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Laptop won't connect to any networks immediately, "Unidentified Network", "No Internet Access"

Tags:
  • Laptops
  • Internet Access
  • Connection
  • Networking
Last response: in Networking
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September 28, 2014 8:34:18 AM

Hello,

I have a Lenovo Yoga 2 13 (not pro), which I bought recently. Laptop runs great, except for WIFI. What happens is that every time the laptop turns on from sleep or shutdown and I try to connect to the network, it says "no internet access" "unidentified network" for many minutes and I must keep refreshing my browser and finally the network works again and it does fine for some time.

However, sometimes the problem is worse. For example, at my University library (it is at this building I notice this issue is most apparent), not only must I wait many minutes for the internet to kick in after start up/return from sleep mode, once it does finally kick in and connect, I lose connection again within minutes. If I disconnect and then reconnect to the network this normally fixes the issue again for another 2-3 minutes but then I get the "unidentified network" "no internet connection" messages again after 2-3 minutes pass again. It is very frustrating.

And then lastly, sometimes if I'm lucky, the laptop will run on the internet without losing connection, but the speeds will be very slow.

I do notice the issue is worse at university than it is on my home network, but the issues of no connection still do appear even at my home after the laptop is turned on from a state of sleep or shutdown.

...

I don't know what to do about this. I have made sure my IP address is obtained automatically and also have made sure all of my drivers are up to date using Intel's driver update tool and Windows update. I don't want any risky solutions as I need my laptop for university. I have also tried Windows troubleshoot and it one time said unidentified IP address, but it only said this once and normally it cannot find any solutions. I am running Windows 8 by the way.

Also, I have researched this issue, and found this tool http://www.technitium.com/tmac/index.html but don't quite understand it and I'm not sure it's use in my situation.


Thank you so much! I truly appreciate it!

More about : laptop connect networks immediately unidentified network internet access

September 28, 2014 8:42:53 AM

Sounds like your card isn't resuming from sleep optimally.

Try upgrading to the latest version of your wireless driver. You may need to go to the MANUFACTURER of your wireless chip to get the latest driver to fix this instead of the driver offered by Lenovo - but I'd start with Lenovo.

Alternatively you could go to your "Network Adapters" to view your wireless adapter, right-click it and go to Properties - in 'Advanced' you will find 'allow sleep to shut this device down' and disable that to troubleshoot - but I'd go for the latest driver first due to reduced battery performance with the alternate suggestion. Keep us posted on what you find!
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September 28, 2014 9:18:43 AM

I looked in device manager for which wireless adapter I have, it is a Intel(R) Wireless-N 7620, and I scanned for available updates/drivers for this adapter and it said all of my drivers are up to date.

I don't know what to do! :??: 

And, while this problem is always apparent when the computer turns on from shut down or sleep, it also occurs at random like I will suddenly lose internet connection and will randomly in the middle of web browsing get "no internet access
"network unavailable" "unidentified network", so this problem does appear even when the computer has been on and running for some time.
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September 28, 2014 2:40:45 PM

I already have the most up to date driver so I did not download and install. I double checked to confirm that the most recent driver at the link you posted was the same one I had installed.
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September 29, 2014 6:07:19 AM

I have tried those suggestions but with no luck. It seems the problem is getting worse. I tried connecting to my university WIFI today when I woke up and it wouldn't connect at all, just got "limited connection". Normally, this problem fixes itself within 2-3 minutes or from disconnecting and reconnecting to the network -- but that did not work today.

I ran windows troubleshooter and it said that
1) WIFI doesn't have valid IP configuration
2) The default gateway is not available

I didn't receive this problem at home, although I do have problems at home network, but I think the problem is even worse at university and I don't have access to the routers here obviously.

:??:  :( 
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September 29, 2014 8:36:38 PM

OK let's try to rollback your driver to the previous version "it's getting worse" could indicate a driver update is actually not a good one or the card itself is hardware failing resulting in a need to replace the card.

Going to your device manager and seeing where you checked for updates, there's an option to roll back the driver - if that's an option do so and let us know the results. If that's not an option, I would then replace the card in its entirety to continue troubleshooting. And since we are replacing a wireless NIC I would just go straight for this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Killer-N-1103-WIFI-wireless-net...

To figure this out - you'd need to see how to go about accessing your wireless network card. Once you see your wireless card, make sure it looks exactly like the card in the pic.
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September 30, 2014 7:50:33 AM

First off, thanks so much for sticking with my problem and offering your help! I really appreciate it!

Second, I'm wary of changing my wireless card as the laptop is relatively new (just bought it a little over one month ago). I personally feel the problem has something to do with software or setting or something of that nature. I think the nature of the problem lies in what Windows trouble shooter has said

I ran windows troubleshooter and it said that
1) WIFI doesn't have valid IP configuration
2) The default gateway is not available

The problem hasn't been getting worse, except for one bad experience when I turned my laptop on and it took almost 15min (verses the normal 2-3min) to fix itself and go from "limited network" to normal. Now it's back to its old time frame of taking 2-3min to fix itself. It is just very annoying whenever the laptop goes into sleep or returns from shutdown to have to wait 2-3min, connect/disconnet, etc in order to get a working internet connection.
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September 30, 2014 8:53:22 AM

Have you tried going to your advanced power settings and turning off the ability for your wireless NIC to shut off?

http://prntscr.com/4rs1ys

Try that for troubleshooting - it'll give us an idea if we're on the right track then for software

Also something you can try to speed it up is from your tiles screen type CMD and hit enter - then type IPCONFIG /RELEASE and hit enter

That should release any current IP address settings on your network cards

Now type IPCONFIG /RENEW and hit enter - does that renew IP settings pretty quick or take the 2-3 minutes you're usually waiting?
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September 30, 2014 9:39:45 AM

I already had done what the link you sent suggested. I did that a couple weeks ago when the problem first started, but it didn't work/help. I also tried going into device manager and unchecking "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" just now; however, after doing this something entirely new happened. My laptop said there were no connections available and after trouble shooting it said that there was a problem with my Intel(R) Wireless-N 7620 wireless card. To fix this I disabled and enabled the wireless card which luckily solved that new problem.

This is what comes up when I type ipconfig....first is a picture from when it was working, next is a picture taken from when internet was not working



...

not working below



Also this is what happens when I typed ipconfig/renew (after typing in ipconfig/release) it gave this dialouge very quickly (not after 2-3min)



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!