My Laptop Connects to Hotspot but Not Home WiFi – What’s Going On?
Asked by
CuriousCat42
I've been having trouble with my laptop connecting to my home WiFi for about three weeks now. It used to work fine, but recently it keeps giving me errors like 'DHCP server not responding' and 'no gateway available.' Other devices at home can connect to WiFi without issues, which makes me think the problem is just with my laptop. I've restarted both my router and laptop, and it worked for a couple of days, but now I'm back home and the issue is happening again. I'm hesitant to restart the router since it disrupts my family's internet usage. By the way, I'm using Windows 11 (version 24H2). What should I do next?
Answers
Definitely check your router's DHCP settings. Specifically, take a look at the lease time and set it to between 4 to 8 hours. This can help ensure that your devices get timely IP addresses and might resolve your connection issues. Give it a shot!
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Before trying anything drastic, make sure to reboot your router again. It acts as the DHCP server for your network, and sometimes a simple restart can fix these connectivity issues.
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CuriousCat42: Thanks for the tip! I’ll try adjusting that tomorrow.
InquisitiveMind23: Just to clarify, why is it important to set the lease time to 4-8 hours? Should I lean more towards the 4-hour or the 8-hour mark?