Re: Completely OT, but need help!

The Todal wrote:
"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.

Yes - all good advice Todal - much of which I already follow. Wireless technology does seem to have its fair share of problems doesn't it? When I initially set up the system last September (having never used wireless before), I had constant problems with not being able to connect after a pc re-boot. The only way I could resolve that was by re-booting the router. After a lot of messing about with settings, and a firmware update for the router, I managed to solve that problem (although I didn't understand much of what I was doing!) - and now the laptop will connect to the router straightaway as soon as it's booted up. I don't often re-boot the laptop TBH - I just shut the lid and 'put it to sleep' - much quicker then when you want to re-use it.

I've just done a full Avast scan and nothing found - so it doesn't seem to be a virus that caused the problem.

Ret.

.

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