Why's my laptop wi-fi suddenly gone flakey?

[swee'pea99]

Over the last week or so, my laptop's been playing up. I use it for a bit, then watch some telly, then go back to it and there's no internet. I can't even connect to the router. When I do the diagnostics, I end up with a message like this:

I've done a fair bit of googling, and confirmed that the adaptor is set to assign IP address automatically and the like - in short, that all the settings people say I ought to check are as they should be. But I still get this.

The only thing that fixes it - and it does fix it, every time - is turning the router off and then on again. But can anyone suggest why this should be happening? It's never happened before, in the four or five years I've owned the laptop (an HP Probook 4520s, in case it makes a difference). Or even, can anyone suggest a fix?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[fossyant]

Make sure the wifi remains connected if the laptop goes to sleep.

 

[Markymark]

I have fixed ip addresses for everything on my network. Stops anything accidentally clashing. This may be entirely unrelated though.

 

[MontyVeda]

Could be the router. The routers provided by my BB provider last a year or two at most before they start going 'flakey'.

 

[mybike]

Has a neighbour set up a router on the same or adjacent channel? I use Wifi Analyzer on Android.

Can you plug a network RJ45 cable between your router and laptop? If so, how does the laptop behave?

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks all.

Make sure the wifi remains connected if the laptop goes to sleep.

I have the laptop setup not to go to sleep, since I pretty much always use it plugged in.

I have fixed ip addresses for everything on my network. Stops anything accidentally clashing. This may be entirely unrelated though.

I guess this is potentially one route to explore (though it's above my head, and I'd certainly need to learn how to do it). But the thing I don't understand is why it's suddenly started happening - it's not like I've changed anything.

Could be the router. The routers provided by my BB provider last a year or two at most before they start going 'flakey'.

Hmmm. Sounds possible. Tho' it is a BT HomeHub 6, and they have a pretty good reputation. Also, other devices in the house have no problems - my phone, eg, still works fine on wifi when the laptop's saying 'no'.

Has a neighbour set up a router on the same or adjacent channel? I use Wifi Analyzer on Android.

Can you plug a network RJ45 cable between your router and laptop? If so, how does the laptop behave?

I doubt it. Not saying no, but I doubt it. My neighbours are not the most techy types. I'm sure it would work fine with an RJ45. Most of the house runs via TP-Link mains-plug wi-fi, which of course connects to the router via RJ45.

 

[Markymark]

Have you added something new to the network(tv, HDR, computer, the list is loooong!) that may create a conflicted IP address?

You can usually login into you router and list all connected devices. May help.

 

[numbnuts]

If you are using Windows 7

Right Click the network Icon by the clock in your task bar
Choose Open Network and Configuration
Change adapter settings
Look for a wireless connection
Right click and choose properties
Double click Internet Protocol 4
In here you will see if it's static or dynamic - static meanin "Use the following IP address" is checked.

Also - when you click the network icon in your task manager - does it pull up your home netowrk in the list? Maybe you have a bad password if you do see it.


View: https://youtu.be/nLaA42SsrUA

 

[mjr]

I doubt it. Not saying no, but I doubt it. My neighbours are not the most techy types.

Oh gawd. Then might they be BT customers too, for BT vision or something like that? Last time I suffered this, I found that BT's wifi modem things (are they still called Home Hubs? I don't have one, but lots of neighbours did - I guess there had been some special offer) only use three channels and reconfigure themselves if they suffer too much interference.

But you cannot colour a map with three colours, so once you get four or more neighbouring BT customers, their modems will spend all their time trying to avoid each other and interfering with any other nearby wifi networks. If only they'd used the customary four channels (1, 5, 9, 13), it would have worked smoothly... but BT lives up to its informal nickname B****r That once more!

 

[mybike]

I doubt it. Not saying no, but I doubt it. My neighbours are not the most techy types. I'm sure it would work fine with an RJ45. Most of the house runs via TP-Link mains-plug wi-fi, which of course connects to the router via RJ45.

Those mains distributed systems are extremely noisy. It would only take a neighbour to decide it was a good idea and plug one in to cause problems. And a neighbour's wifi being on adjacent channel to yours would take no techy knowledge, they could just buy one and plug it in.

 

[Milkfloat]

A couple of years ago I had the a similar issue - changing the channel on the router resolved it. One of my neighbours was using the same channel as me.

 

[ColinJ]

My sister's wifi kept dropping out. I discovered that her cordless phone was jamming it so I locked the router to a different channel and that fixed the problem.

I use Wifi Analyzer on my tablet and 'Oh, I forgot to reinstall the Windows equivalent on my laptop after upgrading to Win 7'!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I get the same, ever since I dropped the hub

 

[swee'pea99]

I'd not heard of wifi analyser, but now I'm looking at a picture that looks like this, and I'm not sure what it's telling me, other than that there's a fair few wifi signals in this room...

Any thoughts?

My IP settings, BTW, look like this:

I set those DNS settings a while back after some other problems..I seem to remember they're something to do with Google...?

 

[bruce1530]

So you’re running on Ch4. The BT-Wifi-with-FON looks like it’s also on your router, wouldn’t worry about it.

There are other services on channels 1,3,6,9. The one on 9 (talk talk) looks to be a stronger signal than the one you’re using.

Ideally, you want to be separated from other users by 3 channels. I’d set your router to run on channel 13.