My home network is in a right mess- can you help?

zaax

Virus? Directly connect (via cable) the laptop to the router and allow to update including anti-virus software and do a full check.

Faulty router? Disconnect the extender (after the above) and see how the lap-top connects.

System

have you checked what channels the wifi is being broadcast on from the router and from the extender?
I had some problems with connections when my access point was broadcasting on the same channel as the router, if you have an android phone there are a couple of apps you can download to see the channels being used (or if you can get into the settings of each even better)

JulyKnot

modem router login page and mywifiext.net both say channel 6 ( means nothing to me I'm afraid)

I hope it's not a virus. I just let this Kaspersky trial run in the background.I've had it less than two weeks

~Chameleon~

Ditch the Netgear and switch to TP Link instead. Much better quality and excellent price too. I had similar problems with my old Netgear dropping connections all the time but <touch wood> haven't had a problem since replacing it. Much better wi-fi coverage too so you should be able to ditch the extender too.

System

change them to broadcast on different channels

JulyKnot

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Ditch the Netgear and switch to TP Link instead. Much better quality and excellent price too. I had similar problems with my old Netgear dropping connections all the time but <touch wood> haven't had a problem since replacing it. Much better wi-fi coverage too so you should be able to ditch the extender too.

Briefly looked at that page while windows is updating and I wouldn't know which to get.

I have basic broadband long way from the exchange and low speed. What would you recommend?

~Chameleon~

JulyKnot wrote: »

Briefly looked at that page while windows is updating and I wouldn't know which to get.

I have basic broadband long way from the exchange and low speed. What would you recommend?

The one I have is the TD-W8968 which cost about £30 on Amazon but they now have the TD-W8980 available in this country which is better again

JulyKnot

Well I couldn't resist and found that whatever the issue is, it's not resolved by windows update.

Tried to connect wirelessly to router and got the old unidentified network with no internet access. Then tried connecting to extender- couldn't connect at all.

Then only able to connect wirelessly to extender after rebooting laptop.

Can't think it can be a channel issue as it's worked before . And at the moment only one machine playing up and then rectifying itself of sorts after a reboot.

System

but if they are broadcasting on the same channel they can interfere with each other - it will take you about 2 mins to try it and it could be that, seems silly to dismiss it, but it's up to you

JulyKnot

It took me a while but I was finally able to access the drop down menu and change the channel number from the router login.

However when I went into mywifiext.net, the extender channel had also changed to the same number. So it seems I can't have them on different channels.