Vista and Wireless Networks

[KeyserSoze1877]

I got a brand new Gateway laptop. New to Vista, old to technology.

I plugged it in, uninstalled all the Napster, AOL crap. PLugged in the Ethernet and got on the internet just fine. Did the updates. Unplugged the cable to get the wireless going... nothing. Its enabled on the laptop and in Windows, but no networks listed. My XP boxes, just fine. No problem.

I have been all over the Internet and see this is not an uncommon problem. I have done everything, command line, uninstall the card, reinstall, all the basic things over and over, tried to manually create a connection to the network, does not show up in the list.

Network card is Realtek that came installed on the laptop. It seems to be working fine, driver updated, but no matter what I have done it wont show any wireless networks. I can pick up 3 from my XP boxes.

What the heck?

---------------
Keyser Soze
"Vote Pedro.

 

[sandor54]

I'm a real noob, but I also have Realtek on Toshiba. As soon as I flipped the litle front switch labeled Wi-Fi, the flyover on the taskbar told me of different wireless networks ... right clicking on it, the network and sharing center allows you to create / manage networks. settings should be allow network discovery, automatically get IP ...
I didn't have to set up any ...
Alex

 

[cdogg]

If it's not even showing you an unsecured network that shows up on the XP box, then there's definitely an issue with the Gateway.

I'm not sure about your new laptop, but most that I've seen with built-in wireless have a blue LED that comes on to show you it's active. So even though you have it installed, it might be turned off. Look for a button around your keyboard somewhere (maybe above the keyboard or on the front of the laptop) that has a picture of an "antenna with waves". This of course toggles it on/off.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[KeyserSoze1877]

Yes, the blue wireless light is on, still nothing.
I loaded XP on it and it works fine so its not hardware related, under Vista nadda.



---------------
Keyser Soze
"Vote Pedro.

 

[linney]

Any help here?

You may experience connectivity issues or performance issues when you connect a mobile PC that is running Windows Vista to a wireless access point

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928152#appliesto

Vista Networking (Wireless help)

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/networking.mspx

File and Printer Sharing in Windows Vista

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/evaluate/vista_fp.mspx#E5B

"Turbulence In The Ether"

http://langa.com/newsletters/2006/2006-04-03.htm

How to troubleshoot wireless network connections in Windows XP Service Pack 2

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/870702/en-us?FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

What does the Event Viewer have to say about the matter?

Any errors in the Device Manager?

 

[AndrewTait]

I have had a similar problem with my Gateway laptop and vista. Vista tries to update the driver for the wireless card, and then it no longer works.

I rolled back the driver, (Device Manager, network card, advanced, roll back driver) and it started working. Worth a try.

However, I still get intermittant problems with this card dropping off the network, and having to re-connect. I may try "borrowing" the intel card out of my work's Dell and see if that improves anything.

=======================================
You may think if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Engineers think that if it isn't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet!
======================================

 

[jcharris56]

Keyser,

Try the following:

Open Device Manager
Disable the Realtek wireless network adapter.
Turn off the radio (probably FN_F2).
Wait 30 sec - 1 min.
Turn on the radio.
Enable the Realtek wireless network adapter.

That is the work-around I'm using when this issue turns up.

Good Luck!

 

[KeyserSoze1877]

Not to get on any of the replies, but I find it funny in ALL tech posts where the software is the cause and no one knows the real answer, they blame the hardware being bad.

99.99999% it never is the hardware.



---------------
Keyser Soze
"Vote Pedro.