The laptop cannot see the wireless networks

[_g3o_]

Hello everyone, I am facing a very strange problem with my friend's laptop. My friend's laptop cannot see the available wifi network on his house, therefore he brought me his laptop at my house to check it. He claimed that the laptop was not able to see the available wifis on his house but on his mobile phone was fine .I tried to check the problem at my house but when I open the laptop, it automatically connected on my network and also show the available networks of my neighbor. I made a re-install of the wifi drivers and installed the Acrylic WiFi to check again the laptop at his house.e went back to his house. The problem continue to exist with the default windows 7 wifi scanner but the Acrylic show fine the available networks. Does anyone know how i can fix this issue? thank you.

 

I want to mention that the laptop was in the range of the wifi network, basically was next to it.

[Roger H. Veteran]

WLAN AutoConfig Service was running while at his house?

Moved to Internet, Network & Security.

[Skiver Veteran]

Can other devices see the SSID?

[+BudMan MVC]

And what band are your networks, and what band is his adapter set to use?  Are you 2.4 or 5?

[_g3o_]

he brought with him, his router, at my home in order to tested it. We have tested the router and everything was fine, the computer was able to see the router, but at his house not. 

Can other devices see the SSID?

yes, for example the mobile phone of my friend can see the router

[Shiranui]

The problem here is two-fold: radiowaves are invisible, and laptops do not have eyes.

What frequency is the network using, 2.4GHz or 5GHz?

Some older equipment cannot connect to 5GHz networks.

[Ian S.]

The problem here is two-fold: radiowaves are invisible, and laptops do not have eyes.

LOL :rolleyes:

 

To OP, have you kept searching for wifi on the way there. Does other wifi networks from other houses show up?

Does your laptop show his wifi?

[_g3o_]

WLAN AutoConfig Service was running while at his house?

Moved to Internet, Network & Security.

I will check it and let you know

The problem here is two-fold: radiowaves are invisible, and laptops do not have eyes.

What frequency is the network using, 2.4GHz or 5GHz?

Some older equipment cannot connect to 5GHz networks.

the frequency is  2.4GHz. 

 

LOL :rolleyes:

 

To OP, have you kept searching for wifi on the way there. Does other wifi networks from other houses show up?

Does your laptop show his wifi?

 

at my house it shows wifi networks from other houses, but on his house not. this is very strange 

[Ian S.]

at my house it shows wifi networks from other houses, but on his house not. this is very strange 

 

That includes another PC or tablet or phone?

[Shiranui]

What channel is it broadcasting on?

[The Evil Overlord]

*statement withdrawn*

[_g3o_]

That includes another PC or tablet or phone?

 

yes! my devices, MBP, 3x mobile phones, 2x tablets

What channel is it broadcasting on?

I don't have it with me at the moment, I will check it ASAP and reply to you back

[simonlang]

this is not the first time i read something like this. can you try an alternative wlan-manager software?

[_g3o_]

this is not the first time i read something like this. can you try an alternative wlan-manager software?

I have used Acrylic wifi and shows the networks fine, where on windows it has a red cross X in front of the wifi icon

[simonlang]

I have used Acrylic wifi and shows the networks fine, where on windows it has a red cross X in front of the wifi icon

 

so that acrylic wifi manager works and the default windows one doesn't right? never heard of acrylic but what would go against using just that one permanently?

[(Account no longer active)]

so that acrylic wifi manager works and the default windows one doesn't right? never heard of acrylic but what would go against using just that one permanently?

Acrylic is real-time WLAN analysis software.

 

For there to be a red cross indicates that WiFi isn't turned at a hardware level. Open Device Manager (press Win + Pause). Is the WiFi driver installed correctly or missing (under 'Network adapters')? Does it have a red cross through it? Is it enabled?

 

[_g3o_]

Acrylic is real-time WLAN analysis software.

 

For there to be a red cross indicates that WiFi isn't turned at a hardware level. Open Device Manager (press Win + Pause). Is the WiFi driver installed correctly or missing (under 'Network adapters')? Does it have a red cross through it? Is it enabled?

 

 

 

at my house the laptop is working fine with the router of my friend and also with mines, but on his house is not. he is having 2 routers, one of the ISP and one that he bought. if he lives the ISP is not working if he add the one that he bought on the network still is not working. 

[Intersect]

I would take your laptop and router to his house and do your testing there as the restults he is getting cannot be reproduced in your location.

[Praetor]

Most likely this is due to a mismanaged wifi connection; try to see if there is a profile for your friends wifi network and delete that profile, then test the connection again.

 

You can do the following:

1) see all the wifi profiles:

netsh wlan show profiles

2) delete that profile that should be showing up:

netsh wlan delete profile name="wifiprofilename"

then see if the laptop can see that network.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Praetor

[+BudMan MVC]

^ yeah I would guess the same.  Bad profile would be something to remove and look into.  Also simple enough to go over to his place with your device and validate he is broadcasting his SSID, etc.

 

So when you say red X where is this red X at exactly..

