Dell E6400 not connecting

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Connect my 21.5" iMac to the 'net wirelessly using TP-Link TD-W8980 no problem at all.

Late wife's Dell E6400, unused for two months, will not connect and shows yellow triangle and black exclamation mark.

Any suggestions?
 
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chscag

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Usually Windows is better at finding a connection and locking on than a Mac. At least in my experience with both platforms. Maybe the Dell can't do WPA2? It's been a while, but did you select the connection wizard and let it try to find your router SSID?
 
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Thanks Charlie.

Up until late January it connected quicker than the iMac and now has just quit. Will not connect via ethernet cable either. Network trouble shooting shows connected to the modem/router but no internet access whilst the iMac is downloading hand over fist. Strange. I shall reset the modem/router and do a new setup.
 

dtravis7


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What OS is on that Dell? Vista Business is what is mentioned in the specs I saw. Could be a Winsock issue.

How much do you know about Windows? Does it get a valid IP from the router? You can open a command prompt and type IPCONFIG and see what the IP address is. If that is a router assigned address and you have no internet at all, I suspect Winsock issues.

I can help farther if needed. Check the IP.

I am using my windows box on Wifi so ignore the other items.

ipconfig.png
 
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Try using command prompt in accessories type in ipconfig/release enter then type in ipconfig/renew enter.
 

dtravis7


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Try using command prompt in accessories type in ipconfig/release enter then type in ipconfig/renew enter.

While he is there that is an excellent idea. Can't hurt.
 
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Windows 7 Professional 64bit.
 
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Just a thought look and see if Airplane Mode is enabled and if its greyed out meaning you can not disable then I fear you have a nasty on your system.
My neighbor had this problem a couple of weeks ago and I downloaded Malwarebytes on to a flash drive and named it pictures of cats or name it anything but Malwarebytes and it found 9 things no false positives after trashing these internet connection both wired and wireless was restored.
 
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Thanks osxx. Did you download Malware Bytes on your Mac and copy to the thumb drive formatted DOS? Is a real problem as iMac goes online no problem and the Dell juste sits there telling me I am connected to the modem/router but no internet access.

To be different I shall name it dog photos eh?

And how does one get into Accessories command prompt and that 'renew enter' is with the space?
 
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I downloaded it on his PC desktop > Thumbdrive since my first clue was it would not let me download it on the laptop both running Win7 Pro.
Start > search box type in command which will bring up command prompt first result usually then type in the box ipconfig/release then hit enter wait 15 seconds type in ipconfig/renew hit enter if there is no malware it should get you connected.
The title of cat pictures was no joke the malware was smart enough to know we were going to use an extraction tool so simply renaming it second time allowed access.
 
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That software did not show any problems with Network Settings. After running Trouble Shooting a score of times it came up with a "DHCP not enabled - click to repair" and away we went downloading 91% of Software Update from Microsoft when it again lost connection. Went into the ipconfig/renew and off again, finished uploading and after reboot no connection so I guess it is the TP-Link modem.

Oddly the iMac has no couch problem connecting and maintaining the network. Thanks all for suggestions.
 
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Harry just a thought have you tried manually updating the wireless card in the PC?
 
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A little more light.

Investigating this, it does appear AV software can cause DHCP disabling problems. Mention in particular are Nortons, McAfee, BitDefender etc. Looks like uninstalling and back to good old Microsoft Security Essentials. The University of Oregon has items on this topic. Here is what ZDNet has to say about MSE despite the veeps spilling the beans about not installing:-

Which antivirus is best at removing malware? | ZDNet
 
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To bring this matter to a conclusion, first up deleted BitDefender, rebooted and no difference. Then McAfee Free Scan, rebooted, went the ipconfigure/reset route via Command Prompt and connected just fine and all is well, so back to Microsoft Security Essentials.

One thing connecting the iMac for the first time after this, get the no IP address, into DNS settings which were blank, hit the (+) button, back they came and connection no problem.
 

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Harry if you want a free Anti Virus that works better than MSE, give the free AntiVir a try. I switched to it after hearing MSE was not really that supported anymore and it found many issues that MSE never found and it does not seem to drag down the system at all.
 

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