Network adaptor problem Need some tech support.

[Greg Dent]

I called my ISP because my laptop kept dropping the wifi signal. They went in did a factory reset to the modem. Then everything seamed fine. Both of our tablets dropped the signal too so I know that was not the fault or the laptop. The guy went in an changed the settings in the router to a higher frequency so it would not be interfered with other items in the house. After he got done my laptop dropped the signal again. So I went in a had it download new drivers for the adapter. I turned off the power save off as well in the adapter. If this happens again I am at a loss as to what to do about it. My adapter is an Atheros ar 8131 pci-E gigabit adapter. Im at a loss as to what else I could possibly do to stabilize the connections.

[Musky]

Try going into your router settings and assign your laptop a static IP address. That way it won't have to be assigned whichever one happens to be available when it tries to connect.

[Greg Dent]

Oh ok im not sure how to do that but I will look into it.

[Musky]

You can do it from within Windows also, which may be easier for you. I have just always done it in the router settings. Here's a tutorial:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19249/how-to-assign-a-static-ip-address-in-xp-vista-or-windows-7/

[vern]

The internet is going thru some changes.  The old copper lines just aren't up to snuff any longer.  You might ask your ISP if you can get switched to a optic line.  We had problems for months and months.  1)  changed out the attic lines to have home runs and no splices.  2) had the ground to the house connection and the home worked on. 3)  switched the feed to the house a couple times.  4) had them change the nieghborhood feed to our box to a different line.  5)  then i think they switched the line to a higher bandwidth optic line that doesn't have as much interference.

Its amazing the technology they are using on 50+ year old copper lines.  Your neighbor from 5 houses down can turn on the garage door leaving for work and disrupt the signal and it has nothing to do with you at all.

1) keep bugging your ISP.  Document what the lights are doing on the modem.
2) do a non modem reset buy unhooking the power to the modem for 10 seconds and unhooking the line feed from the ISP connecting your modem for 30 seconds and touch the copper end if its cable to bleed static charge.
3) make sure your clean from viruses
4) update all your drivers from the manufacture website even if you don't need to.

if its an old modem you own it might need to be replaced.  If your leasing and its over 2 years old them have it replaced.


Other then that you have to get into your house causing electrical interference with other appliances.  There's much to read up on.

[pnutts]

I lost internet for 1 1/2 hours today. Tried everything, even called tech support. No Joy. Their system did not report any outages,

however the brother who is our bdg manager says his net was down at same time, same provider.

Our ISP is an independent who uses Big Cable's wires for their signal.

It was big cable with the problem ( happens too often, only with Indie ISP on big cable or phone lines ).

They have been known ( proved, and also by personal experience ) to throttle connections, even though it is illegal.

 

Modem problems. Is it a stand alone modem ( as it seems not to be ), dsl or cable? Do you have a router or extender connected to it?

 

Vern's advice is sound about replacing modem. Mine is almost 3 years old and I own it, however I keep it up to date, same as my router

( in fact with my router, I had to change to a 3rd party firmware to get it to work with my cable modem )

Edited January 8, 2016 by pnutts

[shali]

You can do it from within Windows also, which may be easier for you. I have just always done it in the router settings. Here's a tutorial: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/19249/how-to-assign-a-static-ip-address-in-xp-vista-or-windows-7/

Musky, do you think this would solve the problem of my Windows 10 not finding the printer connected to my network? Lord knows, I've tried everything else (even giving it the IP address of my network the printer is on as the port for my printer). My Windows 10 will print with my printer if it is connected with a USB directly but since upgrading from 8.1 it will no longer print wirelessly with the network and it's driving me crazy!

[Musky]

Is the wireless printer attached to a different computer and shared on the network, or is it a stand-alone Wireless printer?

[shali]

My printer is NOT wireless, but is attached to my XP computer and shared on a network. My tablet and phone can still print with my network but my Windows 10 can not print anymore (it could when it was Windows 8.1). I have installed the Windows 10 drivers for my printer on my Windows 10 laptop but it only prints if I hook it up to a UsB port directly to my laptop. It can find my printer on the network but can't connect to it and that is driving me crazy!

