Vista Wireless problem

Hi
A friend is staying at my house for a few days, and she has a new Dell laptop with Vista on it. When she tried connecting to my network, the laptop turn out to be blind to wifi networks. The laptop doesn't see any network, not mine and not networks from neighbours.
I run a diagnose tool that was available in the laptop and it seems that all is working correctly.
Sadly I'm in a hurry right now, so I hadn't the time to see specs, wireless card model, etc, but if someone has had similar issues with Vista before, I could use suggestions and save some time. In about 8 or 9 hours I'll have more time to spend fooling around with that laptop to solve this.

 

I've experienced a similar issue if I were to upgrade my Realtek drivers through the Windows Update. If that's what she's using for her wireless card, try rolling it back.

 

When i first installed vista on my laptop i had that same problem. As far as i could tell it seemed to be a driver problem. I simply plugged in a lan cable updated the driver and everything else and it seems to be working fine now. Hopefully it might be a simple fix like this.

 

Also, check the obvious. Make sure there is no manually operated switch for WiFi that's turned off.

 

@HAN:
that was the first I checked (the obvious has happened to many times)

@farmerlee & sosaiso
Thanks for the drivers suggestion, will check it out when I see the laptop again.

 

It turned out to be the driver.
Problem solved.
Thanks!

 

glad you solved it.
happerned quite alot in the past. disabling it in device manager and reenable done the trick.

 

If you don't mind me asking, which drivers were causing the issue and what kind of router was she able/not able to connect to?

Just curious because I've run across a few laptops who have had problems with a Realtek/D-Link combination.

 

Intel/Belkin combination

Not at home ATM, and I don't remember the exact wireless card model, I think it was Intel 4965AGN or something like that.
Updated from 11.X.X driver to 12.X.X

 

I have a Realtek 8187B that can't see my router 2' away.

Apparently the 8187L has the ability to work as an access point, a wireless connection link and skype to any one with in range.

"enabling it to create a complete wireless home network in either AP or wireless client mode. Users will be able to play LAN games, connect to the Internet, access and share printers, and use Skype from anywhere within range"
Info at OCW for asus p5b deluxe wifi ap.

In AP mode, it wouldn't see the router because it isn't looking.

To compound matters I installed the 8187L drivers for linux under Ubuntu.
I also had someone leaching off my wifi connection, ATT I didn't secure the router. I do now, but can't see it.

If there isn't much difference between B and L, and the Realtek specs look identical, then maybe B has this feature also.

I have to figure out how to gain access to these features. I can't even find the Realtek Wireless Lan Utility on the Realtek site.

Also, the 8187's have EEPROM's for storing configuration data and ID data.
64*16-bit and 128*16-bit depending on which EEPROM chip they have. Maybe this space could be used maliciously to switch the device into different modes.

 

Hello searching,
i have the same realtek chipset wireless card on my asus P5k wifi motherboard.
with the older drivers sometimes it couldnt see any devices. but i just disabled it in device manager reenabled and it saw all routers fine.

 

Hey lodore,

Tried that, still same issue.

I have a Tos(s) it away laptop.
This has been occuring for nine months.
Two things occured at the time the problem began, net leacher and Ubuntu install.
I wanted this laptop to work under linux, so I was reading and trying.
I know possitivly I installed the 8187L linux drivers from Realtek under Ubuntu.

Thanks

EDIT for Mr. Dumas:
I can't see my router using "View Available Wireless Networks".
I tried to install the wlan utility from Realtek, didn't work.
I installed NetStumbler 0.4.0. It can see the router, but has incorrect info. I have wpa2 set up, but NetStumbler reports WEP. I have SSID disabled on router and in services.

Any help is appreciated.