Can't connect to coffee shop wifi

[dmorrill]

I can't connect to my favorite coffee shop's wifi any more. I received my Spectre x360 notebook about a month ago, and was able to connect to my coffee shop's wifi for a couple of weeks with no problem. Then a couple of weeks ago it stopped connecting. It says it is connected, but warns that it has limited connectivity. It also says that it is taking an unusually long time to connect. In any case, it does not seem to have a working connection, because my web browser cannot display web pages. I've tried disconnecting/reconnecting, turning wifi off/on, reboot/power on/off, but nothing seems to help.

Additional info: I have no trouble connecting to my home network using the Spectre x360. Also, when I first encountered the problem, I googled it and saw that a lot of other Spectre x360 owner's were running into the same problem. So I installed the latest BIOS update and also downloaded/installed an updated network driver. But neither of these seemed to help. I've brought my Mac Pro laptop to the same coffee shop since then, and it connects even before I've got the laptop completely open, so it does not seem to be a problem with the coffee shop's wifi.

I got the Spectre x360 specifically so I could do work from the coffee shop, so this is actually a huge problem for me. Please help...

[behphappy]

Hi dmorrill,

Is this a coffee shop where you have to validate the network via a pop-up or browser window where you "accept" the connection?

[Holly_J]

Try deleting (forgetting) the existing connection, and re-establishing it.  For more info: http://www.7tutorials.com/how-delete-forget-wireless-network-profiles-windows-81

[dmorrill]

Yes, it is. Normally I go to my web browser, open a new tab, try to visit a web site, and then I get a web page asking me to connect to the coffee shop wifi and accept their terms of service. On the Sceptre x360, I got this page for the first couple weeks of use, but now I no longer see it. If I open a new tab and visit a link, it just times out with an error (DNS error, I think).

[dmorrill]

Unfortunately, I'm sitting in the coffee shop right now (using my Mac Pro laptop), so I can't try this procedure right now. I'll try bringing both the Mac and the Sceptre next time I come here. Although I think I did try to forget the connection initially, I'm not sure if I followed the procedure mentioned in the article you linked, so I'll have to give it another try.

[Holly_J]

Okay! please let me know if that works, once you've had a chance to try it.

[dmorrill]

OK, I brought both laptops to the coffee shop today and followed the Windows 8.1 procedure for forgetting a wireless network (twice), but no joy. Each time after forgetting the coffee shop wifi, I would then select it from the list of routers within range to connect to. After a long wait it would eventually say that it had established a limited connection, but then trying to bring up a new web browser link would immediately fail with a message say the DNS probe failed, which is the same behavior as before.

Any more suggestions?

[Holly_J]

Try this: https://iihelp.iinet.net.au/Resetting_Network_Adapter_%28Winsock_Reset%29#toc_0

If that doesn't do the trick, see this: 

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-networking/no-internet-after-windows-81-...

and if you still have problems, you may have to restore the drivers to an earlier version:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-networking/dns-probe-finished-no-interne...

[dmorrill]

Still no joy. I ran the command the article suggested, which said it ran successfully and said I needed to re-boot, which I did. Went through the whole forget/connect/click browser link scenario again (twice), with the same results as before.

I did notice some weird differences between the Mac and Sceptre IP address values:

Mac: 10.129.65.148 (Mask: 255.255.255.128)

Sceptre: 169.254.107.106 (Mask: 255.255.0.0)

BTW, I'm not a network engineer, but I am a software engineer, so if there are some more advanced tests/commands/diagnostics I could run, please let me know. Thanks...

[DaGuru · Accepted solution]

Hi dmorrill,

169.250.107.106 is an Automatic Private IP Address windows will use if it fails to get an IP address from DHCP.

- Have you tried clearing your browser cache to see if that's why you can get to the router's authentication page?

How to Clear Cache

- Also, check to see if your Windows Internet setting has a proxy address configured.  If you have one set, write it down and try clearing it out.

How to locate proxy settings

If still no joy, then could you please find out the make/model of the coffee shop's router and also, what wireless driver version the Sceptre is running?  Sometimes it can be as simple as the wireless router firmware being old and has issues with newer wireless solutions.

It looks like the Macbook Pro has an 802.11 a/b/g Wireless NIC, while the Sceptre has either an 802.11 a/b/g/n or it may also include 802.11ac support.  This isn't necesarily a problem, but you might try accessing the wireless driver's Advanced settings and try setting 802.11n Mode to "disabled" and see what happens.