18 replies to this topic

[Erolus]

I had recently moved and had to go with a new internet provider. They got me all set up and had their WIFI router set up for me. At some point during the evening their router lost signal for maybe 30 minutes. At that time I was playing MW3 on my xbox with a wireless adapter and lost the connection to the game. Thinking it may have been the Xbox's new adapter I slid over to my computer and same circumstance. No connection to the internet. I called the provider and they said "perhaps its the router, we will schedule an appointment to come over on ..." Well about 2 hours later, after being miffed over no WIFI I decided , "well at least I can play MW3 1 player" and I hopped on. Well to my surprise, it had an WIFI connection and was humming along just fine. This tempted me to slide over to my computer and get some streaming music going, but I was unable to. The WIFI network sniffer (signal finder, not sure what it's called) was not picking up a network on my laptop. I rebooted, thinking perhaps it was stuck for some reason, and to no avail. After much aggravation, not knowing if it would help or not I did a system restore to about a week previous. Still no help. I then Gerry-rigged my laptop to some Cat-5 to get a signal, and with the Cat-5 I have the internet, but for functionality purposes this is not going to work long-term at all. I'm perplexed though, my fiancee has the same laptop, except newer, and her WIFI is working fine, as is my Xbox WIFI. My laptop now can't even find a network to go on, and the only way to use it is hard-wired (which, given the location of the router, is not useful to actually using the laptop for anything other than streaming music from a distance). I still have a warranty on the laptop (I purchased the extended warranty) and I had recently had it serviced months ago because it kept powering down from overheating (one fan wasn't working, completely clogged from dust). Any troubleshooting suggestions for checking my WIFI network card, and to see if it's toast or not? Should I just bite the bullet and send it in for the warranty work? Your insight will be much appreciated on this matter. :( Regards, Er

[Ztruker]

Is the wifi directly from the ISPs modem or is there a separate router? Try powering off the modem, router if there is one, your computer and Xbox. Power on the modem, wait until lights stabilize. Power on the router if there is one, wait until lights stabilize. Power on the computer. How is wifi now?

[Erolus]

The router is seperate from the modem yes. I've tried those steps and no luck. The Xbox adapter and my fiancee's laptop still works but my laptop is not finding a network.

[Ztruker]

Click on Start then Run and paste the following into the Run box, exactly as shown, including double quotes:

cmd /c "ipconfig /all > postme.txt & ping yahoo.com >> postme.txt & notepad postme.txt & del postme.txt"

and press ENTER.

A file will open in Notepad. Please copy and paste the contents here. Close the Notepad window and the file will be deleted and the Command Prompt window will also close.

If you don't have a Run selection off the Start menu, see here: Enable Run Command on Windows 7 or Vista Start Menu, or just press Windows Key (next to the left Ctrl key) + R.

[Tomk]

Any chance that you accidentally shut the wifi off on your laptop? Many laptops have a little button that shuts the radio off.

[Erolus]

I'll try the command sequence when I get home today after work and post the results here. I have no idea if I shut off of my WIFI or not, how would I know if I had done that, or turn it back on assuming I might have.

[Tomk]

It depends on the laptop. Mine is an HP and it has a little button on the side next to the wifi symbol
There is a little light (blue in my case) next to it the goes out when off.

Ztrucker might have more information if the command line he gave you doesn't work.

[Erolus]

Sounds good, I'll try it out when I get home, follow the steps and go from there. Thank you both so much thus far for all the help!

[Erolus]

Here it is, no idea what any of this means but I see alot of disconnected's Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : XXXXXXXXXXXXXX-PC Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection 2: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 72-F0-6D-32-69-2B DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 1C-4B-D6-16-A3-81 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR8131 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.20) Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 20-CF-30-0A-EA-05 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 74-F0-6D-32-69-2B DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter isatap.{365D5787-60F3-40C0-9FFC-2FBDB6754E1F}: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

[Ztruker]

You have no network connection of any type, wired or wireless. Are you sure the wireless switch is on as Tomk mentioned?

Try this. Open Device Manager (Start / Run, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter).
Expand Network Connections.

Right click on your Wireless adapter and select Uninstall.
Reboot the computer and let it rediscover the wireless card and reload the drivers, see if that makes a difference. May take a minue or two se be patient after you reboot.

Edit: Also, open Services (Start / Run, type services.msc and press Enter).
Scroll down and make sure Wireless Zero is started and set to Automatic.

Edited by Ztruker, 18 November 2011 - 07:30 PM.

[Erolus]

went to the network adapters and uninstalled it. Rebooted like you said, played a game of MW3 and then checked on it, still no WIFI connection. Checked to see if the adapter was there and it was, and attempted to do an pdate and it was up to date. However, when attempting to do the services.msc portion, both times I looked there was no wireless zero to be found. All that was available were windows items in the WI portion of the sorted material. Do I need to start wireless zero and if so, how might I go about that. Been helpful so far and I appreciate you sticking with me through this all!

Edited by Erolus, 18 November 2011 - 08:44 PM.

[Ztruker]

Sorry, I forgot you are using Windows 7. It's called WLAN Autoconfig, not Wireless Zero.

[Erolus]

WLAN is there and its already set to auto. Still not able to find a WIFI network. What is my next course of action?

[Erolus]

oh and as for the tomk thing, no idea if my wireless is on or not, not sure how I would even turn it off. This may be what you just had me check, but if not thats another venue we can check as well.

[Ztruker]

What is the make and model number of the laptop?