Where did my router go?

[VicF47]

In a nutshell this is an internet connectivity problem because my
Windows devices cannot see the router, but I do not think this is a
'range/signal strength' issue.

Tuesday evening 12th Dec UK time. Connect to internet as usual, no
connectivity issues. Shutdown overnight and reboot Wednesday
morning. No intenret connection - Wifi adapter clearly not
connected (no lights visible)

Windows 10 Desktop PC - connects wirelessly to Sagecom FAST router
via Asus USB-AC56 Dual Band 802.11ac WiFi adapter. This has an
associated WLAN manager to manage connections and is my first port
of call when I have conectivity issues. On starting the app I see
that unusually it displays "Radio Off". I switch Radio On and
select the router SSID from list but note that unusually it has
only 2 bar signal strength (usually 4 bars). It clearly has problems connectng
because it is slow, and then unusually asks for the device
password. I supply this - it is displayed correctly - but it is
not recognised. I go back to the list of available connections in
the manager and see that my router is no longer listed.

I try using the Windows Control Panel - it shows Adapter is 'On' but
list of available networks does not include my SSID. I also have
WiFiInfoView left over from when I tried to optimise the system
several months ago. It does not show the SSID either. Tried
rebooting both the router and the PC but no change.

I also note that my Windows 7 laptop has the same issue - different
WiFi adapter but same end result and the SSID is not shown in
'NetSpot'.

Stupidly, both my Android tablet andmy wife's iPad and the iPhones
seem to have a normal WiFi connection to the same router.

I try to contact TT support team, but agents are busy and I don't
have time to wait around for them. I try again Thursday morning and
sucessfully engage in an on-line chat with the team via my Android
tablet. Outcome is that broadband service seems to be OK and I
have a device issue ???.

Along the way during testing we discover two things:
1. If I connect the laptop to the router with an ethernet cable the
router is detected automatcially and an internet connection is
established.
2. After pressing the WPS button, there was no change to the
connectivity issues, but on the desktop PC I noticed that my router
SSID was displayed in WiFiInfoView, and that immediately above the
listing was an unnamed connction (i.e. no SSID shown) at a very
similar MAC addresses (only the last two digits were different,
**-**-**-2B and 2C). However, Windows still didn't list my router
as an available connection.

So I am now scratching my head as to what to try next. Anyone got
any good ideas?

[KeithFrench]

Hi @VicF47 

There could be several issues here, but essentially it points to the WiFi Adapter in the PC or Windows in one way or another. This could be:-

• A WiFi interference problem that only affects the location where your PC is.
• The USB adapter is not in a good location on the PC.
• By default Windows Power Management can turn the adapter off when it wants to. Personally, I would not use any utility that comes with a WiFi adapter, as Windows can & does handle it all OK. If there was a bug in such a utility that might be causing issues (I am not saying that there is or that this ASUS utility is no good).

Moving forward:-

1. Please can you describe where the PC is located within your property with respect to the router?
2. Where on the PC is this USB WiFi adapter connected to the PC & is it a tower case or what?
3. Which WiFi band are the iPhones connected to & which does the PC connect to when it can?

[KeithFrench]

Hi @Michelle-TalkTalk @VicF47 

There is a lot to read through in the opening post. I will hopefully be able to deal with this later this morning.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

@KeithFrench - Would you be able to offer any advice on this?

Thanks

Michelle