You can always try ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew from the command prompt.
Get a new router and spring for new cables also! Good lu k
I forget to add that the router sees the laptop (mac address) but the device name and ip address are blank.
Tried rebooting both the laptop and router?
Your mileage may vary:
i never could get the intel dual band wireless-ac 8260 chipset to work reliably in several new (VERY expensive) Panasonic CF-54 laptops.
I tried everything I could think of and many suggestions from the internet as well. nothing worked. the chipset was balky in connecting if it would connect at all, and when it did connect, it was almost always REALLY, REALLY, REALLY slow! And this was the case on multiple routers, both old and new.
In complete despair, I finally decided to completely nuke the MASSIVE (and as far as I could tell - nearly useless) set of bloatware known as Intel Proset/Wireless and instead just install the basic Intel WiFi drivers and let Microsoft manage the WiFi, which Microsoft has almost always done flawlessly.
Here’s what I did:
1. Download the barebones Intel drivers for the 8260 wifi chipset from here:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27206
And don’t be fooled by the the Proset page title: the first set of downloads on the page are the barebones drivers WITHOUT Proset. (When the filename does not include the word “Proset”, then they are barebones.) For my Windows 7 x64 system, I downloaded was WiFi_20.0.2_Driver64_Win7.zip:
2. Unzip the downloaded driver file, but don’t do anything else with it yet.
3. Go to Programs and Features in Control Panel and Uninstall the installed Intel Proset/Wirless software. Remove everything, including “settings”.
4. Next, manually delete the two intel wifi driver files from Windows/system32/drivers, namely netwfw02.sys and netwfw02.dat OR netwfw04.sys and netwfw04.dat (or perhaps some other number besides 02 or 04). This is a precautionary step, because uninstalling intel driver software lately does not actually delete the old driver files, and I’ve had replacement intel driver installs silently fail because they were unable to delete and/or replace existing driver files, leaving a total mess. (The worse case i’ve encountered is that uninstalling the intel HD Graphics 520 display drivers leaves over 200 driver files that have to be manually deleted AFTER uninstalling, because if they are not manually deleted, the new driver bundle will absolutely NOT install correctly leaving things like graphics acceleration completely broken.)
5. Now go back to the unzipped barebones wifi drivers folder and execute DPInst64.exe followed by executing iprodifx.exe.
And that should be it. Windows should popup a balloon from the taskbar telling you that a new wifi device has been installed and you should be good to go. Not only should the intel wifi now function flawlessly, but you’ve also eliminated a massive amount of unnecessary bloatware, including several background processes that run at all times, consuming both CPU and memory.
i never could get the intel dual band wireless-ac 8260 chipset to work reliably in several new (VERY expensive) Panasonic CF-54 laptops.
I tried everything I could think of and many suggestions from the internet as well. nothing worked. the chipset was balky in connecting if it would connect at all, and when it did connect, it was almost always REALLY, REALLY, REALLY slow! And this was the case on multiple routers, both old and new.
In complete despair, I finally decided to completely nuke the MASSIVE (and as far as I could tell - nearly useless) set of bloatware known as Intel Proset/Wireless and instead just install the basic Intel WiFi drivers and let Microsoft manage the WiFi, which Microsoft has almost always done flawlessly.
Here’s what I did:
1. Download the barebones Intel drivers for the 8260 wifi chipset from here:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/27206
And don’t be fooled by the the Proset page title: the first set of downloads on the page are the barebones drivers WITHOUT Proset. (When the filename does not include the word “Proset”, then they are barebones.) For my Windows 7 x64 system, I downloaded was WiFi_20.0.2_Driver64_Win7.zip:
2. Unzip the downloaded driver file, but don’t do anything else with it yet.
3. Go to Programs and Features in Control Panel and Uninstall the installed Intel Proset/Wirless software. Remove everything, including “settings”.
