Member Avatar for jasonleethomason

I have a 2002 Gateway laptop running Windows XP that used to find our old linksys router network just fine, connect to it and easily connect to the internet. We had to replace the linksys and bought a new netgear router and now that same laptop will connect just fine to the netgear network but will not connect to the internet. However if I plug it in direct with an Ethernet cable it connects to the internet just fine. What am I missing here?

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Brief summary and focused next steps for ’s situation: the laptop reaches the Netgear SSID but fails to reach the Internet, while the same machine works fine when wired. That pattern usually means the router’s WAN is OK but something on the wireless path (router wireless profile, wireless VLAN/guest rules, or the laptop’s wireless stack) is preventing normal routing. and ’s advice to compare the two connections is a good start; below are additional, practical checks that go beyond a simple config comparison.

Router-side checks (do these from the Netgear admin pages): verify the connected SSID is not the router’s guest/limited SSID; confirm there is no “wireless/AP client isolation” or SSID-to-VLAN mapping that keeps wireless clients off the router’s LAN/WAN; check MAC filtering, parental-control schedules, and any per-SSID access rules; confirm DHCP is enabled for the SSID and the router’s wireless firmware is current.

Client-side diagnostics and quick network tests (interpret results to localize the fault). From the XP laptop try reachability tests against the router and the Internet; example commands to run locally:

ping <router LAN IP>          (e.g. 192.168.1.1)
ping 8.8.8.8
nslookup example.com

If ping to the router fails, wireless association is not creating proper L3 connectivity (check SSID/VLAN, MAC filter, driver). If router ping works but 8.8.8.8 fails, the SSID may be blocked from WAN. If 8.8.8.8 succeeds but DNS lookups fail, try a public DNS temporarily.

Practical fixes: remove the saved wireless profile and reconnect, try a brief change of WPA/WPA2 mode (or a temporary open test only to diagnose), update the laptop’s wireless driver (old XP stacks can behave oddly with modern WPA2/AES), try a different wireless client to confirm scope, and as a last resort reset/reconfigure the Netgear or update its firmware. Do not leave the network unsecured except for short diagnostics.

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Member Avatar for JorgeM

Try this... connect via Wireless and Ethernet, on each connection, open a command prompt, type ipconfig /all. compare the results of your wireless connection to that of the ethernet connection. They should be identical with regards to ip, subnet mask, default gateway and dns settings.

Member Avatar for rubberman

So, it connects when wiered, but not wireless? I assume that both connection types are using DHCP to get an IP address from the router? As JorgeM said, connect up both ways (you can do that at the same time) and then post the output of "ipconfig /all" here.

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