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I have a Dell inspiron laptop about 18 months old running Windows 7. I have had a problem sporadically for the last 2 months.

I will be using the internet when all of the sudden my browser can't open any web pages. Then I see the icon in the system tray that says limited or no connectivity, despite the signal being perfect and there aren't any other routers in the immediate vicinity to interfere. When I try to run the windows Troubleshooter it says I am connected to the network but that the router cannot access the internet. However, if I disconnect from the connection and reconnect, the connection works fine.

This happens every hour, or sometimes even every 5-10 minutes. and I just disconnect and reconnect and it works fine.

Also, I have several other devices that continue to work while my laptop displays limited or no connectivity.

I don't think it is a firewall issue (I use AVG Free and Windows Firewall).

I found this question which suggests setting up a continuous ping to the default gateway. When I do this, the pings return fine until I get the Limited connectivity icon at which point it states "request timed out".

I am pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with IP conflicts either.

How can I troubleshoot this problem? Any suggestions?

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  • Try restarting the computer and wireless card. Delete all WiFi connection profiles. Test it out. Jun 3, 2013 at 1:24
  • Good advice. I just did that. I will see how it works in the next couple hours.
    – ajon
    Jun 3, 2013 at 2:00
  • Any chance you're on an Intel networking card? I've heard of (and experienced) errors like this on them.
    – MatthewSot
    Jun 3, 2013 at 2:04
  • Yes it is an Intel Centrino Advanced N 6230.
    – ajon
    Jun 3, 2013 at 2:07
  • @HelpingHand That didn't solve it. I am still having the problem.
    – ajon
    Jun 3, 2013 at 6:04

1 Answer 1

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There may be loose or disconnected antenna wires on the wireless card. I had this issue where one wire was disconnected. These are like little snaps that press onto a small nub.

Not knowing your exact model it should look something like this when you open the access panel.

wifi card

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  • Not sure that he should attempt this until he's positive that its not software. Jun 4, 2013 at 13:30
  • @HelpingHand - It is just an access panel and would at least eliminate the issue of being a physical connection issue. Like I said, I did have this problem and it was one antenna wire disconnected.
    – Carl B
    Jun 4, 2013 at 14:07
  • Is it possible, yes. Is it SOMETIMES hard to get to, YES! I'd use that as a last resort unless you can access it easily depending on your computer model and type. Jun 4, 2013 at 14:10

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