Good morning,
I have a Gateway laptop and when attempting to connect to a wireless network it is not working correctly. I am seeing that there are wireless connections, I can connect other wireless laptops fine to this router, and I can get on the internet if I hardwire this laptop to the router - but when I do try to connect to my wireless router from this laptop it says it is unable to connect. At times I can't see the network - but then it will popup a few minutes later saying it found a wireless network - and it still won't connect to it properly. I have disabled and re-enabled the wireless network under network connections and tried repairing it many times. All settings are enabled under properties. I have went into device manager and my network driver is installed and updated - I even uninstalled it so it would reinstall itself. I run Windows Vista.
I have also checked services running and the Event Log is running correctly (which I heard may be a problem with some people). But there is no Zero Wireless service to be found. I am not sure if it is named something else on Vista as I am not too familiar with this OS.
Any suggestions? It's frusterating. I can post any specs you would like when I get home in front of the laptop to check as I am at work now. Thank you guys!
At times I can't see the network - but then it will popup a few minutes later saying it found a wireless network
Assuming this laptop is clean of malware, and physically located within normal range of the AP, I would try a different wireless network adapter on the Gateway. I would remove the old adapter, then uninstall the driver and reboot - then install a different adapter.
It sounds like the RF side of your wireless adapter is not functioning properly, and that is not something Device Manager will show.
Oh, an afterthought - make sure you have not limited the number of connections allowed into your network from the AP or router side.
I have uninstalled the adapter before and allowed it to reinstall itself - how would I go about getting a different adapter for it? Would I need to download it separately from Gateway and then use a flash drive to bring it to the machine? Because it doesn't allow me to choose a different adapter. And yes, you would be correct by saying no malware and the AP is in range - and I have not limited the number of connections. It usually shows a few low strength connections in the nearby area that I also cannot connect to properly, and when mine finally shows up it has full strength it just won't allow a proper connect.
Thank you for the quick reply
I will try it when I get home, any other suggestions?
I have uninstalled the adapter before and allowed it to reinstall itself - how would I go about getting a different adapter for it? Would I need to download it separately from Gateway
An adapter is a piece of hardware. We don't quite have replicator technologies mastered yet that we can download physical matter!
What I am suggesting is that the Gateway's wireless network interface adapter appears to be faulty. So I am suggesting borrowing the wireless adapter from another computer, and installing that.
If your Gateway's current adapter is built in, that is, not a removable PC Card like this, then you will have to disable the device in the BIOS Setup Menu to ensure it is not detected again upon reboot.
I see I thought you were referring to the driver found under device manager titled network adapters. And yes, I have a built in wireless for this particular laptop. I will disable the network adapter in BIOS - then what? Thanks again
First, this is just what I would do - if someone else reading has a simpler idea, jump in.
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Once it is disabled in the BIOS, then you can remove the driver from Device Manager and reboot. Because it is disabled in the BIOS, Windows will not see it, and will not reload the driver.
Then you will need another wireless adapter - typically a PCMCIA or PCCard, or a USB adapter, and start new with the adapter and new driver.
But before that, and just to make sure about a couple things - you said you can connect to this wireless network fine with other laptops - are these laptops setup in similar fashion - or to the point, are you comfortable that you are doing it properly based on your experience with other laptops?
Can this laptop connect to other WiFi networks with no problems?
Has this laptop ever worked on this or other wireless networks?
I don't really consider myself comfortable enough setting them up at this point because of the problems I am experiencing now makes it seem like I am clueless. I have attempted to connect to to WiFi and other wireless connections and it is the same problem. I can see them at times - but when I try to connect to them I either get Limited Connectivity or an error saying that it cannot connect properly. I do have this under warranty so it is an option to send it in and get it fixed - but I would prefer finding if there is an easy fix.
Edit: And I believe the other laptops are set up the same unless I am missing something obvious.
lol