My wireless internet isn't working, can someone help me connect again?

Question

I just got a new Gateway laptop, and I have Windows Vista. I have a Netgear router. At first, internet worked on my laptop. I had Mcafee antivirus & firewall at first, but I deleted it for AVG and Comodo firewall, except that Comodo wasn't compatible (really should've checked first..) and it stopped my internet from working. I deleted it, and then my internet worked again, but only briefly. Now it doesn't work, and I have the general Windows firewall. My computer gets the signal from the router, but it won't connect to the internet. I tried diagnosing the problem & repairing it, but nothing works. My desktop's internet works, so I know it's not the router's fault...Can anyone help please? Thanks..

Answer 1

This sounds like a firewall problem - but let's check. You indicate you have a Netgear router but do not indicate if it is wired or wireless.

Open command prompt (start, run - type cmd and hit enter); at the prompt type "ipconfig /all" (without quotes, note all command prompt commands I enter should not be typed with the quotes as the quotes are shown in my writing only to show what should be entered) and hit enter. You should see a LAN IP address for your pc. If you have a wired connection it is wired to the router or network switch you should have an IP address for the wired link; if you have wireless you should have an IP for the wireless; if you have a wired and wireless with the wired connected you should see an IP address for both (but not the same IP address for both). The IP address should be in the format 192.168.x.y where x is usually 0 or 1, and y is usually between 2 - 254.

If you are unsure what you should see, open command prompt in your working desktop and try it there for reference.

If you do not have any proper LAN IP addresses you have a problem linking to the router and need to check the configuration. Usually this happens with wireless connections if the config of wireless either at router or at the wireless port of the pc and with wired connection if the cable is bad. Regardless this should be fixed to proceed.

If you have a valid IP address, record it and the default gateway as you will need it. Now in command prompt, type in "ping " where the is the ip address of the default gateway (let's say 192.168.1.1 is the default gateway, you type in "ping 192.168.1.1" and hit enter. You should see 4 positive ping responses. If not you have a problem between pc and router to address - probably a configuration issue.

Next type in command prompt "ping 4.2.2.2" and hit enter; you should see 4 positive responses. If not you have a problem with the router configuration to the internet. This is unlikely because the desk top works.

Next type in command prompt "ping yahoo.com" and hit enter. You should see 4 positive responses. If not, you have a DNS setting error on the pc's LAN connection; DNS and IP address on the pc should be set to "obtain automatically".

If you have positive ping responses, and you cannot get the web browser to work, the problem is a firewall. Shut down all firewalls on this pc.