Windows 7 Can't connect to home wireless signal ("Limited access") - Windows 7

[mujep4]

Hello,

I am setting up a new Acer laptop and cannot access the internet via my home wifi network. I have 2 other laptops connected to the network and running fine. The new pc is running 64 bit Windows 7 (the others run XP) and has an Atheros AR5B93 Wireless Network Adapter. When I pan over the wireless icon in my taskbar, it says "Limited access" beside my home wifi signal.

Any help with this problem is much appreciated. Happy holidays everyone!

 

[Trouble]

What do you see when you open the Network and Sharing Center (see attachment). What do you see when you fun ipconfig /all from a command prompt. What do you see specifically regarding your network adapter when you open device manager. Have you checked with Acer for all the latest drivers, have you googled your network adapter to see if perhaps there may be some new more current drivers. Presumably you're hooked to a router, which one and which type, check their website and see if they have a current firmware update. And finally try these
Check and make sure these Services are Started on all Computers
Workstation
DHCP Client
DNS Client
Server
TCP/IP Netbios helper
Computer Browser
Make sure Network Discovery is turned on, on the Win 7 machines
Make sure file and printer sharing is enable on both and that local firewalls are supporting it. Temporarily uninstall any third party firewalls or Internet Security Suites that may include some type of Firewall applet.
Make sure NetBios over TCP/IP is enabled in the properties of IPv4 on you network.
Look for Bonjour service and temporarily set it to manual or disable and stop, same with mdnsresponder. Also check services near the top for a peculiar string containing numbers and or special characters, disable and stop
Let us know how you're doing.

 

[mujep4]

What do you see when you open the Network and Sharing Center (see attachment). -- My diagram at the top show my pc with a line drawn to an "Unidentified network," which line has the yellow alert triangle over it, and a line from the Unidentified network to the Internet, which line has a red "X" over it.

What do you see when you fun ipconfig /all from a command prompt. -- When I select "ipconfig" after searching for such term in the box at the bottom when I click the Windows symbol, a box pops up but then immediately disappears, too fast for me to read anything. I've tried 5-10 times and it keeps immediately closing itself. Any ideas?

What do you see specifically regarding your network adapter when you open device manager. -- The status is "This device is working properly." The Driver Date is 10/5/2009, and the Driver Version is 8.0.0.238.

Have you checked with Acer for all the latest drivers -- Yes - Driver version 8.0.0.238 is the most recent available.

have you googled your network adapter to see if perhaps there may be some new more current drivers.

Presumably you're hooked to a router, which one and which type -- Actiontec MI424-WR Rev. E

check their website and see if they have a current firmware update. -- I tried, but the website is messed up and I can't enter my password. I will follow up with Verizon if necessary, but this shouldn't be the source of the problem -- my other laptops access the internet just fine and always have (I'm using it right now with my work laptop). -- it's only this new computer that is having the issue.

I see under Network Connection Details that DHCP is enabled, but I don't know how to check for those other things you mention (DNS Client, Server, TCP/IP Netbios helper). Never heard of Network Discovery or Bonjour.

"Also check services near the top for a peculiar string containing numbers and or special characters, disable and stop" -- I am not sure what you mean by this. Near the top of what? Stop what?

Thanks for your help. Please let me know where I go from here.

Best regards

 

[Trouble]

"What do you see when you fun ipconfig /all from a command prompt. -- When I select "ipconfig" after searching for such term in the box at the bottom when I click the Windows symbol, a box pops up but then immediately disappears, too fast for me to read anything. I've tried 5-10 times and it keeps immediately closing itself. Any ideas?"
Sorry, in my post I said "from a command prompt" you can run a command prompt from the search box, or from the "run" dialog box either one by simply typing the letters cmd. Then when the command prompt opens you can then type ipconfig and or ipconfig /all this should display the ip information for your network interface cards. Hope that helped.
It sounds like you have an issue getting DHCP information from your router, so maybe try unchecking IPv6 in the properties of your network adapter or else try assigning a stactic ip address to the properties of IPv4 within the properties of your network card.
A lot of the time when you get the unidentified network issue it is because the network card doesn't contain any IP information or is missing a default gateway. So DHCP, which should be comming from your router may be the issue. Post back and let us know what you get from the ipconfig /all command from "A Command Prompt / DOS prompt" it should stay there so you can read it and only go away when you close the window

