Help a windows n00b fix her wireless? Please?
August 31, 2008 5:09 PM Subscribe
Help a windows novice fix her wireless? Please?!
So, I am new to windows. (See previous questions for explanation, ugh). The only computer available to me was a Dell Inspiron 1100. (Again, ugh.)
It is slower than molasses in January, but it is a computer, so I deal. Only my wireless has ceased working.
Windows installed some update while I was at work and my wireless will not connect for anything.
As an aside, at least once a day, my wireless would stop working. AIM would work, webpages would not. I would unplug the router and all would be well again. Also, every time my computer gets turned off, upon restart, the wireless will not work and I have to go into the Device Manager, uninstall and reinstall.
I have tried both of these things and it still will not work.
Like I said, I am new to windows and also the most computer literate person I have physical access to, so if you could speak to me like I am stupid, I would appreciate it.
Specs:
Dell Inspiron 1100
Windows XP
Linksys Wireless-G Notebook Adapter (2.4GHz 802.11g)
Belkin Wireless Router model #F5D7230-4
Comcast Internet
22/f/pa/pics (I kid, I kid)
Anything else you need to know, just ask!
So, I am new to windows. (See previous questions for explanation, ugh). The only computer available to me was a Dell Inspiron 1100. (Again, ugh.)
It is slower than molasses in January, but it is a computer, so I deal. Only my wireless has ceased working.
Windows installed some update while I was at work and my wireless will not connect for anything.
As an aside, at least once a day, my wireless would stop working. AIM would work, webpages would not. I would unplug the router and all would be well again. Also, every time my computer gets turned off, upon restart, the wireless will not work and I have to go into the Device Manager, uninstall and reinstall.
I have tried both of these things and it still will not work.
Like I said, I am new to windows and also the most computer literate person I have physical access to, so if you could speak to me like I am stupid, I would appreciate it.
Specs:
Dell Inspiron 1100
Windows XP
Linksys Wireless-G Notebook Adapter (2.4GHz 802.11g)
Belkin Wireless Router model #F5D7230-4
Comcast Internet
22/f/pa/pics (I kid, I kid)
Anything else you need to know, just ask!
Have you tried ipconfig /flushdns at the command prompt? (If you're not familiar with ipconfig and ping, you may want to learn the basics of them).
posted by IronLizard at 5:29 PM on August 31, 2008
posted by IronLizard at 5:29 PM on August 31, 2008
Do you have AVG free antivirus installed? If so you could uninstall and then re-install the latest AVG free program. I seem to remember there was a conflict with one recent MS XP update and AVG.
Or else uninstall and use avast! free antivirus instead (from www.avast.com).
Hope this helps!
posted by lungtaworld at 6:04 PM on August 31, 2008
Or else uninstall and use avast! free antivirus instead (from www.avast.com).
Hope this helps!
posted by lungtaworld at 6:04 PM on August 31, 2008
Holy crap, you startled me. I just fixed, updated, and sent back a Inspiron 1100 to a friend's 22-year-old college daughter in Pennsylvannia last week, and I thought maybe she was too embarrassed to admit further problems and was hitting AskMe instead. But different college, different person.
Since you've been having problems in the past, I'm going to bypass the basic checks here. We want your computer connection to work 100%, and not just restored to the half-assery it was giving you.
If the other suggestions here don't help, a good thing to try, if possible, is to isolate the problem further to pinpoint potential hardware conflicts or failures. Do you have any free or cheap wi-fi areas around you, e.g. a Panera sandwich shop. If so, try taking your computer there with the wireless card and see if you can connect. If you can, that would point towards the problem being in the router or with Comcast (sadly, either is perfectly possible and I've experienced both).
Your Belkin router supports wired connection too. Have you tried the wired connection? I don't know whether that's what you are using or another computer. Whether or not a wired connection works would be a useful bit of information.
