laptop/vista/wireless help needed please

RandyRos

I bought my first laptop on the 18th July, and I was on dial up then, so I had no problems. Stuck in a phone extension and modem cable and away i went.

trouble is now i'm on broadband. i got a Belkin wireless router so the kids puter could use BB and also my lappy. The Belkin adapter works on the kids puter fine. My pal can use his lappy, PDA and PSP on my wireless network fine, but we had problems with my lappy.

It's a Toshiba and it runs on Vista. I can use an ethernet cable with it fine. But we had trouble getting it to connect to the wireless. We left it overnight and then it connected fine.

But it wouldnt connect AFTER another device had connected that day. So if my lappy didnt connect first, then i cudnt use it on wireless all that day.

It now hasnt worked for 3 days on wireless. ive updated drivers, done things ive googled on the internet, but nothing works. We tried installing the Belkin Adapter on it, but although it installed ok, it wont work. either comes up "windows cannot find a network" or "there might be something wrong with one or more of your network adapters"

when I try to connect with the inbuilt wireless i get "windows cannot find a network" I have phoned Currys and they say its a software problem, not a hardware problem.

My friend told me to take it back to Currys and complain, but do I have any grounds to? I would rather just get the !!!!!! working!!

Does anyone have any ideas what I can do please????

albertross_2

Have you switched the wireless off on the laptop accidentally

is it encrypted?

is the ssid (network name) being broadcasted?

RandyRos

thank you for replying

no, the wireless button is definitely ON

no, its not encrypted, as far as I can tell, but if you can give me instructions, i will check

and yes the network name is being broadcast as far as i know (again, i can check if you tell me how)

my pal (who can connect his lappy, pda and psp is a nerd and couldnt figure it out, he called his pal who is a bigger (software) nerd and he cudnt figure it out. then it suddenly worked the next day.

thing is, i dont wanna take it back to Currys on saturday and they say its not their problem, or they chrge me for fixing it. is there any other checks i can do???

i have been thru the troubleshooting, disconnected phones near it etc and theres nothing wrong there.

albertross_2

So this screen is blank on laptop?


http://192.168.2.1

how to encrypt (which you really should do), but fix your problem first

http://www.crn.com/white-box/163106150?pgno=2

Chippy_Minton

Have you updated the router to the latest firmware?

RandyRos

albertross wrote: »

So this screen is blank on laptop?


http://192.168.2.1

how to encrypt (which you really should do), but fix your problem first

http://www.crn.com/white-box/163106150?pgno=2

no, that screen shows all the networks, i am currently on my lappy connected thru an ethernet cable, directly to the main router. (not the wireless one) this network connection shows, as does the wireless one.

thank you i shall check out that page tomorrow. :T

RandyRos

Chippy_Minton wrote: »

Have you updated the router to the latest firmware?

yes i have

albertross_2

so when you connect what happens?

I'm confused about the 2 routers

RandyRos

ok, i have the BT voyager router plugged into my main phone socket, via a splitter thing (cant remember wot theyre called). then thats connected to a Belkin wireless router which is plugged straight in to my main PC.

the wireless works for all other devises except this laptop.

at this very moment i am connected to the main BT router via ethernet cable and it works fine.

RandyRos

oh and when i try to connect with the wireless it comes up "windows cannot find a network" and ive been thru their troubleshooting list. what i cant work out is that it did work, but it doesnt anymore

albertross_2

which model Belkin router is it

I'd try a system restore, and put it back to the state it was last time it worked.