Laptop won't connect to Access Point

Hi all! I've set up a router in access point mode in my home office, connected to the main router by ethernet, but cannot get one of my laptops to connect to it. My mobile and another laptop, fine; they even migrate/switch to the AP when I walk through to the office with them, but the one I definitely want to connect to the AP (as it's permanently in that part of the house), remains stubbornly connected to the main router, via 2.4GHz, yielding c2mbps, and regularly dropping connection.

What am I doing wrong?

Ta!

Rob

Edited by Robroadband (Fri 25-Apr-25 16:52:23)

Can said laptop ‘see’ the AP and just refuses to connect or can it not see it? What machine is it? What’s the AP?

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Can said laptop ‘see’ the AP and just refuses to connect or can it not see it? What machine is it? What’s the AP?

and what is the wifi network card in the laptop, does it have any updated drivers?

why would updated drivers allow it to see a radio that it currently cannot see,

you mean you think it can see an ap further away but cannot see the one next to it.

what is setting up a router in access point mode?????? a router is a router not an access point
what you are forgetting is channels look at which frequency the device is trying to connect to many look at standard ones and if they connect they happlily sit on that this is where your setup comes in to move the device on to a better connection.

In reply to a post by pyarwood:

what is setting up a router in access point mode?????? a router is a router not an access point

A home router contains both a router and an access point. If you disable its layer 3 features (in particular the DHCP server) and then plug into the LAN side, they you're just using the access point.

Channels *could* be the issue: if the regulatory domain is set wrongly on either the laptop or the AP, then the AP might be on a channel that the laptop won't use.

Encryption is another possibility - e.g. if the AP is set to permit WPA3 only, but the laptop only does WPA2 (or vice versa). However in my experience it's rare for devices to be set in a non-backwards-compatible mode.

Note that roaming between APs is the responsibility of the client, and some clients *do* stick to a weak signal even when a stronger one is available. If you turn wifi off and on on the laptop, does it still choose the weak AP?

Ideally what you want to do is to do a scan on the laptop, to list the nearby APs which it can see - individual APs with their MAC addresses (BSSID), not just the network names (ESSID). For a Windows laptop, I don't know how to do that. For a Mac you used to be able to run "airport -s" but it's been removed from recent versions of macOS.

Another approach would be temporarily to change the ESSID (network name) on the second AP, and see if the laptop (a) sees both ESSIDs, and (b) can connect to the second ESSID. This would show if the problem is to do with compatibility.

Hi Robroadband

as Pheasant and jchamier have already ask, what router are you using in the office and what laptop is it, idealy the sub version of the laptop as they can contain different wifi modules .. you can also just go into device manager - right click on the start menu and go to device manager and it will be under network adaptors

In reply to a post by pyarwood:

why would updated drivers allow it to see a radio that it currently cannot see,

its happened a few times with intel ..... for instance.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35199440

I would think that the first thing to try is to turn off the wireless on the router and see whether the laptop in question can connect to the internet and the router config page via the access point. That way, you make the question of whether the laptop can connect to the access point in the first place quite naked.

In reply to a post by DFScale:

I would think that the first thing to try is to turn off the wireless on the router and see whether the laptop in question can connect to the internet and the router config page via the access point. That way, you make the question of whether the laptop can connect to the access point in the first place quite naked.

also very much worth doing .

In reply to a post by pyarwood:

why would updated drivers allow it to see a radio that it currently cannot see,

because WiFi is a complex set of protocols.

Updating driver for the wNIC, and updating fimware for the AP device (router integrated, or standalone) has worked for me countless times. Originally back in the b/g days when Draytek were not doing WiFi standards testing (for price).

The other thing to check is if the AP is set for WPA2 & WPA3 mode, many older (even some WiFi 4) wNICs have choked on the WPA3 frames and refused to connect even to the WPA2 mode.

In reply to a post by Taras:

its happened a few times with intel ..... for instance.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35199440

That sort of thing is why "linux at home" is not getting traction against Chromebooks or Android.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

A home router contains both a router and an access point. If you disable its layer 3 features (in particular the DHCP server) and then plug into the LAN side, they you're just using the access point.

Some more helpful boxes have options in the GUI to choose if you want AP mode.

Channels *could* be the issue: if the regulatory domain is set wrongly on either the laptop or the AP, then the AP might be on a channel that the laptop won't use. Encryption is another possibility - e.g. if the AP is set to permit WPA3 only, but the laptop only does WPA2 (or vice versa). However in my experience it's rare for devices to be set in a non-backwards-compatible mode.

I've seen quite a few late Intel N/3 and early AC/4 adaptors refuse to work. Replaced one with a broadcom adaptor and solved the problem.

Note that roaming between APs is the responsibility of the client, and some clients *do* stick to a weak signal even when a stronger one is available. If you turn wifi off and on on the laptop, does it still choose the weak AP?

Roaming has always been hit and miss; mesh exists for a reason.

Ideally what you want to do is to do a scan on the laptop, to list the nearby APs which it can see - individual APs with their MAC addresses (BSSID), not just the network names (ESSID). For a Windows laptop, I don't know how to do that. For a Mac you used to be able to run "airport -s" but it's been removed from recent versions of macOS.

Maybe try NirSoft's tool:
https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wifi_information_view....

I'm never sure what info to put in the posts, so thanks Pheasant for the prompts.

