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

mujep4

New Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
8
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!
 


Solution
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!
I am connecting both wirelessly.

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
C:\Windows\system32>ipconfig / all
Error: unrecognized or incomplete command line.
USAGE:
ipconfig [/allcompartments] [/? | /all |
/renew [adapter] | /release [adapter] |
/renew6 [adapter] | /release6 [adapter] |
/flushdns | /displaydns | /registerdns |
/showclassid adapter |
/setclassid adapter [classid] |
/showclassid6 adapter |
/setclassid6 adapter [classid] ]
where
adapter Connection name
(wildcard characters * and ? allowed, see examples)
Options:
/? Display this help message
/all Display full configuration information.
/release Release the IPv4 address for the specified adapter.
/release6 Release the IPv6 address for the specified adapter.
/renew Renew the IPv4 address for the specified adapter.
/renew6 Renew the IPv6 address for the specified adapter.
/flushdns Purges the DNS Resolver cache.
/registerdns Refreshes all DHCP leases and re-registers DNS names
/displaydns Display the contents of the DNS Resolver Cache.
/showclassid Displays all the dhcp class IDs allowed for adapter.
/setclassid Modifies the dhcp class id.
/showclassid6 Displays all the IPv6 DHCP class IDs allowed for adapter
.
/setclassid6 Modifies the IPv6 DHCP class id.

The default is to display only the IP address, subnet mask and
default gateway for each adapter bound to TCP/IP.
For Release and Renew, if no adapter name is specified, then the IP address
leases for all adapters bound to TCP/IP will be released or renewed.
For Setclassid and Setclassid6, if no ClassId is specified, then the ClassId is
removed.
Examples:
> ipconfig ... Show information
> ipconfig /all ... Show detailed information
> ipconfig /renew ... renew all adapters
> ipconfig /renew EL* ... renew any connection that has its
name starting with EL
> ipconfig /release *Con* ... release all matching connections,
eg. "Local Area Connection 1" or
"Local Area Connection 2"
> ipconfig /allcompartments ... Show information about all
compartments
> ipconfig /allcompartments /all ... Show detailed information about all
compartments
C:\Windows\system32>
 


Hi,

I am having similar problem on my laptop since yesterday. My wireless connection was working fine till morning. In the afternoon, my system rebooted and since then I am not able to connect to either wireless or Ethernet LAN. I am using Dell Inspiron N5010 model with DW1501 Wireless-N WLAN Half-mini card, I would like to give some more observations about this -

1.) Other laptops at my home are working good on the same wireless LAN.
2.) When I connected to the broadband router by plugging the Ethernet cable and connecting to my system, it gets IP through DHCP, At a time, I have one IP for wireless and one for Ethernet LAN, but I can not ping to the gateway.
3.) Wireless and Ethernet LAN both works fine on the same system when I boot it with Ubuntu.
4.) After reading the above post, I checked the Dell site for latest driver for my network adapter and the one I have seems to be the latest.
I have also tried updating the driver. and Unistall network adapter and then rebooting my system several times. I even have restored my system to the previous point (a date two weeks older)....but in vain.
5.) I have now moved out of home and am in office, ubuntu is still able to connect to the internet, Windows is able to the connect to the wireless access point but is not able to connect to the internet. It is again showing the words "Limited access" to the network.

Currently, I have not connected this to Ethernet LAN in my office, below is the output of ipconfig /all command. It shows different private IP's when I connect to home network. But the problem is the same -


C:\Users\Santosh Urvashi>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : SantoshUrvashi
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 1C-65-9D-E4-F7-0A
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : DW1501 Wireless-N WLAN Half-Mini Card
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 1C-65-9D-E4-F7-0A
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::c154:2526:55a1:7adc%21(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.131.223.247(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, April 25, 2011 11:25:33 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, April 25, 2011 2:52:43 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.131.223.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 129.237.133.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 454845853
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-BB-D6-F6-F0-4D-A2-C6-D5-

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 129.237.32.1
129.237.133.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : C0-CB-38-C8-66-B8
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom Virtual Wireless Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 1C-65-9D-E4-F7-0A
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{501438D1-FA36-42EE-8640-23CFEF644075}:

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.{B332941C-DE5C-484E-B5A7-F4314C50B022}:

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 Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
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

Tunnel adapter isatap.{5253A9E8-0B5F-4C78-9B9E-E09F86B4F205}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #4
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{B2B148EE-8759-44BF-848A-90044784A4BC}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\Santosh Urvashi>

I feel I am stuck...please help me with some solution soon. Thanks
 


urvashijt;
Hello and welcome to the forums.
Well I guess we can rule out hardware issues since your linux distro seems to work fine.
The problem would seem to be within Win7 and I would suspect that it is a driver issue, so....
type device manager into the search box and hit enter to open device manager
expand network adapters
select then right click the problem wireless adapter and choose properties, then
select the driver tab and click the Roll Back Drive Button. Answer any subsequent prompts in the affirmative and reboot the computer.
If that doesn't help. Do it again and reboot, you may need to do this a few times until you arrive back at the driver that has actually worked in the past.
Failing that then you need to consider any third party AntiVirus / Internet Security Suites (Norton/Symantec, McAfee, AVG, etc.,) and or third party firewall such as (Comodo, ZoneAlarm, etc.,) that may be causing the issue and are unique to your Windows 7 install.
Remove any such products by using the Control Panel > Programs and Features applet and then run the vendor specific proprietary removal tool to make sure there are no remnants of the product remaining. There is a short list Link Removed if yours is not included in the list please google for the removal tool for your product. Consider replacing any such products with the built-in Windows firewall and Link Removed due to 404 Error.
You won't actually be able to do this from work but I've include a list of ideas for you to consider at home from one of the Dell support forums.
Update the firmware in your wireless router. Manufacturer's website, make & Model needed. (Probably the most important)

Broadcast SSID(You may want to change this to make it easier to connect)

Use WPA-PSK(TKIP) Security(WPA Personal). Most wireless devices work best with this type of security. (Also rather important)

Password at least 13 characters long.

