Need some computer help....

The wireless connection on my laptop suddenly stopped. When I set it up and look at the connection window it shows a signal coming in but there is nothing going passed the junction box in the middle of that connection window.

I'm using Vista.

Norton's said yesterday that there was a configuration problem but did not tell me what it was.

I ran the diagnostic and all of a sudden, it wasn't working.

My question is can I buy one of those plug in wireless connectors you can buy. I have tired everything that I can think of to recover that particular damage but none of the sweeps I have done show anting wrong. The only warning I had was there is a problem run the check disk. I did that and that was that...

Help. I need to be on the computer since I am basically a shut in and i have stuff to do...

Yes you can.



(Seriously, you might want to ask in the Computer forum, or group, or whatever they call it here. I'd try to help, but I'm behind the times on wireless stuff.) I'd bet that "struggle4progress" could hook you up. Good luck.

Have you tried connecting at other locations? If you take your laptop to a Starbucks or some place with free wireless, can you log on?

for my older desk top...

laptop.

I don't use Windows much so can't advise you there

But if I had a problem like this, the first thing I'd try to do is run a linux livecd and see if it would connect to the network. Knoppix, for example, will run in many circumstances: put it on a cd or usbstick (using LiLi, say), and boot from that

LinuxLive USB Creator
http://www.linuxliveusb.com/

(1) If you can connect to your network when using a linux livecd or liveusb, the problem is probably something corrupted in windows -- maybe you need to remove and reinstall a driver? In that case, you might need to know what wireless hardware you have.

With a Knoppix or Ubuntu livecd or liveusb, you can open a terminal and type sudo dmidecode | less which might give you the hardware info (you can navigate up and down through the long output with your PgUp and PgDn keys and you can exit dmidecode by typing q). And if dmidecode doesn't actually give you the wireless info, it will probably at least get you the netbook model number and maybe some motherboard information that you can use when searching online for a driver. The manufacturer's website might be a good place to start. Ask the Windows users here for help with the driver issue

If dmidecode doesn't give enough info, you might try typing sudo lshw | less in a terminal. This won't give you anything in Knoppix but with a different livecd or livecd you might get more hardware info (again, navigate with PgUp and PgDn and quit with q): you're looking for something like "Wireless interface" (my acer netbook, for example, reports AR9285 Wireless Network Adaptor from Atheros Communications, when I do this off an Ubuntui liveusb)

Or maybe you have a corrupted configuration? Ask the Windows users here for help with re-configuring your network

(2) If you can't connect to your network this way, then you might have a hardware problem. I've bought two Trendnet wireless usb dongle @ $15 for adding wireless connectivity to some linux boxes, and I haven't had trouble with them, but newegg reviews suggest not everybody is happy with them. My linux boxes pick them up right away, but with Windows you might have to install drivers -- and perhaps reconfigure. Again, ask the Windows users here for help with that

I don't know whether or not it is, but lots of people (myself included) have taken a dislike to Norton, and by googling something like

wireless problem norton vista

you'll find lots of people think norton didn't play nice with their wireless

It may not be your wireless card, but your router. You can try reinstalling your lap top's wireless set-up. Go into the Control Panel, and re-run the "wireless network set-up". That didn't work for me, but it's worth a try, if you haven't done so already. A friend, who repairs computers for a living, said that sometimes, the security level at which the router is set can cause issues like this. He said that WPA2 is generally overkill for most people, and that WPA should generally be sufficient. I went into my router and bumped mine down to WPA, re-installed the wireless set-up, and it now works. Don't ask me why or how it worked on WPA2 one minute, and not the next.

BTW, if your router doesn't have a password other than the default, you should change it, as your router can be hijacked. I am amazed at what they can hijack...whole computers, routers, Firefox, Google Chrome...