[SOLVED]off topic -WINDOWS ?

[minty33]

first i don't even own windows except for vm's that were "free" lets just say. any way i know noboby wants to answer a windows question here but i always use this forum fo my questions - on linux of course - and know there are alot of knowledgable ppl here on all topics not just linux/mint.
that said i am trying to help my aunt over the phone from out of state on a windows issue she is having and i'm stumped and hope someone can help. please refrain from saying tell her to switch to linux ect.. its not going to happen she is older and a complete novice and only uses email ect... that said i know windows sucks so no need to go down that road either thats why i only run in vm for networking practice ect.. for school and genral learning.
here is the issue she has a netgear wireless router and two laptops(one is husbands). he can connect via their wpa2 wireless connection no problems. she can connect but it say's no internet access and she can't access the web but it is connected to the same router ect... so the laptop is connecting to the router but is not getting to the same internet that husbands laptop is accessing . here is what i thought and did so far. dhcp is not assingning duplicate ip's and i've reset both "cable modem" and the router walking her through making a ssid and password ect.. still same problem and it doesn't matter who logs in first her's is the laptop that never works. her driver always worked before this just happened suddenly so don't think its a driver issue. also i reset tcp/ip stack, reset winsock, flushed dns and renewed ip address. also turned off macafee network agent and core firewall services to see if that was interfering but that wasn't it.
confused
any other ideas-------i told her to see if she can access the internet at the library to see if it is isolated to her router but she hasn't gone yet. i am interested to see that answer but i still don't know what to do either way now. especially if she can connect at library wirelessly. i'll be baffled. oh yea i also checked to see if a virus checked or is using proxy settings under internet options and all is fine there also.
sorry for the windows question but i'd really like to help my aunt she has done alot for me and i feel bad being stumped.

P.S default settings are used on netgear router except wpa2 and i changed the default ssid. in other words no filtering ect...

[mintybits]

What sort of laptop is it? What OS is it running?
Have you tried removing firewalls/anti-virus software?
Can you get a ping response from the router?
Have you checked that the laptop has been assigned an IP address by the router?
Can the other laptop ping this one and vise-versa? Can it connect to other networked devices, such as a printer?
What if you connect to the router by cable?
What does the router's admin page say about what is connected...does the laptop show up?
Can it connect to a website using the site's IP address rather than url?

[DrHu]

here is the issue she has a netgear wireless router and two laptops(one is husbands). he can connect via their wpa2 wireless connection no problems. she can connect but it say's no internet access and she can't access the web but it is connected to the same router
---i told her to see if she can access the internet at the library to see if it is isolated to her router but she hasn't gone yet. i am interested to see that answer

That's a waste of time, you know her router is ok, as another notebook can connect with a WPA connection to that router

The fact that she can connect to the router and gets an IP address (yes!) says her network setup locally is OK at least for the driver and network program/monitor being used..

--as to a WPA connection etc, that would have to be adjusted to match the computer that does connect; its WPA connection is OK!, as you indicate..
--also no connection to the internet usually means lack of dns name resolution (IP address -->names, dhcp setup !

I would check the routers configuration/admin/web screen interface and see what Ethernet ports are available(assuming you have a router with a wireless and lets say 3-4 Ethernet port, one of which may be an uplink router-Ethernet swichbox(some people call it an etherswitch ?) or 2nd router ?))

The easiest way is to use Ethernet ports on the router or a separate Ethernet switchbox (sometimes works better as it has no interfering interfaces to deal with: the router's dhcp server)
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/home ... etwork.htm

And of course you wouldn't need to be using windows ICS (Internet Connection Sharing, whereby the first computer connecting passes network traffic through to the Internet !)
http://compnetworking.about.com/od/home ... ooting.htm

--I doubt you can do this remotely, especially as you say your relative not network or PC literate (at least enough to troubleshoot the usual problems)

I would say you can test it this way

• Switch the cable with the computer that can connect (her husbands)
  --you don't change any of her network settings yet: see if the Internet is available; if it is you can suspect the routers Ethernet port assignments

[minty33]

i was about to sys restore to prior to date of issue when i decided to try disabling both drivers(wireless and ether) and also unistalling virtual mini ports attached to the wireless adapter. then I re-enable both drivers and that worked . i don't know why but it did. i didn't have her go to device mngr over phone but did that myself when she came to visit today.