ProperCharlie

WLAN on the wife's laptop suddenly isn't working. my box is plugged directly into the router and obviously i'm getting a fine connection. the wlan light on the router is on green, but the laptop doesn't seem to be picking anything up. any ideas as to what i could try?

ProperCharlie

it's a toshiba laptop with built in WiFi. the router is a d-link thing. which do i bin first?

Fatman

So it was working for quite some time, and then it just stopped? Was anything 'done' to the laptop or router?

Simplest solution first - have you tried resetting the router?

ProperCharlie

basically we haven't been staying here over the last couple of weeks cos the place has been a building site. I dropped in daily to check mail and monitor progress of the "renovations", and each time have found that the builders have unplugged the router to plug their tranny in - i have just plugged it back in and got a connection straight away, over a patch lead. tried it tonight with the wife's laptop and get no joy - the wlan light on her thing is showing no signal but the light on the router is showing signal. i have switched everything on and off several times...

Nox

Do you have the network icon on the start bar?
You may need to double click this and then select the network and click connet.

Fatman

Next time you're connected via the patch lead, have a look at the configuration utility. Make sure it's not 'forgotten' the WiFi setup (i.e. Mac filtering, SSID, encryption key etc) during the time it was unplugged.

If you've got the means to install software on the laptop (or have a WiFi-enabled PDA) try Netstumbler. It's a program to sniff out available wireless LANs. That'll tell you whether the router really is transmitting anything. i.e. whether the problem is just the laptops' ability to join via the wireless connection.

MartinM

Sure you haven't switched off the WiFi card

...our Tosh laptop has a separate power switch for the WiFi card on the front (a small slider) so that you save battery power if you're not using it

Fatman

Good point. Also, check in Device Manager on the laptop. Verify that the wifi adapter claims to be working correctly.

ProperCharlie

nox - done that.
martin - hadn't noticed that switch before but it's definitely on "on"

fatman - have installed netstumbler on this pc and plugged in a usb wireless ieee thing, and it don't seem to be picking up anything either. maybe the router is f*cked. tried to access the configuration utility but can't remember the password and user name to get into it.

cheers for the advice, people.

Fatman

The username will probably be Admin, if that helps! What's the router model number?

A bit of a long shot, but... does the router have external connections for its antennae? Are those connections sound?

ProperCharlie

i'm into the config application now - no idea what i should do tho'. I pressed a couple of test buttons and they all said pass.

Fatman

• Check that basic network settings are the same on the laptop as the router (subnet, static/DHCP as approp.)
• Check the WEP encryption key is entered and correct
• Does the router have a Status page (or equivalent)? Can you view the stats of the router's IP, uptime, sent/received packets etc...?
• Check the SSID is as you think it should be
• If SSID broadcast is disabled, try enabling it - and see if you can connect then.

ProperCharlie

suddenly started working again. i was browsing around in the router config and the wireless network card (on this pc) config and it suddenly decided to work. switched on the laptop and that's working as well now.

i declare it to be a miracle perfomed by the power of scoobynet. thanks, fb.

Fatman