Secondhand laptop - have I bought a crock?

georgiac

I have bought a cheapo secondhand laptop for my children, so I can finally get on my own.

Now it has arrived I think I might have bought a wreck.

It is a Packard Bell Easynote with XP installed.

When I switch it on it says

"RUNDLL32.EXE - Unable To Locate Component"
This application has failed to start because framedyn.dll was not found

This is followed by

RUNDLL
Error loading srclient.dll
Specific module could not be found

I have no idea what these mean - any clues appreciated.

The next problem is when I try to get onto the internet. We have a wireless network but I don'ty know how to set it up on the laptop.
I have tried the wirelesss network wizard but can't get my head around that.

How can I tell if the machine has built in wifi and how do I search for my network please?

Again any advice will be warmly received.

Thanks

closed

google the model if you can't see a wireless light, or look in device manager.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/319114

georgiac

Many thanks for the dll fix.

That seems to have done the trick.

I'm still struggling with the wifi settings.

I expected the laptop to simply search for available wireless networks like my pc does?

I'm not used to xp though so it is almost certainly my fault.

gonzo127

have you got your wireless set to hide? go into the router details and check if the SSID is hidden, if it is then your new one will not be able to see it to allow it to conect, so unhide the network, search again, conect and put in password and set to conect auto, then rehide the network

georgiac

Not quite sure how to do that, but the laptop works fine with a netgear wireless dongle attatched and the driver for the netgear driver installed.

Where will I find the router details please?

spannerzone

XP with Service pack 2 or 3 has a wireless manager known as 'Windows Wireless Zero Configuration' to try and standardise and simplify wireless setup and the laptop maker / wireless hardware maker may provide their own wireless software... so you often have two wireless applications but only one is used..... so if you can see a wireless icon showing on the taskbar double click it and see if it brings up some options. If that application says it's not used then it indicates the other one is in use so double click the other icon.

There are millions of pages on wireless setup with XP, so here's one to start you off with link

BRSurvivor

georgiac wrote: »

It is a Packard Bell Easynote with XP installed.

How can I tell if the machine has built in wifi and how do I search for my network please?

Which model is it? I think with my wife's easy note, there's a button to the top right of the keyboard you have to press to enable/disable wifi.

Garetha

packard bell: easy-note MV46/008 ---- Fn / F1 to turn on/off

copied from here: http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?214308-How-to-turn-on-off-Wireless-in-various-Laptop-Models