A WiFi Fix Without Rebooting PC
By Strictly Software
I just woke up again on my laptop at 5am, and the keyboard had all changed, I noticed as I went onto YouTube to post a video onto Twitter about the US Government wanting to spy on everyone's text messages and stop any that contain mis-information.
Now if the US does it then you can be sure the UK GOV will follow as we are already halfway down that slippery wedge towards dystopia. The UK is already becoming a police state using COVID as the cover to implement draconian laws as everyone is worrying about this or that variant and whether or not to get a vaccine just to get a passport that will control your social life, and allow total monitoring of your activities by the Government.
You can watch the video below about the invasion of US citizens privacy here. What happens in the US usually comes to the UK soon after but when it comes to mass surveillance the NSA like to use GCHQ to test their Prism algorithms and mass home population surveillance techniques out on 1st before using it back home.
Why? Well because we don't have a real written down constitution or Bill of Rights that protect citizen freedoms is the main reason. The 2nd is our constant desire to be bed buddies with the US, in our "Special Relationship", and keep them sweet by being useful to them, hoping for a share in their data gathering techniques.
I noticed the keyboard change when I went to put a hash tag in and got a | pipe instead and the " quotes were an @ sign. So I did the quick fix I outlined from the other night > "Quick Fix To Keyboard Layout Change"
However I was trying to tweet this out from YouTube to Twitter. Twitters site was up, and I kept pressing "Tweet" but it kept responding with a "There is a problem, try again" message after 20 seconds of non activity.
It was obviously using AJAX as the page didn't refresh, but a quick ping to Twitter.com came back with no server response. It was then I noticed that somehow my WiFi had gone, saying my connection to my router was weak.
Sites that use AJAX for everything, especially posting, should really be able to tell if you are online or not as the reason for a post not appearing.
Rather than freaking out someone as the site is still on the screen, and most of the API is in JavaScript so you can still hit buttons and get the impression you are online. There must be a load of ways that after 3 failed post attempts or even 1, that an AJAX API could tell you that you were no longer online in a message.
A method that when you press the button sees if you can remotely access a site that is always up, for instance, would be easy. Then the error message could notify you that you are offline. If they just did a FORM submission when posting Tweets instead of using AJAX you would instantly know anyway from the "No Internet Access" page your web browser would bring up.
So once I had found out that I could not PING Twitter, I checked my Wi-Fi status and it said I had a weak connection to my router.
Now before I did the keyboard fix, I was online and everything was okay, so I don't know if somehow that quick hot key fix could somehow cause your Wi-Fi adapter to fail, but the two actions seem causally linked.
So I went to the built in Windows "Troubleshoot Problems" wizard you get when you click on your WiFi symbol in your Desk Tray to run a diagnostic test that clears the DNS, resets your router and adapter and then tries to ping an outside site to see if you have Internet connectivity restored again or a problem accessing the Internet.
I was getting back 3 error messages saying I was offline, my RealTek Wi-Fi adapter was not working, and a default Wi-Fi adapter message, The wizards cure for the problem was to use Ethernet cables but I am not linking loads of cables together just to get round this simple problem.
Usually at first I just try to turn Flight Mode on/off and see if that changes the number of Wi-Fi routers that appear in my list.
If it doesn't and I turn Wi-Fi on/off and that still doesn't show my router then one way to fix it is to just log out and log back in again - or reboot if you want to.
However a quicker fix I have found to this commonly occurring RealTek (HP) laptop Wi-Fi adapter problem is to first go to the Device Manager app, under the Windows key, bottom left corner.
I then just go to the Network Adapters section and a load will pop up, if the RealTek Wireless LAN is out of action, usually a red cross will appear next to it.
In this screenshot I had already fixed it so I wasn't going to try and break it again on purpose just to get a real screenshot. However a red cross next to the adapter having problems is usually the sign you need to double click that adapter and open the menu for it.
I usually try both the "Update Driver Software" and "Scan for hardware changes" options to see which one fixes it but usually one does. It is a lot easier than having to save all your work, remember which files were open, and reboot your laptop.
After fixing the adapter in Device Manager I always run another diagnostic test to ensure there is no other problems but usually my Wi-Fi is instantly restored as the router comes back online and the adapter connects to it.
I always finish off with a quick ping to the site I was on to ensure even though I am online they are too but you can easily skip this step.
And hey ho, I am back online, not banned from Twitter which was on of my 1st thoughts when they couldn't post a Tweet and give me an "offline" status error message.
However that is the problem with sites that are full of API Jizz, they use it so much they cannot even show you the simplest message at times when all you need to know is that you are offline.
I hope the fix for the keyboard change is not related to the Wi-Fi adapter change but it could be somehow, it's just odd how I was online with a wrong keyboard layout, then I did the quick fix to reset it and then became offline.
If anyone knows any reason the two might be connected please let me know.
Thanks.....
By Strictly Software
© 2021 Strictly Software
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