Common Wifi Issues
*QUICK TIP! Always keep a spare ethernet / network cable to connect your laptop to your home internet router so you can get online if your wifi connection isn’t working. You may need a longer cable (such as a 3 metre cable) depending on where your router is located*
Please be aware that some laptops don’t have an inbuilt network port connection and will require the use of an external USB to Lan port dongle.
Help with Wifi Connection issues
Weak Wifi signal?
Wifi works on signal range, moving your device nearer to the Wireless Access Point (WAP) or Router will help.
Home Wifi
For home users, you can move your Wireless Access Point to a more central location in your home to improve the coverage.
See
- How to improve your Home Wifi setup.
- How to run an internet speedtest.
Is your device in Airplane Mode?
Make sure that you haven't accidently turned the devices' Airplane mode ON (or forgot to turn Airplane mode OFF). You may have actioned this via one of the function keys on your keyboard.
See
- How to turn OFF Airplane mode in Windows 11.
- How to turn ON Airplane Mode in Windows 11.
Are there any Pending Updates for your computer?
Sometimes with automatic updates the computer hardware drivers will be updated / replaced in the background and will need the device to be restarted in order to resume functioning again.
Restart your laptop.
Try restarting your laptop to see if the network / wifi drivers get updated / start working again.
Always make sure your devices' network driver is up to date.
Manually check for any new updates via windows update.
See
- How to Run Windows Update
Also check for any available updates via your device manufacturers website / Support App to use the most upto date driver version.
See
- Using Dell Command
- Using Lenovo Vantage
- Using HP Assistant
To update your computer drivers.
How to update your wifi drivers if your laptop won't connect to any wifi network.
Try to use a wired connection.
Connect your laptop directly to the router via a network cable lan connection.
Then check for any available updates via Windows Update or your device manufacturers website / Support App to use the most upto date driver version.
Try to create hotspot from your mobile phone
Try to 'Forget the current Wifi connection' and then rejoin it again.
Some corporate wifi's use your user account credentials to connect to the Wifi and not a shared Wifi password.
If the wifi password has expired or your account password has been changed (as per in some corporate wifi setups). You can try to Forget the Wifi network and then rejoin it again.
See
- How to forget a wifi connection.
Run the Windows Troubleshooter
You may be able to resolve the issue via the Windows Troubleshooter.
See
- How to run the Windows Wifi Troubleshooter
Check if the issue is with your wifi / internet connection
or
with the website / service you are trying to access.
Is the wifi not working because the website or service you are trying to access isn't working?
Try to run a new search in google.com to see if the results are returned correctly.
Or try to access the same page on a different device, maybe try to access the website via your smart phone using the cellular network(4g /5g) and not your home wifi.
Try to access DownDector to see if there is a reported issue.
Common Computing issues
Click on the images below to help you resolve your issue.
Wifi Issues
How to resolve common Wifi connection issues.
Can be caused by driver issues / weak signals / airplane mode.
Sound and Microphone Issues
Having trouble hearing or being heard?
Can be caused by driver issues / loose cables / hardware faults / wrong device selected in settings.
Webcam Issues
People not able to see you on the call?
Loose cables / Driver updates / wrong camera selected / privacy filter.
Slow performance
What can cause your computer to be slow.
Too many Apps open / updates being installed in the backround / processes hogging the memory / scan running / Virus / Malware.