I have an HP laptop running Windows XP Pro. When
new I used it on holiday in Holland and
connected to a free WiFi hotspot to check my
email. At home I have a conventional WiFi network
using a Wireless router/access point/ADSL modem (BT
Voyager) which provides Internet access for two
desktops and the laptop and also provides file/printer
sharing.
Recently I hit a problem, while on holiday I
attempted to use the hotel's free access point
which other guests were using without difficulty. My
laptop picked up the access point, went through
the connection process apparently correctly but I
could not communicate with the hotel's wireless
router. I checked the URL and tried pinging it
in a DOS window but no response. I tried every
connection trick I could think of but had no
luck. This was the second time I had encountered
the problem, the previous time at a different
hotel. Connection to my home network gave no
problems.
Back home I decided on a total re-build of
Windows and my applications. The laptop was two and
a half years old and also had the problem
that Windows took an age to close down. I hit
a couple of problems on the rebuild but eventually
had everything working the way I wanted. Shut
down was now less than half a minute.
Two weeks ago I spent a weekend at the hotel
where I had first hit the connection problem. This
time I was browsing the Internet in no time at
all. Back home again my network connection still
worked fine.
I would love to know what caused this problem if
anyone has any ideas or indeed hit the problem
themselves.
