Laptop can't find the Internet

[Big Lad]

I've got a Toshiba satellite running vista. For two years it's been running fine, but suddenly it won't connect to sky wireless. It says that windows can't resolve the issue and contact the ISP. I know the broadband is working fine on other devices and the wifi switch is on on the laptop. It can't find any wifi networks at all as if the wifi reception has stopped working on the laptop. Has anyone got any ideas please?

 

[araspitfire]

If the wifi is enabled in the device manager, and not disabled in the BIOS..

Then I suggest you have a hardware issue... You could check the WIFI card itself if you know where to find it...

Or you could go buy a USB wifi radio and go that way...

Al...

 

[Big Lad]

Thanks Al. How do I find out if it's disabled in the bios?

 

[brassmonkey001]

Have you tried goggling it?

 

[Big Lad]

Have you tried goggling it?

I did thanks. I searched for the issue for an hour or so last night to no avail. Everything seems to point to the wifi card going tits up. The laptop won't pick up a signal and the internal help system seems to be at a loss as to why. I tried connecting with a lead to the Internet too and it won't pick that up either, which suggests maybe its not the wifi card after all, hence the post for advice. In answer to your post, yes I did google bios too, and it looks as if wireless LAN is enabled in bios. Thanks for your input.

 

[Agrajag]

Does it work elsewhere?

First of all, does your wifi SSID appear in the list of wifi connections? If it is not visible at all, yet other people can use it then, I suspect a buggered wifi card, or disabled wifi card.

If you can see it but cannot connect then delete the SSID from the list of remembered wifi connections. This can happen if you have not changed your SSID from the standard name. For instance if you buy a netgear router the SSID is usually called Netgear. If you come within range of another Netgear router your computer will try and connect, but if will not have the correct details. Unfortunately it does not tell you there is anything wrong, it just does not work. You might say you have not connected to another router, but maybe your neighbour has put one in and your computer is attempting to connect to that one. If your SSID is unique, then that will not be the problem.

If everything is connecting but you are not getting onto the Internet, check that you have DHCP enabled under TCP/IP settings on the wireless connection.

Gareth


the wifi work on anyone else's wifi. If you are in a built up area, you may be able to find another connection to try connect to.

 

[duckspeed]

I've got a Toshiba satellite running vista. For two years it's been running fine, but suddenly it won't connect to sky wireless. It says that windows can't resolve the issue and contact the ISP. I know the broadband is working fine on other devices and the wifi switch is on on the laptop. It can't find any wifi networks at all as if the wifi reception has stopped working on the laptop. Has anyone got any ideas please?

I will ask the wife where it might be she always seems to know where things are

 

[Big Lad]

Thanks for the replies. The laptop is not picking up any wifi signal at all. It's used the same sky broadband box for a year or so with no issue up until now. There's been no changes or downloads except for the new iTunes.

Is the wifi card enabled/disabled in the bios on startup?

 

[hops]

At the risk

Of stating the obvious have you tried looking for a button that turns the wifi off on the laptop? Most have one and some are easy to inadvertently turn off.

 

[Big Lad]

Of stating the obvious have you tried looking for a button that turns the wifi off on the laptop? Most have one and some are easy to inadvertently turn off.

First thing I checked.

 

[brassmonkey001]

Have you tried taking the laptop to somewhere where it might pick up a signal? Lots of pubs now offer a free wi-fi connection. Might be worth conducting some exhaustive research.

 

[rce]

Sounds like all your network cards are affected, you could try running this utility I made yonks ago (links are to my old web site I gave up on so ignore them).

It will make a folder called "forum tools" run Network Report, it should present you with a report that you can copy and paste to here.

For privacy "If you prefer you can hide your Host Name, and Physical Address as these are not required.
A Physical Address of 00-00-00-00-00-00 should be left unchanged as this indicates a problem."

IP addresses such as 192.168.x.x are perfectly safe to publish.


Note you can do all this with command line but the tool should be easier.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21844858/forumrep.zip

 

[Big Lad]

RCE, thanks for your help and all the others. All sorted now. A mate had a look at it and it was the Realtek adaptor and after 'rolling it back' ???? It worked again. Job done! Thanks again. BL.

 

[Grey Beard]

RCE, thanks for your help and all the others. All sorted now. A mate had a look at it and it was the Realtek adaptor and after 'rolling it back' ???? It worked again. Job done! Thanks again. BL.

What do you mean by 'Rolling it back'? Did your mate return the PC to an earlier restore point?

Grey Beard

 

[Big Lad]

The driver was restored to an earlier version. Somehow the current version got corrupted and disappeared. Went into device settings>properties>restore to an older version. Then when I connected to the wifi I downloaded the latest driver. I'm not sure what caused it to do it.