Signal strength strong but cannot connect

My wife's laptop, a Dell Inspiron N4110, has had no problem connecting to our WiFi connection.

When she goes to the list of wireless connections available, our SSID (CHISHOLM) shows up with strong signal. She clicks to connect, but it comes back as "Windows was unable to connect to CHISHOLM"

When she clicks "Troubleshoot connection" it says shows it trying to resolve any problems. It brings up a window that says "Investigate router or access point issues" and suggests unplugging the router, waiting ten seconds, then turning it back on. I have done that, but to no avail.

My computer has no problem connecting wirelessly...just hers.

 

Hello and welcome to Major Geeks!

A few questions to get the diagnostic process started:

1. Please can you post the version of Windows you are running on the laptop that cannot connect?

2. Please can you post the version of wireless security that the access point is running? I don't want the wireless key, just the version of encryption that is running. This should be WEP, WPA or WPA2.

3. Are there any problems if you plug the laptop in using a network cable?

 

Her computer is running Windows 7; the security is WPA2; no, there is no issue when plugged directly to a cable

 

If you delete the saved connection info from the laptop and reconnect it it might fix the issue.

 

I have deleted the connection, and re-did the connection, ensuring I had the correct password and settings and all. I have re-started the computer, restarted the router. Turned off the wireless adapter, turned it back on, etc.

It completely detects our WiFi signal, as well as those of our neighbors. Our signal shows with five signal strength bars, so the signal isn't weak. It simply won't connect to it.

 

I just had the same thing happen to me at a friend's house with their pc. The pc could see the WiFi, my phone could connect to it with no problem but the pc just wouldn't connect and I got the same error message you did.

First I tried just turning it off, unplugging for 10 seconds, and plugging it back in. Still didn't work, then I unplugged it again (this time from the back of the router, not the socket) and left it off for probably about 10 minutes (the reason it was so long is because actually kind of forgot, I was distracted by a show LOL), plugged it back in and rebooted the pc. I was then able to connect the pc to the WiFi. I don't know if it's because I let it sit that got it to work (I didn't really do anything else to it) but I figured telling you what fixed my problem might be worth a shot.

 

Hey guys, thanks for all your suggestions. I figured out the problem. Our internet provider sucks (avoid Hargray if you are in SC!). We had issues with the router (which also has WiFi built in) that they installed. It kept disconnecting all wireless signals. So the tech disabled the WiFi ability on the router, and hooked up a WiFi box to the router to fix it (instead of just installing a new WiFi router).

Anyway, I forgot about this second box because the WiFi box had slipped down behind the desk, so what I was resetting was the router, not the Wifi box. When I remembered this, I reset the WiFi box, and VOILA...everything worked fine.

Funny that my computer still worked on it, but my wife's computer didn't, and in the midst of posting on here, I found out my daughter was having issues with her iPod's connection. When I reset the WiFi box instead of the router, everyone's signal came back to life!