4. Next, manually delete the two intel wifi driver files from Windows/system32/drivers, namely netwfw02.sys and netwfw02.dat OR netwfw04.sys and netwfw04.dat (or perhaps some other number besides 02 or 04). This is a precautionary step, because uninstalling intel driver software lately does not actually delete the old driver files, and I’ve had replacement intel driver installs silently fail because they were unable to delete and/or replace existing driver files, leaving a total mess. (The worse case i’ve encountered is that uninstalling the intel HD Graphics 520 display drivers leaves over 200 driver files that have to be manually deleted AFTER uninstalling, because if they are not manually deleted, the new driver bundle will absolutely NOT install correctly leaving things like graphics acceleration completely broken.)
5. Now go back to the unzipped barebones wifi drivers folder and execute DPInst64.exe followed by executing iprodifx.exe.
And that should be it. Windows should popup a balloon from the taskbar telling you that a new wifi device has been installed and you should be good to go. Not only should the intel wifi now function flawlessly, but you’ve also eliminated a massive amount of unnecessary bloatware, including several background processes that run at all times, consuming both CPU and memory.
I’m just guessing, but it sounds like the machine was set up as a server to tunnel to a specific static IP address at the other end. Generally ISP connections don’t do this, they are switching IP addresses all the time on you trying to move you to a lower load server in their system. Now how to exactly find that in Win 7 I am not sure, Maybe an IT guy here can help with that. I know I had problems with that when I set up my tunnel server in linux. Because mine is a “server” and not just a “client” it relies on a fixed IP address that doesn’t change all the time like a normal ISP service does.
“”” I’ve had a Netgear WNDR4000 router forever. Two desktops (XP PROs), tablet, another laptop (VISTA) and the netbook that was broke all talked to the router OK. “””
You have a bunch of antiques. Tech years is like dog years so your 20 year old stuff is really 140 years old.
It should be trying to connect to a router address which is usually, 192.168.0.X with the Xs being about the only thing each model may do differently.
Does XP have that feature where you can make a disk from one connected computer and use it to set up others?
Also, I don’t think you can go out and just get any router. You need to have one that’s compatible with your ISP, of course it depends on whether or not it’s a router/modem combo or strictly a router. If the latter, then it doesn’t matter.
After I called few times the Dell suport Center, I finally got an helpfull strange tip. I was told to get into safe-mode with networking.
This mode somehow recover the WL connection. I was able to finally connect to the net via WL and after rebooting and getting back to nomal-mode WL was still alive.
If it is set to WEP, the new laptop probably wants WPA or WPA2/PSK.
Newer devices will not connect to the old WEP.
first update everything you can. go to the router and plug in with a ethernet wire. Assuming you get an internet connection update everything. then rt click the windows key scroll to the device manager. click on show hidden devices. any non Microsoft devices under each tab that are greyed out uninstall, but leave the device driver/software. do not reboot the system while uninstalling. Once all that is done uninstall all apps you won’t be using, just be careful, some of them may be related to devices on the laptop. once you’ve cleaned out everything, download ccleaner install and get the crap files off the system (free). Now reboot
see if it connects, if not download driver easy (easeware) free update all the drivers manually, look for the setup information file in the folder it opens for you.
Since its a dell many of the dell drivers can be gotten off the site, but they likely won’t be the latest. they do have a maintenance program that will do a hardware scan. if all else fails, make a bootable usb stick to install win10 and reformat and replace everything. if that does not work try a sledgehammer.
Is there a physical WiFi on/off switch on the computer? I’m serious. The wife had a Dell from work and she’d brush the WiFi on/off switch occasionally and then the WiFi was off. After I discovered that...I’d remind her when her WiFi wouldn’t connect. Silliest thing to put on a computer.
I had a similar problem last year. When I checked there were 4 cell phones, 2 TVs, 3 tablets and 4 PCs all competing for bandwidth. My old Linksys E1200 router could not keep up. I changed to a newer Linksys router with a quad-core processor and haven’t missed a connection since. I didn’t like the price (~$250), but it works and the problems are gone. The older single core processor router just couldn’t keep up.
