Any ideas please

I set up my mates brand new D-link Sky Router, and connected my laptop via wireless without any problems. For some reason his laptop won't connect to the internet. It connects to the router, but reports "local" access only.

It connects via ethernet to the internet, which suggests a wireless connectivity problem on his laptop. I disabled the Windows Firewall, and the antivirus, but without success. None of the "diagnose and repair options" worked.

I brought his laptop home and connected it to my wireless LAN. It worked without problems, immediate internet access.

Any suggestions gratefully accepted.

If the sky device is using N try switching down to G, and vice versa for laptop.

One of my laptops does this now and then and a reboot will fix it. Some Wireless cards in laptops are just that good.

Did setting IP values manually on the laptop help?

Wrong WPA key.

That was my thought

Or, the router is configured to only accept connections by MAC address and one laptop is permissioned but not the other.

You won't even get local connectivity with the wrong key!

And WIndows 7 at least is clear about this, older OS's are less friendly in the errors.

Guess is that the laptop in question has an Intel WiFi chip, and might even be a Dell XPS as seen the same happen with a number of these.

Windows 7 is a joy I have yet to experience... I can wait

XP and Vista have been OK for me- they correctly report "Local access only" and a reboot usually fixes it, but it may be that I've had different chips etc.

If the sky device is using N try switching down to G, and vice versa for laptop.

It's a mix of b and g.

Did setting IP values manually on the laptop help?

Not tried that yet.

Wrong WPA key.

No, checked and double checked.

"Windows 7 is a joy I have yet to experience... I can wait"

Networking Win7 and XP can be quite interesting: set Win7 to Work group and by default (don't know if they have fixed it yet) there is (or was) an extremely serious security issue with Win7...

Or, the router is configured to only accept connections by MAC address and one laptop is permissioned but not the other.

I tried connecting his laptop a number of times before trying my own. His reported "connected" and local access only. Yet mine connected without problem.

In reply to a post by wingco1:

Wrong WPA key.

No, checked and double checked.

Is the router broadcasting the SSID? "Yes" is better at first.

If you run ipconfig on his laptop, what does it report the "Default Gateway" as? It is showing as the router IP?

Wondering if that's been over-ridden in the past so not being picked up from the router, or thinking the other way round - making the IP/gateway static in the adapter settings might sort it.

Yes.

If you run ipconfig on his laptop, what does it report the "Default Gateway" as? It is showing as the router IP?

Will check that when I take it back later today.

One possibility comes to mind - although as you are getting some connection it may not be the case, but :

It is possible that the router is set for a different country for wireless than the laptop. If the router is set for a US config then it may be picking channel 12 or 13 for the wireless connection. If the laptop is set to UK then UK law prohibits the use of anything above channel 11. So, worth checking they are both set for UK wireless operation.

Thanks for that. Router is set for Europe on "Auto" Channel select. The laptop has previously worked faultlessly with a Netgear router on chan 11. Might set the router channel to manual to see if that has any bearing.

Is it possible that a new router is set to use a security setting which the fairly old laptop can't handle? For example WPA2 instead of WPA PSK?

Possibly, but if the case then you should get no connection to the wireless network.

OK, next one then. I do have a laptop then will connect fine on certain channels but the same sort of problem on others. Try setting the router manually to 1, 6 and 11 and see if it works on any of those - never did track it down on my own laptop but I think it was the same problem as you are seeing.

Possibly, but if the case then you should get no connection to the wireless network.

Rules that idea out then. I think I might try various options when I go around there tonight.

I'll try that thanks.

In reply to a post by wingco1:

Possibly, but if the case then you should get no connection to the wireless network.

Rules that idea out then. I think I might try various options when I go around there tonight.

Also try assigning a new WPA key (your own?) on the router and laptop

Dig into the computer thats now working, and checker there are no driver updates on manufacturers website for the wireless card in the device.

In reply to a post by ian72:

If the router is set for a US config then it may be picking channel 12 or 13 for the wireless connection. If the laptop is set to UK then UK law prohibits the use of anything above channel 11.

It's the other way round, viz Wikipedia:

Most other European countries are almost as liberal as Japan, disallowing only channel 14, while North America and some Central and South American countries further disallow 12 and 13.

Sorry, yes you're quite right, memory is failing me. Still important to ensure the right setting is on both router and laptop (so router could be set to UK and laptop set to US and problem could occur).

Update. The cure for this fault was a simple changing of the WPA security key pre set in the router. All is now well.

Thanks to everyone who contributed.

In reply to a post by wingco1:

Update. The cure for this fault was a simple changing of the WPA security key pre set in the router. All is now well.

Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Ah, good news