 

[mujep4]

My ipconfig results follow (I ran this after unchecking IPv6 in the properties of my network adapter):

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Anon>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Anon-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5B93 Wireless Network Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 0C-EE-E6-DD-95-DC
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.67.176(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR8132 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Contro
ller (NDIS 6.20)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-26-22-81-1B-25
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{9A138203-E95C-4F62-8226-FF6053F7194B}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Any thoughts? It looks like I may not have a default gateway, if I read this correctly.

 

[Trouble]

Basically, you're not getting anything from DHCP. The 169.254 address is just an APIPA. What you need to do, probably first, is open services.msc then refer back to my first post and confirm the services that I listed are working. You can also try to statically assign an ip address to the adapter and see if that works, you should be able to ping the inside edge of the router, or you can plug in with an ethernet cable and see if that fairs any better, if so you can run windows updates and see if there is any help there.
Keep me posted

 

[mujep4]

Thanks so much for your help -- all is working now. The problem was user error -- my WEP key was inputted incorrectly. Apparently, you get no notice when the WEP key is incorrect -- just the "limited access" notice mentioned earlier. I can't believe that the diagnostic tool says it can't identify the problem when it is such a simple matter. Seems like a bug to me -- not sure if it's my router, network adapter, or a universal issue. Everyone else take note -- always double-check your WEP key and don't count on the system to notify you if it is incorrect. Thanks again!

Merry Christmas!

 

[Trouble]

I know, I've had the same problem with WPA with Vista it would show connected but I couldn't do anything, so now I always type the key in notepad, examine it twice and then copy and paste it into where it belongs.

 

[ephesi]

ciao a tutti,
anche io ho lo stesso problema con la mia rete wireless. ho un acer con windows 7 e ogni tanto mentre sono in linea si interrompe la connessione dicendomi accesso limitato. scusate non sono pratica di computer potreste spiegarmi in maniera semplice quello che dovrei fare? non ho capito molto nella discussione qui sopra.
grazie in anticipo.

 

[Trouble]

ephesi:
How is your english, my italian is pretty much non-existant, and my onboard translator gave me this
"hello to all, also I have the same problem with my net wireless. I have a acer with windows 7 and from time to time while they are online it interrupts the limited approached logon saying to me. excused are not practical of computer you could explain to me in simple way which I would have to make? I have not understood a lot in the argument here over. thanks in advance payment."
Which doesn't provide much of a hint as to your question, so if you could please translate, in english, thank you

 

[ephesi]

hi,
my English is not good, I try.
I also have a problem with my wireless network. I sometimes shows "limited access". I have an acer with windows 7. I'm not good with the PC and I wanted a simple explanation to solve my problem.

 

[Trouble]

Well I can certainly understand wanting a simple explanation, however, I'm not sure that simple is going to be available, if you have been following this post as well as others here in the networking sub forum, you know that we need certain information. The model name and number of your acer for starts, any information as to how you are attempting to connect to the internet. Are you using a wireless adapter, if so have you tried wired. Also need to post the results of an ipconfig /all (type cmd, in the search box or run dialog box, and then type ipconfig /all in the resulte dos window, use the windows snipping tool and attach it to your next post.

 

[kekoioni]

atheros working only with manually setted ip

hi. i don't know what happened to my wifi settings, but my wireless connection only works if i manually set the ip/gateway/dns. first of all i have to say that there are no problems with the router as i can connect with other pcs.
this is the result of ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : kekow7
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5006EG Wireless Network Adapter

   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-15-AF-10-44-86
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.118.224(Tentative)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-18-F3-AF-F1-7A
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.102(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : mercoledì 24 marzo 2010 03:41:10
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : mercoledì 24 marzo 2010 06:41:10
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{0B6F6DE8-01C4-492D-8E31-34914ED89AB2}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{D3D3AEA5-BBC4-40A9-AA99-915E69E86C0D}:

   Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:5ef5:73ba:19:28d3:a1db:f4fe(Prefer
red)
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::19:28d3:a1db:f4fe%17(Preferred)
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

i installed sun virtualbox and windows virtual pc, then uninstalled sun virtualbox, but i think that some kind of "connection sharing" configuration makes my wireless unable to get a dhcp. i saw the previous posts and checked all the services; they're running. there's another problem that consists in dropping the connection under heavy traffic. the only 2 ways of getting it back up were both suspend/reactivate and reboot, but now that i can't get the ip automatically i haven't verified that anymore. the same machine running ubuntu hasn't any problem with the wifi. the adapter is an Atheros AR5006EG as shown in the ipconfig output. i already tried to change drivers back to older versions and again to the last one, uninstall the network card and install it back again, ... nothing worked :S

any suggestion?

cheers

francesco

 

[Tessa Cromwell]

hi!
i was reading the posts above that you had with a guy who was having problems with a limited access on wifi. over the last couple of days my computer has been doing something similar. it will let me connect but will only give me limited access. unfortunately this is my only laptop so i may not be able to respond back quickly. i checked everything you said in the posts but everything looks like it's enabled but i'm not completely sure what exactly i'm looking for. i have an emachines E627. i'm using windows 7 home premium edition. it's a 64 bit system. any help you can give is greatly appreciated and if you are to busy i understand!

 

[Trouble]

Tessa Cromwell:
Hello and welcome to the forums.
Please double check and make sure that you haven't installed anything recently that might have included a program called mDNSresponder.exe.
Right click an empty area of the taskbar and choose "Start Task Manager", then select the "Processes" tab at the top and click the button at the bottom that says "Show processes from all users", scroll as needed to search the list of "Image Name" column for mDNSresponder.exe if it's listed post back and we'll go from there.
Since your question has the words "last couple of days" in it, my guess is that you've either installed some software that has caused this or more likely the Windows Update Utility has installed a bad driver for your network adapter. So try a sytem restore to a restore point prior to "last couple of days" and see if that helps. If so we need to configure Windows Updates to quit downloading and installing drivers for your hardware devices, so post back and let us know.
Best Wishes
Randy

 

[Joanne Seguin]

Hi...i was having the same problem with my acer aspire 5742. I've only had it for about a month now. It was running fine at first, then the "no connectivity" began, and it became constant! windows network repair would fix the problem with a message of "no gateway found!" and it would be fine for another few minutes, then back to the low connectivity error...
i researched on my own as much as i could about it but it was not until i spoke to tech support for my wireless hub that i got my "fix"
he changed the channel on my mobile broadband hub..the radio button was fixed at "auto" for channel selection and he moved it to "11" i've not been booted off since...2 days now..if that changes i will repost and let u know, but so far so good!!

 

[ajb134]

OK Trouble I need help...

I cannor connect to my home internet service. I have called verizon help with no luck. I have disabled bonjour. I am still getting limited access.

 

[Trouble]

I'd be willing to give it a go if you will provide the results of your ip addressing scheme.
Open a command prompt and type
ipconfig /all
copy and paste that information into your next post.
I'd be interested in knowing what the results from Verizon's efforts to help were. Simply because as a former Verizon customer I can tell you that sometimes their Westell WireSpeed DSL devices have a tendency to just go bad. Are you still on DSL or are you on Fios? Were they able to verify that they were able to see you from their side of the connection? Did they offer to rebuild your PVC (permanent virtual circuit) part of their frame relay provisioning?

 

[ajb134]

everytime I try to run Ipconfig from a command prompt it displays and disappears.. Not sure what to do.. I have dsl.. I was offered by one of their techs to get a new router.. WTF.. They keep telling me it is my problem because my windows XP machine connects fine but the 7 machine doesn't.

 

[Trouble]

sounds like you are trying to run it from the run command and not from the Command Prompt.
Start Orb > All Programs > Accessories > Right click and choose run as administrator ( not really necessary but handy to remember if you need to run it with elevated privledges later).
Well, it's probably not their problem if you have a second machine running through the same service and it works fine. So now we also need to hear, exactly how you are connecting the two machines on the network.
Computer (ethernet adapter) cabled to router's switch port and router wan port connect to DSL device? Or have you got something else going on entirely?