Wifi on an Old Computer

[mystik]

My sister is still on XP (I know updates are ending very soon, and I am going to try to talk her into upgrading - she's just afraid she'll have problems with the software she uses, settings for it, etc. Anyway, she does have good third-party solutions installed for virus and malware protection. So, that's for another day.)

Recently she started having trouble connecting to the Internet on the computer upstairs. There were two separate modems that connected to the internet independently in the household. The one downstairs works fine (her son's). She even went and picked up a new modem because it seemed like that might have been the cause. It worked for a short time (seemed like a few hours from what I could gather), but then she started having the exact same problems in that it wouldn't connect, which made me think the problem might be with her nic port. She picked up an 802.11ac adapter - this one: www.dlink.com/us/en/home-solutions/connect/adapters/dwa-182-wireless-ac1200-dual-band-usb-adapter at a local store, and the computer downstairs has an 802.11ac router (Asus RT-AC66U). She can't get it to see the network on the XP computer upstairs. Usually I would connect by remote desktop and help her with PC issues, but I can't do that with this, of course, and I am not getting anywhere trying to get it working over the phone. It will just never show the network in range to connect to. BUT, she borrowed a netbook from a friend, plugged the exact same USB adapter into it, and it connects to the network fine upstairs. So, it'd definitely in range. Any ideas why the XP system won't see the network downstairs? I was sure to tell her to disable the other network connections. Nothing seems to help so far. Thank you much in advance.

 

[DelJo63]

Get a command prompt and look at the top of this

C:\Users\Jeff>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

   Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : JeffPC7
   Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
   Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid         <<< WHAT DO YOU SEE HERE?
   IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
   WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

 

[mystik]

Does it matter if the wifi adapter is connected or not when this is run to tell you what you need to know?

 

[DelJo63]

Yes

 

[mystik]

Thank you. In the meantime I have gotten a "sort of" temporary solution. A Samsung Galaxy Note 3 phone works with the same wifi downstairs. I am using an app called PdaNet to tether to that Wifi via a USB connection to the PC upstairs. This is far from an ideal solution, but at least it's a little help while working to get something else going. We have also ordered a USB ethernet adapter, which **hopefully** might work better. I will get that other info as soon as I can get her to switch it back, haha. She's busy trying to do all she can do now.

 

[DelJo63]

At the cost of running up the data plan charges

 

[mystik]

Actually, that app let's it go off of the wifi from downstairs. So, it's not using the data, thankfully.