About a week ago, I encountered a very weird issue that I have still not resolved. My main gaming PC uses a WiFi connection to go online. One night, booted it up and had a heck of a time connecting. Finally got it to, but the connection was very slow, I mean impossible to use slow. The next go around, could not get it to connect at all. Keep getting an error message to check the settings on the router to make sure everything is good, blah blah blah.

Here is the thing. At first I figured maybe my wireless receiver unit was dying/dead. So I tried using a brand new one I happened to have in the box. It too refused to connect to the wireless network. So it appears the wireless receiver is not to blame. Just to be sure, I plugged the wifi receiver into my laptop, and it seemed to work okay.

Next, I bust out my laptop and try to go online. I have zero issues connecting to the wireless network this way from the same room, so I figure signal strength is okay (not great), and the router itself is not the issue. FYI, I have not changed any settings on the router for quite come time, so don't think that is it.

So I come to the conclusion that it has to be something with the gaming PC itself that got corrupted or changed to all of a sudden not allow a wireless network connection anymore. I checked my antivirus and Windows to make sure no firewall got turned on by accident that would cause problems.

Now, the only things left to try is to maybe revert back to a 2 week old registry settings that I saved before using CCleaner to clean things up a few weeks ago. Other than that, maybe try a system restore from a few weeks back to see if that works?

Any other ideas that maybe I missed? This issue is getting problematic as I use that PC a lot.

A system restore is probably a good idea. But have you checked your WiFi adapter in the main PC? Is it an internal adapter or is it a USB adapter? I had an internal WiFi adapter quit working on me several years ago. I blamed everything else before I finally tried a new USB adapter and then everything worked fine.

But it can't hurt to try a system restore.

The fact that you were able to connect at all suggests the problem is more likely physical than in your computer software.

There could also be a problem due to interference with the wireless signal, which is affected by where your computer is located in your room. Wireless reception can vary even in the same room.


What do you mean by "wireless receiver?"
Do you mean a wireless router / access point?
Or are you talking about a wireless adapter attached to the computer?
Unfortunately advertisers have chosen to use misleading terminology to describe these things.


That you connected it to your laptop suggests that you plugged a wireless adapter into one of your computer's USB ports.
If that's the case, are you sure you connected through the wireless adapter that you just plugged in, and not the one that is already built into the laptop?

You can try going back to a restore point, but you might want to make a new one with your current settings first.



Since it was working until a week ago, and it's been 2 weeks since you used CCleaner, it doesn't sound like CCleaner had anything to do with the problem.

I would be looking at the router itself. Have you tried to power cycle the router? Do you have the channel set to auto? Is it secured?

Ditto on that - one other thing to look at is your WiFi Connection speed.

Checking the wireless connection speed of your computer

Thank you for the advice and tips:

Draclvr - I am using a wifi receiver that plugs into my PCs usb port. I do not believe I even have an internal adapter. When it stopped working I tried it in a few different usb ports (rebooting each time) but no luck

Collector - yes I have tried rebooting the router twice. Yes, I believe I do have the channel set to auto and it is secured with WPA2-personal and AES with a passphrase to access the network. I also have it set to 'hidden' but I think I will temporarily let it be visible while I try to figure out this issue. I'm pretty sure the router is not the problem as my laptop has no problem connecting to it.

InlandAZ - checked the connection speed of my laptop right now and it says 72.2Mbps

Jenny100 - you have a good point about reception varying from spot to spot in the same room. But I took my laptop over right where the wifi receiver sits, and it detected a 'fair' to 'weak' signal so it seems it is okay. The wifi receiver has been in the same spot for months on end with the same signal strength and the router has not been moved either.

Yes, I am using a wireless adapter that plugs into my PCs usb port.

Yes, when I tried the wifi adapter out on my laptop I made sure I was using it and not my laptop's internal wifi adapter.

I will be trying again tonight to see if I can fix the issue. As a last resort I will try the system restore (making sure to do a current system backup first). Wish me luck!

That would be a fairly typical connection speed for an N Band receiver, I don't see any major problems there. Did you ever bounce your router?

What is the make and model number of the wireless adapter?
It would help to have an idea what the software configuration for it looks like and if there are known issues.

Also what is the make and model number of your wireless router?
Is it one that was provided by your ISP or one you bought?

Is your wireless adapter the type with a cord and an aerial that sits on top of the computer?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003G2Z1M6?keywords=wireless adapter&qid=1444666813

Or is your wireless adapter the type that looks like a USB stick?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002HA7FY?keywords=wireless adapter&qid=1444666813

Or does your wireless adapter look like a USB stick with an aerial?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JDVRCI0?keywords=wireless adapter&qid=1444666813

If it's the type of wireless adapter with a cord to the aerial, you could try moving the aerial around. But I'm guessing it's not.

You could also try turning the router off or unplugging it for at least 30 seconds as opposed to just rebooting it. Sometimes it makes a difference. Then reboot the computer too.

If you have a network cable, you could try temporarily attaching it between the computer and the router to see if you can get the Internet over ethernet. If not, the problem may not be wireless-related at all.

Good news folks (I think?). Through the 'power of posting', when I booted up the PC last night to figure this out, it was able to make a connection to the wifi network all on its own. It appeared to take longer than usual to make the connection, but maybe that was just me. The only thing I did different was I logged into the router and changed the configuration from 'hidden' to visible, just to make it easier to troubleshoot.

Inland - by 'bounce' do you mean reboot? If so, yes I did try unplugging the power cord, waiting 20 seconds, then plugging it back in. In fact, I also cycled power to the cable broudband modem box as well.

Jenny - I am not sure about the model numbers of receiver unit and router. If this happens again I will collate all of that info. I know it is a linksys dual band N receiver, and the router is a dual band Asus router that I read good things about so purchased it. I have both wireless bands set up but for internet I just use the standard 2.4GHz band.

The linksys wifi receiver is a USB stick device without the aerial. I have a USB extension cord that I use to help position the USB wifi stick in a spot in the room to get the best reception. Maybe it is the extension cord that is bad or loose on one end or something? I will take that into consideration should this happen again.

Thanks again for all the help! This board is great in that regard, best in show. :-)

Yep, bouncing = rebooting. Glad you've got it somewhat resolved

One more query if I may.

I have not had an issue with my PC connecting to the wireless connection anymore, even though the signal is weak (this has always been an issue).

But I've been monitoring the speed, and it bounces around a lot from a high of 90Mbps to a low of 3Mbps. Right now it is 6Mbps. I'm assuming this is all about the wireless router and/or my wireless receiver and has nothing whatsoever to do with the broadband cable modem connection coming in from outside?

Do you think it is the weak signal that is causing the high fluctuations in speed? Right now there is no other people using the wireless connection, so it is not a bandwidth issue slowing things down.

Does this happen on the laptop too?
Or only the desktop PC?

yes, this is happening on the laptop as well, although I seem to average a higher average wireless speed on it than with the desktop.

See if any of the potential sources of interference listed at this site would apply.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201542

I know you said no one else was using your WiFi, but are you absolutely positive that no one is pirating your WiFi signal? I assume you have it locked down tight with password, encryption etc.?

Jenn100 - Thanks for the link. The placement of my wireless router is not ideal but cannot be helped. It is in one corner of the house while my particular bedroom is in the opposite corner of the house. It also is placed fairly close to the main handset of the houses wireless phone system. Again it can't really be helped because I have phone service connected through a voice over IP solution, so that device is connected to my cable broadband modem, then a cable goes from it to the wifi router as well as the phone handset. It is what it is. Knowing I would be having wifi range issues, I researched the wifi routers out there to try to buy a quality one that other reviews said had a strong wifi range. If the problem persists I may have to look into buying a wifi range extender, although not sure how much those really help or if I could even use one with my setup.

I do think it is the weak signal in my bedroom that is causing the speed fluctuations. I've spent a lot more time running tests on the wifi speed. When my laptop is downstairs the speed seems pretty solid and stable with just a few spikes downward here and there. Upstairs though it drops down a lot more often.

Draclvr - yes I am fairly confident that nobody is pirating my wifi signal. From day one I locked it down with encryption and a decent password to access. I also changed the admin password right off the bat. I even had the dual band networks in 'hidden' mode and choosed the option to have the router not respond to pings. In troubleshooting though, I did both 2.4 and 5GHz networks from hidden to visible.

I thought this was interesting.
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/co...cd807395a9.html

One of the things they said was

He already said it was secured.