[Musky]

My printer is NOT wireless, but is attached to my XP computer and shared on a network. My tablet and phone can still print with my network but my Windows 10 can not print anymore (it could when it was Windows 8.1). I have installed the Windows 10 drivers for my printer on my Windows 10 laptop but it only prints if I hook it up to a UsB port directly to my laptop. It can find my printer on the network but can't connect to it and that is driving me crazy!

 

Windows 10 is very "permissions" conscious. the phone and tablets can get away with more then another Windows machine can. Go into your Windows XP machine and make sure the printer is "shared", but that means more then just choosing "share" in the right-click menu. You need to right click on the printer, choose "properties" and then the "security tab". Make sure that "everyone" is listed in the "Group" permissions window and if it's not, choose "add" and add in the "everyone" group. While you're in the properties window, click on "sharing" just to make sure that the "share this printer on the network" is checked. 

Edited January 8, 2016 by Musky

[vern]

Printers need drivers.  It may be you need to install a windows 10 driver.  It may be you need to feed the driver to the printer itself not just your computer.  The printers website should have some technical support.  may be just reading around some will give you enough info to solve your issue.

[Musky]

Printers need drivers.  It may be you need to install a windows 10 driver.  It may be you need to feed the driver to the printer itself not just your computer.  The printers website should have some technical support.  may be just reading around some will give you enough info to solve your issue.

 

If it prints when she connects to the printer with a USB cable (as she stated) , it is NOT a driver issue.

 

If you do as outlined in my post above and you still have issues, try this:

 

Go to "settings, devices. printers and scanners"

 

Click on "add a printer or scanner".

 

Click on "The printer I want sin't listed"

 

In the Add Printer wizard, click Add a local printer.

 

Click Create a new port. Make sure Local Port is selected in the list, and then click Next.

 

In the Port Name dialog box, type \\computer name\printer name, and then click OK.

 

Complete the rest of the wizard, and then click Finish.

 

"Computer name" is the name of your shared Windows XP computer. You can find your computer name by right-clicking My Computer, and then clicking Properties. You'll find the name under the Computer Name tab.

 

"Printer name" is the name of the Windows XP-attached printer you're trying to print to. To find the printer name in Windows XP, click the Start button, click Printers and Faxes, right-click the shared printer, and then click Properties.

Edited January 8, 2016 by Musky

[shali]

Windows 10 is very "permissions" conscious. the phone and tablets can get away with more then another Windows machine can. Go into your Windows XP machine and make sure the printer is "shared", but that means more then just choosing "share" in the right-click menu. You need to right click on the printer, choose "properties" and then the "security tab". Make sure that "everyone" is listed in the "Group" permissions window and if it's not, choose "add" and add in the "everyone" group. While you're in the properties window, click on "sharing" just to make sure that the "share this printer on the network" is checked. 

Have done, ten times over and still can't print! I think this is something Microsoft is going to have to fix.  There is not real reason why printing over my network shouldn't work!!!! 

[shali]

 

If it prints when she connects to the printer with a USB cable (as she stated) , it is NOT a driver issue.

 

If you do as outlined in my post above and you still have issues, try this:

 

Go to "settings, devices. printers and scanners"

 

Click on "add a printer or scanner".

 

Click on "The printer I want sin't listed"

 

In the Add Printer wizard, click Add a local printer.

 

Click Create a new port. Make sure Local Port is selected in the list, and then click Next.

 

In the Port Name dialog box, type \\computer name\printer name, and then click OK.

 

Complete the rest of the wizard, and then click Finish.

 

"Computer name" is the name of your shared Windows XP computer. You can find your computer name by right-clicking My Computer, and then clicking Properties. You'll find the name under the Computer Name tab.

 

"Printer name" is the name of the Windows XP-attached printer you're trying to print to. To find the printer name in Windows XP, click the Start button, click Printers and Faxes, right-click the shared printer, and then click Properties.

