Slightly techy problem with WiFi

[Parson]

I just put a new router in my house. Things have gone fairly smoothly, except that I have an old computer running on Windows 8 and for some reason that computer cannot find my local network. It finds all my neighbor's networks, and all my other devices find the local network without problems. Any guesses as to how this can be fixed? I have restarted my computer multiple times without joy.

Maybe this question is more techy than I realize.

Edit:

If I wire the computer directly to the router I can then can on line, But would rather use the WiFi connection.

 

[Vince W]

If your computer Is older it may be your wifi card. New routers tend to default to AC (or even AX) and your wifi chip may not be AC capable. You’ll want to go into your router settings to make sure it is also accepting b,g,n wifi as well.

Also, double check you’ve not mistyped the password.

 

[Parson]

If your computer Is older it may be your wifi card. New routers tend to default to AC (or even AX) and your wifi chip may not be AC capable. You’ll want to go into your router settings to make sure it is also accepting b,g,n wifi as well.

Also, double check you’ve not mistyped the password.

Thanks for this. It is certainly an older computer nearly 10 years old. I haven't been able to type the password because the WiFi isn't recognized. I will take a look at this router idea and get back later.

 

[Mr Cairo]

A possible step is reboot the router, as well as the PC, and see if new networks show up after that

Short term solution buy a cheap USB Wifi card and plug that into your PC that should see the Wifi.

 

[SilentRoamer]

@Parson I second the above - a non technical solution is to go and buy a cheap USB Wifi dongle.

 

[tinkerdan]

This could be a simple problem of network speed.
Most network routers I work with have both 5g and 2.4g wireless connection.
The old computer might be 2.4g and the new network might be only 5g.
Though that doesn't seem likely because in most instances even some of my 5g equipment can only connect at 2.4 with some of the routers so it doesn't make sense to be limited to gust 5g.

The other thing is that you might want to look at your computer wi-fi settings for discoverability and sharing.
You may have to adjust those.

It could also be a sync problem where you might need to force the router to search while the computer is searching so that they can find each other to play nice. Usually once the router puts the device in its list the problem will mostly go away--barring any catastrophic failure of power or devices.

 

[tinkerdan]

Another thought--Your new router--might have an aversion, security wise, to connecting the wi-fi with older computers that might no longer be secure because they are no longer supported. Wired connections are less of a problem because you have to be right there to connect whereas the wi-fi could be someone in your neighborhood trying to connect.

You may have to look at settings in the router--there may be a way to force it to find that device connection.

Another solution might be to buy a router that can be used as an access point that will let the old computer's wi-fi connect and it can then relay the computer over to the other router.

At home and work I have the main router connected to a second router which is the access point for all my equipment. That way if I have a guest who needs to connect to the internet I can give him the password to the main router which gives him access only to the outside and not to my internal network. Not so critical at home but it is a great solution for a company with customers that consistently need access while in house.

 

[Mr Cairo]

Regarding getting into your router, you could use your mobile if its connected to the Wifi you should be able to open a browser on your phone and then visit the 192.168.0.0 address and make any changes from there.

 

[Wayne Mack]

Here are two possible alternatives to run down. One is the WiFi find may not be running. Type Services into the program search bar and a long list will be displayed. Scroll down and make sure WLAN AutoConfig is Running. If not, double click on it and start it. Redirecting

 

[Wayne Mack]

Second possibility is that 'Windows 8 does not like the 802.11g "enhanced" mode' This will require changing the configuration on the WiFi router to disable enhanced mode. Redirecting

 

[Parson]

Thanks so much Guys! In the end all that was needed was what @Vince W suggested. There were a couple of tweaks needed to enable b, g, n. My internet provider also provides my router so I called spoke of my problem made Vince's suggestion and they were able to fix it less than 3 minutes. So I didn't need any of the other work arounds, which to me sounded like they would have worked as well. --- It's also nice to live in a small town with a local provider. I was talking to the tech on the phone in less than 2 min. All told 5 min. fix. I love that.

I love this community too!