HP computer won't find network but other devices do

[#1]

Hi,

I bought my daughter a PC for Christmas last year and we've had numerous issues trying to get the damn thing connected and staying connected to the internet. They keep returning it and saying there's no issues and its my internet - surely if it was my internet I would have issues with other devices connecting, which I don't. I have argued and argued with HP that I don't have an issue with my internet but they keep claiming its not the PC. I work from home and use my internet everyday and have had no issues. When switching my daughters PC on and searching for a network - majority of the time it doesn't find any - not even next doors. When it does it loses connection after 10 mins. Is there anything from an internet point of view that anyone can suggest me trying?

[#2]

Moderator's note:
Thread moved from Broadband to My Router.

[#3]

@lisarussell84 Sorry I can't suggest anything from an 'internet point of view', but this sounds like one of those 'find a man who can' situations.

Quite honestly any laptop/computer should find machines in its locality, and if yours doesn't it sounds like there is something wrong/not working as it should. I've had various machines over the years, and never had one that displays this kind of behaviour.

[#4]

Could be the wifi card? I suggest you try connecting the device direct to the router. You should find a length of (probably yellow) cable in your router box. I blame wifi problems over many years for my loss of hair ...

[#5]

Good thought, @Longliner .

[#6]

It would help to know more about the kit.

• What is it
• What OS is it running
• What WiFi adapter has it got and what's the driver version number
• EXACTLY what happens leading to it not working
• Which router are you using

I have seen devices connect successfully to the WiFi SSID, but NOT get a LAN IP address allocated.

It would help if you can run a CMD (terminal) prompt and look at the output from...

ipconfig /all

It will look something like this...

Wireless LAN adapter WiFi:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : home
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 08-6A-C5-8D-B0-9E
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::9c2:d590:7212:1581%17(Preferred)
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.34(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 06 November 2024 09:36:39
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 07 November 2024 09:36:40
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
   DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 201878213
   DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-29-F9-81-6D-08-6A-C5-8D-B0-9E
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

As a first look, what is the IPv4 address - if it is something different to 192.168.1.xxx then it has not been allocated a local network address and will not be able to connect to anything.

[#7]

It's actually in the repair centre at the minute and keep saying they can't find the issue. It's a HP 24-cb0015na All-in-One PC - Pentium®. When turning the PC on it doesn't find any network - not even next doors. Until I get the PC back I can't run any prompts to provide further info. I have the white Plusnet router

[#8]

All of the PN routers are white!

Cannot find wifi at all? Got to ask - is the wifi enabled?

[#9]

No it won't find any network - not mine, not next doors, not a portable hotspot. I use my work PC ( a dell laptop) everyday and have no issues with connection. The wifi is enabled on the PC but it just doesn't find any network and this is why I think its the PC and nothing to do with my internet or router

[#10]

@lisarussell84 

In a command prompt box issue this command

wmic nic where netEnabled=true get name

This will list all enabled network interfaces, for my HP laptop the result is

C:\>wmic nic where netEnabled=true get name
Name
Intel(R) Wireless-AC 9461

To see if there are any disabled network devices

wmic nic where netEnabled=false get name

I see

C:\>wmic nic where netEnabled=false get name
Name
Realtek USB GbE Family Controller #2

The result from IPCONFIG /ALL would be helpful

HTH

[#11]

I have a ThinkPad PC, and it's wifi works fine, and is 100% solid, for MOST wifi networks. However, I've found a small number of Access Points that it sees, but will not connect to. I tried messing with the advanced wifi settings, but no luck: clearly the wireless interface was just not liking those APs.

So, I spent under £5 to buy a cheap USB wifi dongle: it works just fine on those problem wifi networks.

eBay is your friend in this instance!

[#12]

HP currently have my PC in the repair centre but are claiming not to have found any issues but I will do this when I receive is back

[#13]

I'll have a look on ebay thanks. I'll try anything to get it working thanks

[#14]

According to the HP site https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c08199251 , that system has a Realtek RTL8821CE wifi card.

Googling "Realtek RTL8821CE not finding network" finds quite a few posts, quite a few relating to HP systems (although they're a couple of years old!)

[#15]

Two thoughts

1) I wonder if it's a 2.4GHz/5GHz network with the same name problem.

2) I've had a round of driver issues with a Realtek WiFi card which was finally resolved by finding an older driver that worked and sticking to that. It was a bit rubbish but overcame the problem.