Also, wireless cards often come with their own software, and may run with that software better than Windows built-in wireless support. For example, the 1100 I tested used a Netgear card that had a full set of downloadable drivers. You didn't list your model number, so I cannot tell give a direct link on the www.linksys.com site for the drivers, but it's pretty easy to search the site and find them. Uninstall your original drivers so nothing remains of them, then download the new drivers and follow the instructions for reinstalling. The latest Windows update may have buggered a driver, plus the Linksys site may have a more recent driver file which works better.
After trying these things or if you have questions about something I've said, post back your results and if you still have a problem, perhaps we can give you more detailed and better advice.
(If it makes you feel any better, as of last week, no Windows XP update definitively breaks a working Inspiron 1100 wireless across the board, although it could have broken your specific setup. An 1100 is sort of decent enough for surfing nonbloated websites if you get the wireless working consistently.)
posted by mdevore at 6:10 PM on August 31, 2008
Since you've been having problems in the past, I'm going to bypass the basic checks here. We want your computer connection to work 100%, and not just restored to the half-assery it was giving you.
If the other suggestions here don't help, a good thing to try, if possible, is to isolate the problem further to pinpoint potential hardware conflicts or failures. Do you have any free or cheap wi-fi areas around you, e.g. a Panera sandwich shop. If so, try taking your computer there with the wireless card and see if you can connect. If you can, that would point towards the problem being in the router or with Comcast (sadly, either is perfectly possible and I've experienced both).
Your Belkin router supports wired connection too. Have you tried the wired connection? I don't know whether that's what you are using or another computer. Whether or not a wired connection works would be a useful bit of information.
Also, wireless cards often come with their own software, and may run with that software better than Windows built-in wireless support. For example, the 1100 I tested used a Netgear card that had a full set of downloadable drivers. You didn't list your model number, so I cannot tell give a direct link on the www.linksys.com site for the drivers, but it's pretty easy to search the site and find them. Uninstall your original drivers so nothing remains of them, then download the new drivers and follow the instructions for reinstalling. The latest Windows update may have buggered a driver, plus the Linksys site may have a more recent driver file which works better.
After trying these things or if you have questions about something I've said, post back your results and if you still have a problem, perhaps we can give you more detailed and better advice.
(If it makes you feel any better, as of last week, no Windows XP update definitively breaks a working Inspiron 1100 wireless across the board, although it could have broken your specific setup. An 1100 is sort of decent enough for surfing nonbloated websites if you get the wireless working consistently.)
posted by mdevore at 6:10 PM on August 31, 2008
Response by poster: um i am completely stupid when it comes to this and have no idea what any of you are asking me to do...
the connection doesn't go out when i'm plugged in. (which i currently am)
and i have mcafee installed for anti-virus, but i'm not married to it....
i apologize for my lack of knowledge on this but i've been a mac user since '97.
posted by thisisnotkatrina at 6:11 PM on August 31, 2008
the connection doesn't go out when i'm plugged in. (which i currently am)
and i have mcafee installed for anti-virus, but i'm not married to it....
i apologize for my lack of knowledge on this but i've been a mac user since '97.
posted by thisisnotkatrina at 6:11 PM on August 31, 2008
Response by poster: mdevore haha that would be really freaky.
actually it's still pretty freaky.
i'll take it and try some public wifi tomorrow.
the wireless card is wpc54g ver.4, i'm trying to re-download a driver now...
posted by thisisnotkatrina at 6:17 PM on August 31, 2008
actually it's still pretty freaky.
i'll take it and try some public wifi tomorrow.
the wireless card is wpc54g ver.4, i'm trying to re-download a driver now...
posted by thisisnotkatrina at 6:17 PM on August 31, 2008
Do you have Zone Alarm installed? A recent Windows XP security update can do odd things to your connectivity if you don't have the absolute latest version of Zone Alarm.
posted by Wavelet at 7:37 PM on August 31, 2008
posted by Wavelet at 7:37 PM on August 31, 2008
There's 4 basic things that could be broken:
Your router, your wireless card, or the software for your wireless card, the network files/firewall etc on the laptop.