Mixed b and g mode(n if available)(Use this mode only if using a print server and/or USB wireless adaptrer(s))

Use channels 1, 6 or 11. Most devices work better on these channels.

Keep the setting at DHCP.

Do NOT use Mac Address Filtering

Save and exit. Power everything off for 30 seconds. Power everything back on, wait 30 seconds, now try to connect.
SOURCE: Link Removed due to 404 Error
Keep us posted.
 


After some additional research, I have found others having similar problems with that particular card which evidently uses a Broadcom chipset.
Evidently the driver (new versions) default to setting the "BSS Mode" to 802.11n and some have found that changing that setting to 802.11g has resolved their issues. So....
Go back into device manager
expand network adapters
select then right click the problem wireless adapter and choose properties
select the "Advanced" tab at the top
In the left column titled "Property:" see if you have a BSS Mode listed. If so select it and in the right column titled "Value:" use the drop down arrow to change from 802.11n to 802.11g
OK your way back out of there and reboot and see if that helps.
 


Yes..it helped. Thank You so much.

I first tried to roll over the driver to the old version but the "Roll over" button was disabled so I could not do that. I again downloaded the latest version of the driver and installed but that did not help.

I then removed all security suits from my system but the problem persisted.

I then read your latest update and changed the BSS mode to 802.11g and rebooted. It is working now.

Thank you so much for you help.

Regards,
Urvashi
 


Thanks for your patience and perseverance and thanks for posting back and updating this thread with the solution that worked for you.
Glad to hear that you were able to resolve your problem.
Thanks for joining our community and we hope to continue to see you around.
Best Wishes
Randy
 


Last edited:
Hi Randy,

I got booted out last night and decided to give it a rest till today. I just changed my setting to 802.11g. My computer has the same card. I will keep you posted if this solves my issue.

Thanks so much for your help,
Anna
 


OK, well that's a happy coincidence. I suppose it would be too much to ask for that the same solution would work for you too. Well I'll keep my fingers crossed and please keep us posted.
 


Well I will put some incite on this. With my experience on my brothers PC. I did a system restore to 4/1/11 and everything worked. Then I let it do a windows update. Grrr. I couldn't get the LAN ethernet to work till the system restore. They also had a netgear wna1100 driver installed that wouldn't uninstall. They took back the wifi stick and exchanged it for a cisco stick and new router. So I had no disc to repair or uninstall from. I did do a destructive restore. They don't keep anything on the pc so setting it back to factory wasn't a problem. I believe it has to do with the most current .net framework update. I just found this site and didn't have my laptop with me to do a search. I am running a linux distro do to the total disgust of vista and haven't played with Win7. Anyway not to digress. I will try the changing from n to g. To see if this works for them and report back. The only thing that concerns me is that their kids win7 laptop works.
 


Hi Randy,

I wanted to let you know how everything worked out for me. My computer is a work computer and was brand new. It was determinded that my Dell laptop had a bad Wifi card. Dell stopped in my office today and replaced the card.

Thanks for you help,

Anna
 


Thanks Anna, for the follow-up and letting us know how you ultimately resolved your issue.
Thanks for joining our community and we hope to continue to see you around.
Your welcome and best wishes.
Randy
 


I"m having the same problem! I have a Sony Viao vpcee3wfx. The above instructions led to no solution. The pass key I entered is correct. In doing an "ipconfig /all", I get the following:

windows ip configuration:

host name : nic-vaio
primary dns suffix : blank
node type : hybrid
ip routing enabled : no
wins proxy enabled : no

tunnel adapter local area connection* 9:

media state : media disconnecdted
connection - specific dns suffix : blank
description : teredo tunneling pseudo-interface
physical address : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP enabled : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled : Yes

OF course, the above isn't formatted right: I typed it in manually

Hope we can get somewhere and thanks,
Tim
 


Tim:
Hello and welcome to the forums.
The above information does not show a working network adapter present on your computer. Please launch an elevated command prompt
Start Orb->All Programs->Accessories->Right Click command prompt and choose run as administrator
type
ipconfig /all > C:\ipconfig.txt
and hit enter
this will produce a text file in the root of your C Drive called ipconfig.txt
attach it to your next post and we'll take a look.
Keep us posted.
Randy
 


What is device manager showing for network adapters?
Been looking for your PC on the web and all I can find is this one not sure what the "/WI" means so I'm not sure if that is your exact model or not, so I'm reluctant to suggest that you download drivers from there.
Let's first make sure we know what your OS thinks is installed and what might be in need of attention with respect to device manager and make sure we are on the same page regarding the exact make and model of your laptop. So we can proceed correctly.

EDIT: This one looks more accurate according to your original posting. So you may need to get your drivers from there if you're sure about the exact Make and Model.
 


Last edited:
Showing:

Atheros AR9285 Wireless Netowrk Adapter
Microsoft virtual Miniport Adapter
Realtick PCIe GBE Family Controller

I'll go look for a link to the right model page.
 


Concentrating on the Atheros and the RealTek is there any indication of problems with either adapter (red or yellow symbols next to them or a small down arrow) when you right click on either or both and view the general tab does it report that the device is working properly?
 


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