Router WAN Light is Flashing and There is No Connection to Router or Access Point

Since any of these steps might restore connectivity, you may want to retest after each one where you've changed something. Test by pinging the router's or access point's IP. If the ping is successful, then you know that the connection is restored. See Testing Connections with Ping, which has simple instructions (and a few tips for advanced users).

1. Disable software firewalls and anti-virus software. (This must be done for the rest of the troubleshooting to succeed. After troubleshooting, you will want to consider turning these back on, again.)
2. Check whether the wireless computer gets a signal from the router or access point. If not then:

   2a. Go to any computer that is wired to the router or access point, and open the configuration page to check the SSID, the region, the access list and WEP settings.

   2b. Verify all the settings in Step 2a match the settings in the wireless computer.

   2c. If WEP is enabled, verify that the WEP settings from Step 2a match the settings in the wireless computer.

3. If there is a signal from the router or access point to the wireless computer, then check for a valid computer IP address. (If it is 0.0.0.0 or 169.254.X.X, it cannot be a valid IP address.)
4. Reset the router or access point.

If this does not solve the problem, then optimize your wireless transmission as described in Improving Wireless Range.

With thanks to Ranjit

Doc N101186.asp Dec. 2, 2003