R218 local area connection help please

[Widmerpool]

Hi everyone

First off  - great to see your saintly patient work on the excessive data charges issue in the face of continuing unhelpful VF. I guess the VF lawyers tell staff to just repeat platitudes for fear of accepting liability.

This is a much less important issue!

I'm old skool and like to plug things into my PC and hide wifi for security purposes, esp. online banking.  On my Sierra mac I can plug in the R218 router via USB and switch off wifi. On my main device, my laptop (running Windows 10) I am experiencing difficulties. It worked fine for a while - whenever I plugged it in it went straight to the 192.168 launch page and gave me the option to log in (which I could ignore and it still worked). I then had a local area connection via USB and no need for wifi connection. Recently it started playing up and now this function has disappeared completely. In vain I've tried switching every network option in WIndows on and off. The laptop recognises a local area connection but won't connect to the internet. The Windows troubleshooter reports that the network adapter 'doesn't have a valid IP configuration'.

This isn't a crisis situation asI  can still connect via wifi at any time, but nevertheless, any assistance would be much appreciated. And keep up the good work!

[JohnJ]

@Widmerpool This sounds like a software issue with your computer by the way you describe. 

Have you tried troubleshooting your issue through Microsoft Troubleshooter?

You can do this by right clicking your internet icon in your task bar and select Troubleshoot Problems.

Please let us know how you get on 

[Widmerpool]

Hi John

thanks for replying. yes I mention running the troubleshooter near the end of my post  - with no success.

Actually the local area connection just re-established itself this afternoon without me doing anything. I went away for a couple of hours and came back to find it has connected itself. I don't know how long that will last though, so still interested to hear from anyone who can explain the underlying issue/s.

Cheers W

[JohnJ]

@Widmerpool Oh okay, was just making sure you'd ran the correct diagnostic in Microsoft.

Please un-installed your Mobile Broadband software and driver from your computer and then restart and reinstall it. 

This should reset your IP address on your device

Please let us know how you get on 

[ToniCa]

It could be something to do with the regular security and other updates to Windows 10. Since the batch of updates earlier this month, I've been having to switch on the firewall manually on start-up. Then, yesterday, it started behaving normally again, and it does look as though there was a small update the previous evening. Other minor anomalies seem to come and go, pretty much in sync with the updates - I suppose MS is keeping us safe, but I wish I felt more confident of that.

[Widmerpool]

Hi ToniCa, thanks for the suggestion. I've had a look at Windows 10 firewall settings but can't detect an issue there.

I did also delete all the VF files and reinstall as recommended by the moderator here. No difference at all. Currently no local area connection to the internet, but it might decide to work again if it feels like it - who knows.

Still working perfectly on OSX Sierra whenever I connect to that system.

[ToniCa]

@Widmerpool - I was really using the Firewall issue as an example of the random minor problems that the Windows 10 updates seem to produce, and wondering whether one or more of these could account for your difficulty.

Did you try JohnJ's suggestion of uninstalling the software etc? Resetting the IP address on your device might well clear the gremlins out of your setup.

[ToniCa]

Sorry, you already answered my second point! 

[Widmerpool]

OK - I think this is sorted now (fingers crossed...) -

A window popped up this morning from my Norton Antivirus saying it didn't like the credentials of the VF software. It recommended not connecting to it, but gave me the option to override and save this into settings, which I did. I can see from the connection history that it has refused this connection in the past.

I'm not sure of the exact problem with the VF credentials (not officially authenticated?) but it is certainly flagging up that the connection 192.168.0.1 is not secure and log ins could be compromised (I see it is not https which tends to be the standard nowadays  - anyone know why this is?).

Anyway, I'm assuming this matter is now resolved. Thanks to ToniCa and JohnJ for taking the time to think about this and respond. I tried to 'thank' you, but the icon isn't working...

And while I'm here, can I just say that the forum visuals aren't very helpful - the other posts in the thread are not visible when you go to the screen to write a new response. Every other forum I subscribe to allows you to see the whole thread. It makes for better and more accurate responses. That's it.

[ToniCa]

I'm glad you've found a reasonable explanation of the problem - these messages that pop up then go away again can be a problem in themselves, as you have to be looking at the screen at just the right moment!

I'm not that impressed with the forum - you seem to have to open an extra window to see the full discussion, which I think led to my failing to see the whole of your previous post when I clicked the wrong post to reply to! Also, it takes ages for the view to stabilise - twice already I've found myself trying to type a reply in the Message Tags box when the screen has done a final lurch just when I thought it had stopped bouncing about. I'm sure the appearance changed a while back, although I've only recently taken the plunge and posted occasionally.