wireless not working.

[KarenMarie]

VPR Matrix 185A5 laptop
Win XP PRO SP1
Comcast internet
Motorola SBG900 modem/gateway

Ok, this laptop was loaned out to someone and there were hardware problems with it, so i took it in under the waranty to get fixed. now that i have it back, i cannot get the wireless card to work. it shows a signal for a while, then drops. ipconfig says the media is disconnected. i can get access thru wired connection. i do not know what was done to it while it was out of my possession, but it appears to be ok except for this.

i have tried ipconfig /release and then /renew. i have tried to /flush and /registerdns. i checked the wireless zero in services. i have tried netbui over tcpip and the back to default. i have tried checking all the setting over and over again. i have checked to make sure that the wireless was turned on (little switch that by default is off). I have tried making sure the drivers are up to date.

another thing... that may or may not be related... for the short time, immediately after booting that i do actually have a signal, i try to run network wizard and the cpu goes to 98% and stays there. it slows the system down to a near stop. i have to turn the computer OFF to get anywhere.

Any suggestion?

thanks in advance.

🙂 KarenMarie

 

[insename2]

whats ur wireless card?
what client utility are u using? (windows/ones that came with wifi adaptor)
are u able to see a siganl
are u able to obtain an ip address?

 

[petey117]

is it always the same network, or have you tried different wireless networks?

 

[KarenMarie]

thanks for the reply...

whats ur wireless card?
LAN-EXPRESS IEEE 802.11 PCI Adapter

what client utility are u using? (windows/ones that came with wifi adaptor)
windows

are u able to see a siganl
yes, upon boot... for a while.

are u able to obtain an ip addresss?
when the signal drops, and access is gone... i check ipconfig and the ip is the win default 169.254....

what i did was uninstall the driver update and it seems to be working right now. let's see how long it lasts.

EDIT:
is it always the same network, or have you tried different wireless networks?

it is the only network i have in the house. i checked the ssid, and wep key many times.

 

[petey117]

go into your wireless settings, and UNcheck the box that says "automatically connect to non-preferred networks" (if it not already unchecked)

Ny theory is that maybe your wireless connection is drifting to someone elses access point, and they are not running DHCP
it is worth a shot, anyway

 

[insename2]

to troubleshoot, try the following

1) use the non-windows utility
2) assign ip statically

i have had a simular issue before, the trouble was the drivers, one solution i found was to uninstall the drivers, reboot, reinstall the drivers not using the .exe but rather have windows search for the specific .inf files, this insures that the other client utility isn't installed and thus reduces the chances for error

 

[KarenMarie]

Originally posted by: petey117
go into your wireless settings, and UNcheck the box that says "automatically connect to non-preferred networks" (if it not already unchecked)

Ny theory is that maybe your wireless connection is drifting to someone elses access point, and they are not running DHCP
it is worth a shot, anyway

i have checked and unchecked that box... along with trying different combos of just about every other setting, too.

there is no other network around. not within interference distance anyway. my cordless phone DOES knock me offline when i am on it, but that is not the issue here, as the other laptop and two desktops are just fine and this has been ongoing for approx 24 hours.

here is what i did...

i disabled, then uninstalled ALL connections in the device manager. i then installed ONLY the wireless. I also deleted everything else in NETWORK CONNECTIONS. when it was time to install drivers, i installed the older drivers... not the ones that i downloaded and installed yesterday and had problems with.

i wanted to isolate the issue and not have anything else to possibly get in the way of finding out what the issue is. when i rebooted, i got a strong signal, and it did not drop after a few minutes like every other time.

so... it could be that the person who was borrowing this laptop from my daughter used different setting or connections or whatever and when i tried to connect to my network... things went FUBARed.

it is 15minutes now and i have not been dropped yet, so finger crossed, that might be it.