Hey folks.
So, we got a new Comcast xFi Gateway 3rd Generation at my parent's house, and all the devices were able to discover our SSIDs & connect to the internet at both 2.4Gz & 5Ghz ….except my personal computer. My personal computer was listing networks not associated with our house, yet it wasn't showing OUR networks. What gives?!
First off, System Information about my computer...
OS: Windows 10 Home
Manufacturer & Model: Dell Inspiron 5558
Wireless adapter: Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
&
xFi Gateway models numbers: CGM4331COM or TG4482A
Back to the goods...
I restarted my computer twice. Turned on & off the wi-fi on my computer. Played around with network settings on my computer. Still no luck.
So of course I headed to Twitter and asked for assistance. You can read the tweet and read the replies here. I got many different tips from people: update the wi-fi drivers, buy a USB Wi-fi Dongle, etc. But my friend Pat ( @Battle_Nerd_1 ) messaged me and suggested that I look into what wi-fi standards (802.11 b,a,g,n,ac) are associated with my wi-fi adapter.
Let’s walk through how to do that, why don’t we?
- Look at the Advanced properties of the wifi adapter. (I have a Windows 10 device)
Go to Start -> Device Manager -> Network Adapters -> Right click the adapter name -> click Properties -> then Advanced
The Advanced network properties of the computer’s wi-fi adapter is what we need to review. Notice in the “Property” field; the wi-fi standard displays 802.1b/g for my computer. This is an important detail.
2. Compare & Change the settings
(I use modem and router interchangeably. That’s probably not good practice, but oh well lol)
Login to your router (*** I’ll add instructions below how to do this) & start clicking around until you find the Wi-fi Mode settings. Here’s the settings for our router at 2.4GHz.
From the same page, here are the Mode options of our router:
3. Compare & Change the settings
Remember, my wi-fi standard for my computer’s wi-fi adapter is 802.1b/g.
Initially the modem’s Wi-fi Mode was set to 802.11 g/n/ax, then Pat told me to change it to 802.11 g/n because the new ax isn’t supported by a lot of wireless drivers; it’s Wi-Fi 6. Once I changed the Mode to 802.11 g/n, IMMEDIATELY my computer recognized the 2.4GHz network and connected!! Yay Pat!!
*** How to Log in to your Router/Modem
(These instructions are for Windows devices )
1. Find your Gateway/Router/Modem’s IP address
Go to Start and type cmd for Command Prompt.
Type ipconfig, then hit Enter
Scroll down until the Wi-fi section, & take note of the default gateway IP address.
This number will most likely look like 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x
2. Log into your Router/Modem
Next open up a web browser and type in the aforementioned IP address, then hit Enter.
Once prompted for a Username and password; try Admin for username & Password for password. Also, It’s good practice to change the default password, so definitely do that :)
So now you know how to find the IP address, log into, & change the password of your Gateway/Router/Modem. Yay you! Now you can go back to Step 2 and learn how to view your Router/Modem’s wi-fi settings.
So thanks to my Twitter friend, Pat, for walking me through how to find info about my computer’s wi-fi adapter and how to change the modem/router’s wi-fi settings; also he saved me from having to spend money on a new computer! In the 5GHz Mode settings, there is no 802.11 b/g option, therefore my computer can only connect at the 2.4GHz frequency, which is not an issue for me. I can now connect to a home network & have internet access on my personal computer.