'll bear this in mind for the next Win 7 network problem

[T i m]

I have found Belkin stuff to be fairly consistent. The bad stuff is bad and the good stuff is good. ;-)

There are several example of their kit here and haven't really found it any less reliable than many other brands at that price (I was looking at a stack of dead Netgear ADSL routers the other day) but the good thing is most of it has a lifetime warranty.

I have been given quite a few bits of deal Belkin gear because the OO couldn't be bothered to get it replaced so I did and in many cases with a different later / different model that has generally been perfectly reliable. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Sn!pe]

[...]

I've been having network problems too, so I've just disabled IPv6 everywhere I can think of. I'll report back if it makes any difference. I'm on Mac OS X, obv.

[Richard Russell]

According to the link below, most European countries allow channels 1 to

13, with North America (and some others) allowing only 1 to 11. A WiFi dongle (etc.) that cannot use channel 12 or 13 isn't necessarily stupid or cheapskate, as some over-excited correspondents have implied, but may simply mean that it's a US model.

[Sunny Bard]

Though if (and why would you?) you're using the new HOMEGROUP network sharing, disabling IPv6 will b0rk it ...

[Mr Guest]

Sunny Bard wrote (apparently) in uk.misc on Tue 19 Jul 2011

20:39:30:

Well, it would appear that I have configured it to the existing workgroup due to none of the other machines here being Windows 7, and the HOMEGROUP stuff is not required at this stage.

If there was a way to disable Libraries as well, and stop as much rubbish appearing in the Explorer display it would be nice. Hey ho, think calm thoughts...

[Dave-UK]

This works for me: