Cannot Connect to Wireless Network? please check, why!

Cannot connect to wireless network? I’ve analyzed and listed down following tips to help you solving this problem, go ahead to check it out:

Physical Network Connection Issue

Sometimes the wireless network connecting problem can due to wrong network connection between the wireless router and DSL/Cable modem. You can take a look on this physical network setup article to ensure you have correct netavark

Wireless Router Firmware Upgrade

If you have configured all the wireless settings correctly on wireless router, but still cannot connect to wireless network, then try to go to router manufacturer website to download latest router firmware and upgrade your router firmware. After that reconfigure the router and

try to connect again. Sometimes the problem can be caused by the faulty router firmware. Also you can check on this wireless router configuration article to help you more.

DHCP Setting on Wireless Router

You must enable the DHCP setting on wireless router if you’ve configured the computer’s wireless adapter to obtain an IP address automatically. If not you will get the "failed to acquire an IP address" error when you try to connect to wireless network! Also don’t forget to configure big enough IP range on router’s DHCP setting, because the router won’t be able to assign IP to 6 computers if you only configured 5 IP space on router.

MAC Address Filtering Issue

Check whether you have enabled MAC address filtering on wireless router, if you have enabled it but your computer’s MAC address is not in allowed list, then of course you can’t connect to the network। If you did not enable it, then proceed to continue your reading.

Wireless Adapter Activation on Laptop

If you are using laptop with built-in wireless adapter, make sure you have activated the wireless adapter by turning on the wireless button, press Alt+F2 or other keys on the laptop. Read the laptop manual on how to activate the wireless adapter on laptop. As an example, usually I press Alt+F2 keys to activate wireless adapter on Dell Latitude laptop.

Wireless Adapter Driver Status and Configuration

Ensure you’ve installed the wireless adapter’s driver properly, if not it won’t work well. If possible, download the latest driver from manufacturer website and install it, this will fix the software bugs and hardware problems on existing adapter. The most important part is you need to configure the wireless adapter correctly, read these articles on how to configure wireless adapter in Vista and XP to see any incorrect configuration.

Faulty Winsock or Registry in XP

Suddenly you just can’t connect to wireless network after some virus or malware cleaning, driver installation or software patching few days ago, then most probably it’s caused by faulty Winsock or registry in XP. How to tackle this problem? You can then try to use WinSockFix to solve it.