One Computer Won't Connect To Wi-Fi (Everything Else Works)

The question that splits this in half

Are your phone, tablet and TV all working normally on the same Wi-Fi? If yes, the network and the internet service are fine, and the problem lives on that one computer. If no, it's the router or the internet service, and that's a call to your provider rather than a trip to us.

Common causes on a single computer

• The Wi-Fi adapter is switched off — a keyboard key, a physical switch on the side of a laptop, or airplane mode left on.
• A driver that broke after a Windows update. Very common, and usually straightforward.
• A power-saving setting that turns the adapter off and doesn't turn it back on properly.
• A saved network with an old password, which is why it connects and immediately drops.
• The adapter itself failing — often on an older laptop, sometimes after a knock.
• Security software or a VPN blocking the connection after an update.
• A weak signal in that particular room, when the machine happens to sit further away than everything else.

Safe things to check

1. 1

   Check airplane mode and the Wi-Fi switch

   Laptops often have a function key with an aerial symbol, and a few still have a physical slider on the edge.

2. 2

   Restart the computer, then the router

   In that order. If restarting the router fixes it for everything, the router was the issue after all.

3. 3

   Forget the network and reconnect

   Remove the saved network in Wi-Fi settings, then join it fresh and retype the password. This fixes a surprising number of drop-outs.

4. 4

   Move closer to the router

   If it works in the same room but not in the back bedroom, it's coverage, not a fault.

5. 5

   Try a phone hotspot

   If the computer connects happily to your phone's hotspot, the adapter works and the issue is between the machine and your router.

6. 6

   Try a cable if you can

   If a network cable works fine and Wi-Fi doesn't, that points at the wireless adapter specifically.

What not to do

• Don't change router settings you don't understand — changing the Wi-Fi name or password knocks every other device off too.
• Don't install a "driver updater" tool from a search result. Most are junk and some carry malware.
• Don't buy a new router because one computer won't connect.
• Don't call a number from a popup offering to fix your connection.

While we're here: the printer that keeps vanishing

A wireless printer that disappears every few weeks is usually the same family of problem — the printer's own Wi-Fi connection dropping, or its address on the network changing. It's fixable properly rather than reinstalled every time, and it's one of the most common things people bring to us.

When to bring it in

If everything else in the house is online and this computer still isn't, bring it to our counter in Bellevue. Bring the Wi-Fi password with you. If it turns out to be a five-minute setting, we'll tell you that — and if the adapter has failed, we'll tell you what replacing it involves before doing anything. Not sure what's wrong? That's our job.