help needed?

key215

hello all, well my laptop crashed so i used my backup windows xp disk to re install everything from afresh.....the problem is that now i dont have the means to access the internet again on my computer as the icon that is normally there is no longer. its the wireless network one where i normally double click on to see wireless networks in the area but its no longer there so cant connect at all??? ive looked under network connections in control panel but it says nothing about wireless networks??? please help what do i need to do now to activate my wireless connection and connect to my router??

many thanks in advance?

key215

oh by the way when i google this problem....all suggest going into network connections and clicking on wireless network tab etc....the problem is this has gone and there is no mention at all about wireless connections.....the computer has built in wireless and it is turned on???

BritBrat

Just use windows network connection.

I think although not sure that if you go through the "create a new connection" wizzard most things would get set up.

You will need the security key in router.

Little_John

Have you installed the drivers for the wireless network adaptor? if there is no wireless network adaptor listed in network connections then you havn't so you need to get the drivers from somewhere usually a disk that came with the laptop maybe?

Debt_Free_Chick

key215 wrote: »

hello all, well my laptop crashed so i used my backup windows xp disk to re install everything from afresh

The Windows XP disk doesn't "reinstall everything from afresh". It just reinstalls Windows.

You will now need to reinstall your wireless router - this possibly includes the username and password that your BB provider allocated to you.

You have "a new laptop" as if it's straight out of the box, so you'll need to customise it and install all the other software you did, when you first had the lappie delivered.

rdpro

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

You will now need to reinstall your wireless router.

Nooo...!

The router is the box that's connected to the telephone/cable point.

What you need to do is either: dig out the 'drivers' CD that came with the laptop and load the driver for your wireless NIC (network card inside the lappy), OR connect the laptop directly to the router with an ethernet cable, to get a normal internet connection going, and run a windows update to download any drivers not already loaded by XP from CD.

Once it's working again, you'll need to re-set the encryption key in the wireless card (assuming you've set wireless encryption up in your router - I hope you have!).

This WILL require a 'hard-wired' connection to the router - check the manual of the router for details of how to connect to it's settings (usually by typing a specific IP address into internet explorer)

Debt_Free_Chick

rdpro wrote: »

Nooo...!

The router is the box that's connected to the telephone/cable point.

calm down dear, we all know that's what I meant

What you need to do is either: dig out the 'drivers' CD that came with the laptop and load the driver for your wireless NIC (network card inside the lappy), OR connect the laptop directly to the router with an ethernet cable, to get a normal internet connection going, and run a windows update to download any drivers not already loaded by XP from CD.

Or if we're being picky, run the installation disk supplied by the BB provider e.g. if it's BT, run the BT BB disk and it will pretty much install itself. Which is what I meant by "reinstall the router" - accepted, sloppy language, but I meant "run the disk that the BB provider supplied.

rdpro

an ISP's setup CD won't contain drivers for wireless devices tho, which is where the OP appears to be stuck

an easy way to find out if your wireless network hardware hasn't had the driver software loaded is to open the System control panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel), select the 'Hardware' tab and click 'Device Manager'.

Any non-functioning hardware should be marked with a ?, ! or X (? for no XP driver, ! for an error in the soft/hardware, X for switched off/disabled)

BritBrat

Do not install any disks only drivers.