New Vodafone Fibre and router - "WiFi has no valid IP address".

WIAWSNB

Hi.

New fibre, new router, phone connected ok, as did work laptop. But owner's own lappie won't connect to the internet.

It finds the router, and 'connects' when password entered. But 'No internet service'. She's run a 'test', and her laptop returns, "WiFi has no valid IP address".

I've done a surf, and apart from the obvious rebooting of both the laptop and router, all the 'fixes' involve 'cmd' for things like manually setting a new IP address. 

That has got to be wrong! I certainly can't suggest she try that malarkey, as I'd be reluctant to do it myself. 

Anyone able to shed light on this? 

Thanks.

Mark_d

It looks like the router is automatically assigning IP addresses to devices on the wifi network by DHCP.  Maybe the laptop is configured to use a fixed IP address

WIAWSNB

Thanks.

No idea! If so, is this easy to change?

Ta.

Mark_d

If you right click the wifi symbol in the bottom right of your screen - then open Network and Internet settiings.
Click on Properties for your specific wifi network and scroll down to IP settings.  This is where you can change the setting to use DHCP.
The above is based on windows 10.  Should be similar on other versions of windows

Vitor

If things are really broken:

1. Open Settings → Network & Internet → Status

2. Scroll down to “Network reset”

3. Click “Reset now”

This removes all adapters, reinstalls them, and resets all network settings to defaults. 

WIAWSNB

Mark_d said:

If you right click the wifi symbol in the bottom right of your screen - then open Network and Internet settiings.
Click on Properties for your specific wifi network and scroll down to IP settings.  This is where you can change the setting to use DHCP.
The above is based on windows 10.  Should be similar on other versions of windows

Yes, she's still on W10.
She's just done that - it's already on Automatic/DHCP :-(

WIAWSNB

Vitor said:

If things are really broken:

1. Open Settings → Network & Internet → Status

2. Scroll down to “Network reset”

3. Click “Reset now”

This removes all adapters, reinstalls them, and resets all network settings to defaults. 

Cheers. She did try that before, but is doing it again. I'll know in 5 mins

WIAWSNB

Is this something she should call up Vodafone about? Would they have the right techie department? 

QrizB

WIAWSNB said:

Is this something she should call up Vodafone about? Would they have the right techie department? 

You said in your opening post that other devices, including phone and work laptop, all work? If that's the case, it sounds more like a problem with her laptop than with the new router.

Can you / she connect the old router as an access point via an ethernet cable to the new one, then see if the laptop will connect to that?

AstonSmith

How old is her laptop? I'm wondering if it's a WPA3-related compatibility issue.

Vitor

Is the router broadcasting a SSID on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz? An older laptop WiFi may only work on 2.4Ghz