 

Tried that too, many many times.  It won't recognize the XP computer connected to the network when I give it the name.  Tried using the IP address of the network for the printer port, still can't connect.  It's puzzling because it "see's" the printer but WON'T connect to it no matter what I do, and beleive me, I've tried every solution out there!

[Musky]

I had the same issue with two Windows 7 laptops trying to print to a printer connected to a Vista desktop. One would connect and print just fine, the other wouldn't. I tried everything including reformatting and reinstalling Windows 7 on the laptop. NOTHING worked. Then I went through all the "network and sharing" settings in Vista and found one link in the path to the printer that wasn't shared. Even though one laptop had no issue with it, I changed the setting anyway, and then connected the problem laptop to the printer by adding the "local port" etc. Now both print fine and to this day, I don't know why! 

[shali]

I'll try to connect to the local port again, and see what happens. I'll let you know. This has been so very frustrating!

[Musky]

I just found my notes on what I did to fix it. Besides sharing the printer, the "print spooler" has to be shared.

 

1) Share Permissions

1. On explorer, go to C:\windows\system32\spool\PRINTERS

2. Right click, Properties

3. Sharing tab

4. Advanced Sharing

5. Check "Share this folder"

6. Permissions

7. Grant everyone Full Control

 

2) NTFS Permissions

1. On explorer, go to C:\windows\system32\spool\printers

2. Right click, Properties

3. Security tab

4. Edit

5. Add

6. Advanced

7. Find Now

8. Choose "NETWORK"

9. OK

10. Grant NETWORK Full Control

 

Win7 would still not install the printer the "normal way" I had to add a local port and direct it to the Vista machine via network address. But it worked! 

Edited January 10, 2016 by Musky

[shali]

Connecting to a local port did not work. (Big surprise there!) I'm sorry Musky, I don't understand your directions (and I've considered myself computer literate!) I think I understand the first part but not the second. I don't understand how to access NTFS permissions. Sorry I'm so dumb. Sometimes I can't even stand myself.

By the way, do I do all of that on my XP or my Windows 10 computer?

Edited January 10, 2016 by shali

[Musky]

You do it on the XP computer. Just open Windows explorer and navigate to the path given (C:\windows\system32\spool\printers) and do the two different steps outlined. 

[shali]

Windows 10 is very "permissions" conscious. the phone and tablets can get away with more then another Windows machine can. Go into your Windows XP machine and make sure the printer is "shared", but that means more then just choosing "share" in the right-click menu. You need to right click on the printer, choose "properties" and then the "security tab". Make sure that "everyone" is listed in the "Group" permissions window and if it's not, choose "add" and add in the "everyone" group. While you're in the properties window, click on "sharing" just to make sure that the "share this printer on the network" is checked. 

Musky, you lovely, ingenious Borg!!!! I did what you said and even though I had Administrator rights and my "Everyone Group" had printer rights too - there was a "Special Permissions" tab for 'other groups".  Whenever I tried to give any other group permissions to use my printer it said it couldn't do it because my "server service wasn't running".  So I went into services and found that I had in on "manual" and it hadn't started.  So I switched it to Automatic and started the service.  I opened up my Windows 10 laptop and asked it to add the printer I previously couldn't add because it wouldn't connect to it and viola!!!! It found it and connected and I can now print with my laptop!!!!!

 

I can't thank you enough for helping me with this.  It was a bummer to drag my laptop into my office and manually connect it to the USB port everytime I wanted to print with it!  I owe you big time bro!

[Musky]

That was great troubleshooting on your part, I just steered you in the right direction. I'm proud of you!

[vern]

pesky windows services....

[shali]

For some reason I was concentrating most of my efforts on my Windows 10 laptop, thinking it was the problem. If I had spent the same amount of time trying to troubleshoot the problem from my XP instead, I probably would of eventually gotten there! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction - you got me to the address, I just needed to walk in the door!