Wireless Connectivity Has Stopped Working

musicinmouth

Hi,

I have an Acer Aspire 3023 wlmi wireless laptop. I have had it for a few years now and the wireless connectivity was always working... until now. It has just completely stopped.

Sorry for being so vague, but I don't know where to begin to try to get it working again. I would take out the wireless card and try to reinstall it, but I don't know where to find it. It's not highlighted in the users manual, so I presume it's integrated and can't be removed... The laptop is in good order otherwise, I don't think it's ever been banged into or anything... I have tried it now in various wireless hotspots that usually worked before... It just doesn't seem to be able to find a network...

I'd greatly appreciate any advice you might be able to offer. Thank you!

dr.bollocko

Is this the new security patch vs. zone alarm thingy again?
Was another post on about it.
Try turning off zone alarm and see watt happens.
Or finding out the name of the patch. Its on a post on here somewhere.

musicinmouth

I don't have zone alarm installed... The only security software I use is AVG Free. Thanks though!

dub45

I know it sounds obvious but would you have turned off the wireless?

musicinmouth

No. It says "not connected, firewalled". I try a "repair" but it says: "WINDOWS COULD NOT FINISH REPAIRING THE PROBLEM BECAUSE THE FOLLOWING ACTION CANNOT BE COMPLETED: CONNECTING TO THE WIRELESS NETWORK."

There is a button on the front of the laptop for turning on / off wireless... Nothing happens when I press it... No light comes on...

When I check in Device Manager it says that it's working ok.

Any other suggestions?

dub45

It may be working in device manager but that does not mean it is turned on.

Another thing to do is turn off your firewall altogther - for some strange reason they seem to change settings themselves and block everything! worth a try anyways.

musicinmouth

Thanks. I turned off the firwall, but it's still the same. Thanks anyway!

Username!

Instead of Right Clicking and selecting Repair... select "View Available Wireless Networks". Then report back to us what it says in the white box after you click "Refresh Network List" up the top left.

musicinmouth

Username! wrote: »

Instead of Right Clicking and selecting Repair... select "View Available Wireless Networks". Then report back to us what it says in the white box after you click "Refresh Network List" up the top left.

Thanks. It says: No wireless networks found in range.

I tried with another laptop beside it and that one was able to detect two wireless networks in range.

Fuzzy Clam

musicinmouth wrote: »

There is a button on the front of the laptop for turning on / off wireless... Nothing happens when I press it... No light comes on...



Any other suggestions?

There's the fault. An orange light should be lit. Hardware failure. May just be only the switch.

Reg'stoy

If I might be as bold as to piggy back on the OP, I too have a wireless problem.

I also cannot connect to our wireless network at home even though my wife's laptop can. I can view all available networks including our own but when I try to connect it tells me it cannot complete because it cannot renew my ip address. I have downloaded (by Ethernet cable) a winzip/winsock? repair after googling the problem I have also been onto dell who, well were as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike :mad: (my laptop is a dell still under warranty) me thinks they want to avoid the expense of a repair if required.

So any ideas folks

Hank Scorpio

go to control panel , administrative controls

then go to services

scroll down until you find windows zero configuration

this is the protocol windows uses to control its wireless networks,

Hit stop, then start. See if you can connect. If your using external software i would recommend reinstalling.

Reg'stoy

Thanks for the quick reply Nuxxx, tried the above but still cannot connect to our own network but strangely enough I was able to connect to a neighbouring unsecured wireless network when I looked for available networks. Looks like I better contact perlico who are our isp or is it my anti-virus software I recently downloaded AVG. Again thanks for the quick reply Nuxxx

dub45

Reg'stoy wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply Nuxxx, tried the above but still cannot connect to our own network but strangely enough I was able to connect to a neighbouring unsecured wireless network when I looked for available networks. Looks like I better contact perlico who are our isp or is it my anti-virus software I recently downloaded AVG. Again thanks for the quick reply Nuxxx

This has absolutely nothing to do with Perlico. Their only obligation is to provide you with an internet signal to your modem/router.

If you were able to connect to a wireless network then it looks like its not a Dell problem either except maybe there is a need for you to download any driver updates for the wireless card that may be available.

Is there a mac filter on your router? Have you tried turning off the sercurity on your router? Have you tried a complete reset of the router? eg push in the little button at the back and it will restore it to factory settings so if you are trying it make sure that you have your perlico settings backed up in case they are lost.

Fuzzy Clam

Reg'stoy, you need to check the DHCP settings in the wireless router. Highly unlikely to be an AVG problem or a driver problem.
In the meantime, keep using the neighbouring network

musicinmouth

nuxxx wrote: »

go to control panel , administrative controls

then go to services

scroll down until you find windows zero configuration

this is the protocol windows uses to control its wireless networks,

Hit stop, then start. See if you can connect. If your using external software i would recommend reinstalling.

I still get the same problem when I do this. Thanks though.

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

There's the fault. An orange light should be lit. Hardware failure. May just be only the switch.

Thanks. Is there any way I can fix something like that myself?

Reg'stoy

Hi Folks,
just to let ye know I got on to Perlico and the first tech services guy blamed dell for my troubles as he said my wireless card was at fault (even though I told him I was able to connect to my unsecured neighbours network). Anyway soon enough my wife's laptop started to act up, same problem so I got back onto perlico. Different guy this time got me to connect to a specfic site by ethernet cable where he got me to change my wireless channel but lo and behold both laptops are now able to connect to our own network. He told me that sometime the channel your router connects to drops. Hopefully this might go some way to help the OP.
Again folks thanks for all your help , now where do I go to get some help sorting out my increasingly dense shoulder hair problem

musicinmouth

Reg'stoy wrote: »

Again folks thanks for all your help , now where do I go to get some help sorting out my increasingly dense shoulder hair problem

I still have the problem. If it's a hardware problem, should I bring it to a repair shop? Or could it be something simple that I could check myself?

Thanks!

dub45

If it is a hardware problem you could consider disabling the onboard wireless card and buying a pcmcia wireless card as a repleacment.

for example:

http://netgear.co.uk/wireless_laptop_networkcard_wg511.php

Or a usb wireless card but they can be obtrusive with a laptop depending on how you use it.

Fuzzy Clam

musicinmouth wrote: »

I still have the problem. If it's a hardware problem, should I bring it to a repair shop? Or could it be something simple that I could check myself?

Thanks!

Unless you're used to fault finding electronics, I wouldn't advise doing it yourself.

Dub45s suggestion to get a card seems the best option.

musicinmouth

Cool, I'll do that. Thanks a million for all the replies, I really appreciate it!