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I've got a lenovo ThinkPad T61 running Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, and I'm having issues with WiFi. By monitoring network traffic from another computer, I can see that WPA-PSK authentication works fine, and DHCP works fine, but after that, Windows just ignores any received packets. I tried to do a simple ping to the router, and it got stuck doing ARP requests for the router's IP address, ignoring the ARP replies. I hardcoded the ARP table entry and got pings and pongs, but Windows didn't acknowledge the ping replies.
I also tried to renew the DHCP lease with ipconfig /renew but it ignores the replies from the router. Only the first DHCP request after connecting to the router in a new WPA session works.
There are some DNS requests happening in the background as well, but the DNS replies are also being ignored. (I tried with nslookup as well.)
I've also tried a hotspot on my smartphone with the same results, and networking works fine under Kubuntu 14.04 (booted from USB, I'm posting from this right now). Therefore, it does not appear to be a hardware issue.
I have tried disabling the wired network interface and turning off Windows firewall and AVG protection. Is there something else that could be blocking incoming traffic at the really low ARP & ICMP levels?
Jayen
Posted 2014-10-10T19:21:05.103
Reputation: 443
1It seems to be an issue with the WIFI or bluetooth driver of the machine. Try upgrading the drivers and check whether you able to connect – vembutech – 2014-10-10T19:46:35.497
1This does sound like a driver issue. Vista mainstream support ended 2 years ago, you should consider upgrading. Have you tried uninstall and reinstall the drivers? – Chris S – 2014-10-10T20:17:59.263
Step 1: update everything windows update. watch it fail to update any drivers. (wifi driver didn't have an update.) Step 2: check lenovo's site for an update. find no drivers for atheros cards on t61's. Step 3: check atheros's site for an update. be unable to figure out which atheros the t61 has. Step 4: google for any t61 atheros driver. install from softopedia. cry tears of joy. – Jayen – 2014-10-12T02:00:52.743
I don't understand why DHCP worked with a busted driver, though? – Jayen – 2014-10-12T02:01:19.693