The AP's a TP-Link router (E220-g2u), connected via ethernet to my main router (Vodafone PowerHub) and set up in AP mode. I've given them both the same SSID.

The laptop's an inherited Asus Vivobook X415FAC, It's not badly-specced, will be many years old, but it's probably of similar age to my main laptop, which connects to the AP happily

The Asus can see the AP - if I put them right next to each other, it connects **, but move it to where I need it, and it seems to want to connect to the main router which is 20m away, through external walls (the AP is 6m away).

Thanks for your help!


**according to the router’s web GUIs

Edited by Robroadband (Sun 27-Apr-25 13:28:03)

Hi jchamier

The wireless card in the Asus is a Realtek 8821CE 802.11ac.

One thing I have noticed, after doing some Googling, is that a possibly helpful setting "Roamng aggressiveness" isn't available in the card's properties, so I wonder whether it's an older card. As far as I can see it's got the latest driver insofar as Windows tells me that, and the driver begins "2024".

Thanks jchamier (and everyone else). I need to do some experimenting then, and will come straight back once done.

Really appreciate the input everyone

go into device manager and check if the driver version is lower than 2023.56.0502.2017 date: 2018/08/22

if so
https://www.realtek.com/Download/List?cate_id=669&me...

Also try setting a guest ssid and set it to 2.4ghz first and see if it will connect to it

two options -
replace the wifi card
or get a usb wifi dongle.

Nirsoft

I've tried to insert a screenshot I've taken but nada.

WifiInfoView shows both main router and AP; when I take the Asus to where it should sit, it stays connected to the main router whose signal strentgh now shows "10", the AP being "100" on both 2.4 & 5Ghz bands.

I'll try posts in turn, so hold hard if you think I'm ignoring you(!)

Driver is 2024.10.143.0. Don't know how this has happened - I agree that the latest driver for the adapter begins 2023. I've tried rollback - still a 2024 driver. Should I install the 2023 one anyway, or should there be backwards compability f Ive got a 2024 one?

no (not atm), try the guest ssid idea first and see if it will connect.

Channels: the Nirsoft viewer has me connected on ch100 using 5Ghz (main router); the 5Ghz from the AP is broadasting on 36 and the 2.4Ghz are on 13 and 9 respectively - surely too far apart for there to be overlap?

Thanks Taras, but that's beyond me - how?

Me: "if I put them right next to each other, it connects **according to the router’s web GUIs

Not convinced about this now: using the Nirsoft, even when I'm next to the AP, the connection is to the main router (its 2.4Ghz band).

I've now disabled the Wifi broadcast on the main router - all devices switch to the AP except the errant Asus, which has no connection at all

Edited by Robroadband (Sun 27-Apr-25 16:23:52)

In reply to a post by Robroadband:

Thanks Taras, but that's beyond me - how?

do you know how to get into the tp-link router's webpage?

What i'm suggesting is using the guest network to remove the roaming issue for the asus

Thanks again all; candlerb - I'm usng your post as a basis as it covers all bases!

Security: TP-Link router/AP has settings:

Security: "WPA/WPA2/WPA3 Perspnal (Recommended)"
Version is selected (not Auto) as "WPA2-PSK", other options being WPA2-WPA3 & WPA3-SAE
Encryption seems to default to "AES" from the PSK selection

No idea how to see whether the laptop is a match, but I'll look into it

Edited by Robroadband (Sun 27-Apr-25 19:54:59)

I had a look at the specs of the wireless card. Whilst it should do 2.4ghz and 5ghz over n, its a single aerial job which means you can't upgrade it most modern laptops have 2+ aerials

If the lappy isn't being moved much getting a usb ethernet dongle and wire it up that would be the best outcome......

Thanks Taras - much appreciated.

Take it the wifi card's a bit duff then and may be and better to upgrade rather than faff about trying to work out why it's not connecting?

It'll have to be a wifi dongle rather than ethernet, but imagine that will still solve the problem.


Ta!

Something like this perhaps? TP-Link Archer TX20U WiFi Dongle, AX1800 Wireless Wi-Fi 6 USB
However if the laptop is an older model, the USB port may limit the performance of the dongle.

Thanks matey - will check it out - you're right that the USB ports are likely to be 2.0, but who knows - may surprise me!

In reply to a post by Robroadband:

Thanks Taras - much appreciated.

Take it the wifi card's a bit duff then and may be and better to upgrade rather than faff about trying to work out why it's not connecting?

It'll have to be a wifi dongle rather than ethernet, but imagine that will still solve the problem.


Ta!

Yes very duff and not really upgradable as you can't put a second aerial into an existing laptop chassis unless it had the mount holes there already and knowing how easy it is to break things its something i wouldn't suggest you do.

A wifi dongle will work, what you get depends on your budget .

I've checked the specs of the existing adaptor - seems to have Bluetooth built in. Top of anyone's head, if I switch to a new wifi dongle, will I lose BT - if so, best I look for a dongle with BT built in...

Edited by Robroadband (Mon 28-Apr-25 11:40:05)

getting a decent usb wifi dongle with bluetooth seems virtually impossible. You can of course use the bluetooth on the realtek radio. its not ideal though.

this is seriously one of those times where i'm not impressed with asus

@Robroadband,

It might be worth upgrading the laptop if you're still using Windows 10 as that is due to reach EOL in October. A newer laptop would have Windows 11 and a more respectable wireless card.

HTH,