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I have Windows 7, and I am trying to connect my PC to a wireless network. It doesn't have an internal card, so I use a Belkin USB stick.

Occasionally, my connection will just drop. It won't try to reconnect, and doing so manually will fail almost immediately after the "Attempting to connect [network]..." popup. After 20 to 30 minutes, it magically works fine again. This happens about 3 or 4 times a day.

I looked at the network adapter, and it always seems to fail at the "attempting to authenticate" part. I have removed the saved connection so that it prompts with my password, but it always fails at this same part. Most recently, it didn't even ask me for a password, it failed the second I clicked "connect".

Additionally, the system tray reports it as "Wireless Connection 4". I can't rename it to any lower numbers, as it says the network name already exists (and I've followed the instructions here many times). Sometimes, the issue can be solved by removing the wireless adapter/driver and reinstalling it, but this takes time and a reboot, which is unacceptable for something that shouldn't even be happening.

The router is a Bell Netgear model MBR1516, with WPA2-PSK [AES]. We live in a rural area and have had many different wireless networks, and my PC has always had this problem. I do not think the router is at fault. Other devices can connect freely and have no issue.

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  • Have you been able to try a wireless adapter from a different manufacturer (e.g. using a Netgear USB wireless adapter instead of the Belkin one)? Oct 24, 2014 at 15:14
  • No, I haven't, as this issue is "recent" ... I've used this PC in other places over the last 2-3 years (college, sister's house) where they have a highspeed router physically connected to infrastructure; I would connect to that wirelessly with no problem. I am currently at my parent's house, and because of the rural location, we only have routers/hubs that connect wirelessly to the provider (via satellite or cell tower). We've had 3 or 4 different wireless models of this sort since March, and this PC just doesn't like them for some reason.
    – Kyle Baran
    Oct 24, 2014 at 15:19
  • I have seen "differing" levels of compatibility in the past (especially Dell laptops to 3Com routers), so if there is one to hand, it may be worth trying. Oct 24, 2014 at 15:23

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