We can pretty much eliminate the last since it works on a wired connection. The fact that you need to delete and redo the card drivers manually every time you boot ?! means it's likely something to do with the wireless card itself.
Going and trying the wireless on a web-cafe sounds like a good idea; if you can't see that or connect, then it's definitely a faulty card, or faulty driver. Try this either way. Go to here, and select version 4.0 from the drop-down under the picture of the card. Download and install the driver, if that wasn't the one you've already grabbed.
Use these instructions to make sure the card is installed properly using linksys' own drivers and wireless management.
If that doesn't work, and you still can't access a public wifi point, it's probably time to buy a new wireless notebook adapter, just for your sanity. They're cheap enough. You can get usb ones, or another one from a different maker that goes in the cardbus slot (the thick credit-card design you already have). For maximum compatibility, a belkin one to match your router would make sense.
posted by ArkhanJG at 11:28 PM on August 31, 2008
Your router, your wireless card, or the software for your wireless card, the network files/firewall etc on the laptop.
We can pretty much eliminate the last since it works on a wired connection. The fact that you need to delete and redo the card drivers manually every time you boot ?! means it's likely something to do with the wireless card itself.
Going and trying the wireless on a web-cafe sounds like a good idea; if you can't see that or connect, then it's definitely a faulty card, or faulty driver. Try this either way. Go to here, and select version 4.0 from the drop-down under the picture of the card. Download and install the driver, if that wasn't the one you've already grabbed.
Use these instructions to make sure the card is installed properly using linksys' own drivers and wireless management.
If that doesn't work, and you still can't access a public wifi point, it's probably time to buy a new wireless notebook adapter, just for your sanity. They're cheap enough. You can get usb ones, or another one from a different maker that goes in the cardbus slot (the thick credit-card design you already have). For maximum compatibility, a belkin one to match your router would make sense.
posted by ArkhanJG at 11:28 PM on August 31, 2008
If with the new driver, it does work on public hotspots, but not reliably at home (i.e. webpages still stop working randomly) then it's probably time to replace the router instead.
posted by ArkhanJG at 11:33 PM on August 31, 2008
posted by ArkhanJG at 11:33 PM on August 31, 2008
Definitely check ZoneAlarm as Wavelet said, but since you've had a long history of problems with this adapter I'd say it's about time to replace it. Make sure you buy it from somewhere with a civilized return policy so you can send it back if you try it out and see the same issues. Most likely point of failure in my opinion.
posted by saraswati at 9:52 AM on September 1, 2008
posted by saraswati at 9:52 AM on September 1, 2008
Response by poster: i don't have zone alarm installed.
i tried to uninstall/re-install the linksys software. in the little toolbar (lower left corner?) it says 'wpc54g is not installed' but when i try to install it again, it says it is already installed.
i wish i wasn't so windows illiterate.
my roommate came home though and the wireless works fine on his computer, so i'm figuring it's probably a problem with my adapter...
posted by thisisnotkatrina at 12:07 PM on September 1, 2008
i tried to uninstall/re-install the linksys software. in the little toolbar (lower left corner?) it says 'wpc54g is not installed' but when i try to install it again, it says it is already installed.
i wish i wasn't so windows illiterate.
my roommate came home though and the wireless works fine on his computer, so i'm figuring it's probably a problem with my adapter...
posted by thisisnotkatrina at 12:07 PM on September 1, 2008
Another question then: how did you uninstall the software? Through a Start menu selection, through the control panel, through My Computer/Device Manager or something else? It is possible you uninstalled a driver, but not the whole shebang. The whole shebang is what you want to uninstall for this fix, technically speaking.
posted by mdevore at 12:21 PM on September 1, 2008
posted by mdevore at 12:21 PM on September 1, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by IronLizard at 5:27 PM on August 31, 2008