 

 

 

So for example I changed my profile so it had a bad password on it, now you can see the wireless card shows X that it is not connected, but the wireless icon in the tray shows that there is a problem, but it still shows lots of wifi in the area - and that top one is my SSID..  I blur them because I have gone over why you don't post SSIDs in your area multiple times in the whats your wifi thread and shown how database of wifi networks can be used to find your location, etc.

[_g3o_]

^ yeah I would guess the same.  Bad profile would be something to remove and look into.  Also simple enough to go over to his place with your device and validate he is broadcasting his SSID, etc.

 

So when you say red X where is this red X at exactly..

 

wirelessconnectioninfo.png

 

 

So for example I changed my profile so it had a bad password on it, now you can see the wireless card shows X that it is not connected, but the wireless icon in the tray shows that there is a problem, but it still shows lots of wifi in the area - and that top one is my SSID..  I blur them because I have gone over why you don't post SSIDs in your area multiple times in the whats your wifi thread and shown how database of wifi networks can be used to find your location, etc.

The x red icon is on the system tray like the image bellow (the image has been taken from google)

 

print screen windows 7

[+BudMan MVC]

I would think the radio is off or there is no wifi in the area then.  So I can not turn off the radio on my deskopt with a key - but say on my wifes laptop, if I turn off the wifi  I get this

 

 

What does it say when you move your mouse over it - sure points to just nothing there.

 

Take a device over to his house and take a look see..  What wifi is in the area.. And what band its on, does he have wifi set to G only or something and his router is on N?, etc.. -- Can he connect with a wire at his place and then lets do a team viewer session, have it fixed up in no time I would think.  Sure seems like PEBKAC too me..

 

You say he sees yours - what band and mode are you in - are you set for G,N or B,G,N,AC

 

What are we working with??  So far we have my wifi doesn't work in my house and no details other than my phone can connect ;)  So pretty much nothing to work with - might as well take your car to the shop and say yeah it doesn't work.  But my wifes car does, and it has gas.

[_g3o_]

I would think the radio is off or there is no wifi in the area then.  So I can not turn off the radio on my deskopt with a key - but say on my wifes laptop, if I turn off the wifi  I get this

 

offornothingthere.jpg

 

What does it say when you move your mouse over it - sure points to just nothing there.

 

Take a device over to his house and take a look see..  What wifi is in the area.. And what band its on, does he have wifi set to G only or something and his router is on N?, etc.. -- Can he connect with a wire at his place and then lets do a team viewer session, have it fixed up in no time I would think.  Sure seems like PEBKAC too me..

 

You say he sees yours - what band and mode are you in - are you set for G,N or B,G,N,AC

 

What are we working with??  So far we have my wifi doesn't work in my house and no details other than my phone can connect ;)  So pretty much nothing to work with - might as well take your car to the shop and say yeah it doesn't work.  But my wifes car does, and it has gas.

 

What I have done so far to troubleshoot the problem

 

1. Brought my friends computer at my house to check if the drivers and the wifi card are working fine - Found out that are fine, there were able to see my network

2. Brought my friends computer at my house with his router - Found out both was fine

3. Tested my friends network with different devices another laptop, tablet, mobile - they are able to see fine the network

4. Tested my friends computer with Acrylic WiFi - was able to see the networks

5. Tested to see if the WLAN AutoConfig Service was running while his laptop was at his house - Found out that was working fine

6. Tested to see if the laptop can see available WIFI of my friend's neighborhood - Laptop was not able to see other networks

[+BudMan MVC]

So your saying it works fine at your house (1,2), and other boxes at his house see his network and other networks (3)

 

2 and 3 are in conflict.  And yet to get simple answer to what band is his router using, what band is he client set to..  2.4 or 5 - is the client set to b,g,n - what is is router broadcasting.

 

Either way without this info 2 and 3 call BS!!  Sorry but if it works at your house, then why would it not work at his house.  Does he live under high power lines to cause interference?  Well that would mean 3 wouldn't be working.

 

So he is turning off his wireless seems to be the logical answer..  IE doesn't know how to use it??  Did you clear his profiles?  Lets see acrylic output, and lets see what windows shows? with the red X?

 

What is the output of netsh wlan show all

 

 

I am not showing all of the info - just the command, lets see ALL of the output.. Post it ALL UP!!  Best would be it at his house, and then at your house working.  And your machine at his house working.  Or again - does he have wired connection, so someone can team viewer in and fix this in like 2 minutes -- it all points to PEBKAC from the info given.

 

For example he has some other wireless supplicant in control?  And not using it at his house, but you used it at yours..

[Praetor]

Most likely this is due to a mismanaged wifi connection; try to see if there is a profile for your friends wifi network and delete that profile, then test the connection again.

 

You can do the following:

1) see all the wifi profiles:

netsh wlan show profiles

2) delete that profile that should be showing up:

netsh wlan delete profile name="wifiprofilename"

then see if the laptop can see that network.

 

OP, did you even try this? I mean, you went for all that trouble but this is a easy step...