My 2020 HP Stream stopped connecting to my home Wi‑Fi after I used it on a public guest network at work. The laptop can see my home network and other nearby networks, but after entering the correct password it eventually says, "Can't connect to this network." My phone and smart TV connect to the same home network without any trouble. I've restarted and force-shut down the laptop, restarted the router, forgotten and re-added the network, reset or reinstalled the Wi‑Fi adapter, tried turning the firewall and antivirus off and on, and ran both flushdns and Winsock reset commands before rebooting. There doesn't appear to be a device limit on the router. What else should I check?
4 Answers
Since the network appears in the list, the laptop’s Wi‑Fi radio is working; the failure is probably happening during authentication or address assignment. Forget the work network as well as your home network, reboot, and confirm the Wi‑Fi adapter is set to obtain an IP address and DNS server automatically through DHCP. Also make sure Airplane Mode is off.
You can also test whether the laptop connects to a phone hotspot. If it connects to the hotspot but not the home router, the issue is likely router security, compatibility, or an access-control setting. If it cannot connect to the hotspot either, uninstall the Wi‑Fi adapter from Device Manager, choose the option to remove its driver if offered, then restart and install the latest HP Wi‑Fi driver.
If the router has MAC filtering or access-control settings enabled, check whether the laptop is using a randomized Wi‑Fi MAC address. Either disable random hardware addresses for that network or add the laptop’s current adapter MAC address to the router’s allowed-device list. A router connection limit is less likely given that other devices work normally.
Check the router’s wireless security mode. If it is using WPA2, WPA3-only, or a mixed mode that the older HP adapter doesn’t handle well, the laptop may show the network but reject the connection. WPA2-Personal with AES is a good compatibility test. You may need to check the router’s settings or contact the internet provider for the exact model and configuration.
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