Re: Completely OT, but need help!


"Ret." <xxx> wrote in message
news:65idnTAFNrqxFiTUnZ2dnUVZ8oKWnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Toby wrote:
Ret. wrote:
I have a Medion Akoya S5610 laptop which has an Intel(R) WLAN (Wi-Fi
Link 5100) and which has been connecting wirelessly to my Linksys
WAG160N router without problem since I purchased the laptop last
September.
This afternoon, for some inexplicable reason, I cannot connect to my
network - in fact the WLAN cannot find *any* networks (it normally
picks up 4 or 5 neighbour's signals as well as my own).

If I ask Vista to diagnose the problem it tells me that the WLAN is
switched off - but it isn't! The WLAN is switched on and off via Fn +
F1 keys and a light on the front of the laptop tells me if the device
is switched on or not. When I turn it on, the light comes on ok - but
Vista still tells me it is switched off!

I have gone into device manager and checked the WLAN which is working
correctly and enabled. I have undertaken a System Restore to
yesterday when the connection was working fine. I have downloaded
the latest WLAN drivers from Medion's web-site - but when I try to
install them I am told that they are no better than the existing
installed drivers.
I really cannot think of what else to try. I have spoken to Medion
tech support and all they can suggest (as always!) is a factory
re-set which I am extremely reluctant to undertake for obvious
reasons.
Can any of you pc boffins out there suggest anything I haven't
already tried to get my WLAN up and running again?

Incidentally, I did consider uninstalling the WLAN from device
manager, together with its drivers, and then re-installing. I know
how to re-install the drivers - but how do I re-install the WLAN
itself once I've removed it from Device Manager?

Any advice gratefully received!!

I have connected my laptop directly to the router via cable to send
this post - so I know this is a problem with the laptop WLAN and not
the router.
Ret.

Just delete it from device manager then reboot, Windows will find it
as "new hardware" again, so point it at the downloaded drivers when
it asks for them (Or if the download is a single .exe that installs
with a wizard, just cancel the "Found new hardware" and run the
downloaded exe.

Yes - I tried that but after an hour of the 'uninstalling device' window -
it still hadn't gone - but the driver had. When I then tried installing
the downloaded driver, the installer window was on for another hour - and
the drivers had not installed!

Lord knows what the problem was - but I have now managed to solve it by
doing another system restore to the day before yesterday. That seems to
have resolved all the problems and I'm now back on-line wirelessly!

Thanks for your help though.

Bloody computers!

Agreed. Well done for sorting it out.

I regularly have wireless problems. One problem that sometimes can arise is
that you need to tell the computer to use Windows wireless networking rather
than (eg) the Belkin or Netgear wireless setup facility.

Sometimes I have to repeatedly right-click on the wireless icon in the
system tray and opt for "repair".

Sometimes the connection is more stable if I go into the Properties for
TCP/IP and manually input the IP address of the router and the IP address I
want to use for the computer.

It is probably a good idea to download the most up to date wireless driver
file for your hardware so that you can run a reinstall whenever all else
fails. Whilst this option is possible for a well-known brand such as
Thinkpad or Toshiba or Dell, if you have a little-known brand you may not be
able to figure out where to download the driver files.

And you should sometimes run the "Custom" Windows Update (maybe that's the
default in Vista) to look for hardware updates as well as the usual critical
software updates.


.

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