Hi Jinty, welcome to the Wi-Fi and wireless forums!
As other laptops can connect to the same source server, that is a desktop
connected to the router or setup as the main computer connected to the
internet directly or indirectly, we can easily eliminate the server or the
router as being the problem except maybe the router needs to be put in
pairing mode.
Disable the firewall on the desktop and the laptop while troubleshooting,
re-enable again when all is good!
The answer likely to be one of, but not necessarily restricted to the
situations below:
- The WPA Key (Wi-Fi password for the internet connection) has changed
somehow, you or someone else changed it while troubleshooting and they or
you did. Try re-entering it on the laptop where the connection properties
are.
- On laptops, there is a hot key, a kind of short cut for enabling and
disabling Wi-Fi connections on the fly, That hotkey is pressing FN and F2
together On and Off on the keyboard, that acts as an emergency cut off of
the internet accessing your laptop, say when all of a sudden you got
paranoid and suspected someone has hacked into your laptop from few blocks
in the street away (or few continents away) and is fiddling with files or
browsing your precious honeymoon photos and videos etc, at least you can
disable the wireless (Wi-Fi) connection and no more Internet for that
s*ck*r. Press the FN+F2 On and Off and see what happens, note that this
maybe disabled on the BIOS though, that only works if enabled on the BIOS
and is usually enabled by default on all laptops nowadays. Hey, did you or
someone else updated the BIOS and disabled it there and even disabled
wireless...I doubt that as you say you operating system is saying it's
working properly and drivers are OK, but the last advice is for other who
will be reading this anyway!
- The Wi-Fi card on the laptop "Lehmaned" (failed, that's my new word for
the next edition of the oxford dictionary), we can't say "Rocked" as there
is nothing good about Northern Rock "Moving back with Mum and Dad", or the
wires acting as connectors got loose. Flip the laptop on its belly, open
the wireless cover, and check for any damage or looseness to the wiring,
swap one identical card borrowed from other laptop and see if it has
failed, if so buy one for few buck/quids from an online auction or a new
one if the Credit Crunch does not apply to you!
- On some laptops, you can install software such as Intel Pro-Wireless to
manage wireless connections, the trouble is the OS such Windows also tries
to manage it, if both are fighting for its management, well too many
captions will sink the ship, or "Too many brothers running a bank will make
it fail"  . Go to
properties on each one and enable only one, let windows manage it or the
pro-wireless.
- Sometimes pairing will do the trick, on the router / access point, there
is usually a button to press and the router will be blinking for about 10
minutes waiting for new devices to be hooked, while you press it once and
leave it, let you laptop's wi-fi connection scan for networks, this time it
may just get on the right path and the WPA key (WEP if it is old) will be
accepted
- Do a repair connection from the connection properties on the laptop, the
IP address may be too old and the laptop connection needs to catch up with
the router's or Internet dynamic IP address assignment....
- Re-install the driver from the manufacturer's CD
- You are just having a bad day and pressing the wrong buttons, it may just
start working without you doing nothing, that happens a lot and is usually
due to shutting down the laptop and restarting it, that action will renew
the IP address automatically or you Operating system does its scan and
repair or whatever, and that's why you hear "it just started working on its
own"
- Do an earlier restore of the system before the "Crisis", but backup any
new files or additions you added since, it may be that automatic updates or
new software managed to spoil the fun!
- Reinstall windows or whatever operating system as a last resort, it may
be some software you installed or indeed someone else installed it which
has tampered with connection properties...
Well, good luck and do me a favour and comeback here to tell the tale!
If I forgot something else, I'll edit this thread and add more, of course
anyone else feel free to post more!
[Edited on 9/10/2008 by festprint] __________________________________
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