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    #1

    Can't connect laptop to hidden network

    Good day folks. This issue has been driving me up the wall lately and I decided I'd have to discuss it with someone else, since I couldn't possibly solve it myself. I've got a laptop which refuses to connect to hidden SSIDs. It's a pretty nasty thing - it's got an Atheros wireless card on it currently...been through the "reflow" oven a couple of times, managed to bring it back from the dead a couple of times....that's beside the point. The point is I CANNOT get this thing to connect to hidden SSIDs: it always says "was unable to connect to"...I tried manually creating a profile, reinstalling the wireless card, even changing the card and nothing helped...it's got win7 Pro running on it. There's probably some small quirk that I'm missing, like you know when browsers refuse to display pages because the date is off - that sort of stuff.....any ideas ?
    Yes, if I unhide the SSID, it works and virtually every other device in my house works without a problem with it hidden. Please don't suggest unhiding the SSID and leave it like that...the question is why would a device NOT connect to a hidden SSID in general
    Wattevah...
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    #2
    Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

    are you setting the channel number?
    if you arent broadcasting the ssid then how will the laptop know what channel to be on?

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      #3
      Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

      I managed to get it going eventually with a third WLAN card. How can you set the channel number in Windows ? I don't remember there being such option.
      Wattevah...

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        #4
        Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

        ..but now I've ran into another issue: it takes it a very long time after startup to connect on its own. It does it eventually, but only after like 3 minutes :|
        Wattevah...

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

          Originally posted by Dannyx View Post
          ..but now I've ran into another issue: it takes it a very long time after startup to connect on its own. It does it eventually, but only after like 3 minutes :|
          Sounds a lot like a bad cat. cable. Is that with wifi? If everything otherwise looks fine, then I would do a real-deal fresh reinstall of the OS! If it's with wifi, run a command prompt as administrator and run tracert!

          Reply with the tracert results. If there's packet loss, then you're on the same kind of boat as I was, which is most likely a bad wifi receiver and transmitter.
          Last edited by RJARRRPCGP; 07-05-2018, 03:46 PM.
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            #6
            Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

            Originally posted by Dannyx View Post
            I managed to get it going eventually with a third WLAN card. How can you set the channel number in Windows ? I don't remember there being such option.
            The channel is set on the transmitting device not the receiving. It's in the router settings.

            The question for me is why hide the SSID in the first place. It's more likely to attract skiddie hack attempts due to it being hidden and does nothing to improve security.

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              #7
              Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

              Originally posted by diif View Post
              The question for me is why hide the SSID in the first place
              I dunno...it's more of a mental comfort than anything, since I'm perfectly aware it's useless otherwise...I got MAC filtering going on too, which I reckon is a step-up.
              Wattevah...

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

                MAC spoofing isn't hard. A decent admin password and wifi password using WPA2 + AES is usually all you need.

                I think hiding the SSID has the opposite affect, it's more likely to attract attention.

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

                  Originally posted by diif View Post
                  A decent admin password and wifi password using WPA2 + AES is usually all you need.
                  Got that too
                  Wattevah...

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                    #10
                    Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

                    change the ssid to look like a printer or some other "connected" junk - that may put a few people off.

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

                      Such as Nest-Thermostat-3
                      Don't buy those $10 PSU "specials". They fail, and they have taken whole computers with them.

                      My computer doubles as a space heater.

                      Permanently Retired Systems:
                      RIP Advantech UNO-3072LA (2008-2021) - Decommissioned and taken out of service permanently due to lack of software support for it. Not very likely to ever be recommissioned again.
                      Asus Q550LF (Old main laptop, 2014-2022) - Decommissioned and stripped due to a myriad of problems, the main battery bloating being the final nail in the coffin.


                      Kooky and Kool Systems
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                        #12
                        Re: Can't connect laptop to hidden network

                        I had that happen today on a Windows 7 laptop that I was cleaning up too. But it only happened once. After I pulled up the wireless list and tried again the second time, it connected fine.

                        Meanwhile, none of my XP machines have ever had a problem with that. I'll just chuck that as another random Windows 7 bug that will probably never get fixed, among many others. Or is it not?

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