My laptop suddenly stopped connecting to my regular Wi‑Fi network, even though it can still connect to my phone's hotspot. I've already updated the wireless drivers. The laptop can see the home network, but the connection fails, and everything was working normally until yesterday. Could this be related to the router's Wi‑Fi band, channel, or compatibility settings?
4 Answers
The router may be using a channel or newer Wi‑Fi mode that the laptop suddenly isn’t handling correctly. Phone hotspots often use compatibility settings and may support both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz automatically. Try enabling a separate 2.4 GHz network on the router, or switch the router to a less specialized channel and standard wireless mode.
Since the laptop can see the network, try entering the network name and password manually instead of selecting it from the list. You can also forget the saved network first, then reconnect from scratch.
A router channel change could explain why this started suddenly. Some older wireless adapters have trouble with DFS channels or certain newer Wi‑Fi features, while a phone hotspot remains backward-compatible. Checking the router’s channel and security settings, then restarting both the router and laptop, would be a good next step.
First check whether other devices can connect to and use the same Wi‑Fi network. If they can’t, the problem is probably with the router or internet connection rather than the laptop. Also note the exact error message shown when the connection fails.
The laptop does see the network, but it still can’t connect. It was working normally until yesterday, so I’m wondering whether the router changed channels or settings automatically.