Wi-Fi Adapters

It appears the wi-fi adapter on my laptop has bitten the dust. It can no longer see any of the handful of networks around here it normally does including mine. Pretty sure it is not a router problem as my phone can still see and connect to my network.

I have tried resetting the adapter and settings as suggested by Windows Diagnose and Repair to no avail. Anything else I could try? Would re-installing Windows help?

Failing that I am thinking of plugging in an external adapter. I feel inclined to get a PCMIA card adapter if for no other reason than it is a slot that is otherwise doing nothing rather than use up one of my three USB slots. Any advice on this? Any recommendations? I have a Netgear 834GT router so I am inclined to get a Netgear adapter to avoid possible compatibility issues.

Thanks for any help anyone can offer.

Are you sure it's turned on, on the hardware side? My laptop has a switch for the wireless & I remember being puzzled for a stretch when my 4 year old turned it off.

Failing that, try using a Linux Live CD to see if it can connect before re-installing Windows.

Good point. There is a button which appears to be wi-fi on/off. It is currently flashing intermiittently orange but I think it should be flashing green if all was OK.

Has the driver recently been updated, perhaps by an automatic update? May be worth regressing the driver and see what happens.

Tried that.

If it has died, replacement is relatively simple. the adapter is usually located under a hatch in a slot in the same way that memory is.
Just ensure that you remember which way the antenna leads go.
If you have any difficulty in locating one, I have several cards here. I think they're all b/g but hey..... It's free!

Ta for that I have replaced the HHD before but I was assuming the wi-adaptor was welded to the motherboard. I will have a look see. Failing that I have a vague memory of using a PCMIA card with my old laptop and which may be buried at in a box of bits and pieces, so I will give that a go - may be only b though, not even g.

Didn't find the PCMIA card but did find an old USB stick, a Netgear WG111T which connects at 108Mbps using what I think is Netgear's provisional take on the N standard before it was ratified. A bit sticky outy though so replacing the internal adaptor would be the way to go. So what Netgear model is the internal version of the WG111T or the equivalent model these days?

What does it say about wireless adapter in the Device manager.
Most laptops these days have the Wireless chip embedded in motherboard.
Problem could be antenna connection but unless you are OK with dismantling Laptop. Easier to use PCMCIA card. Cheap as chips on Ebay. USB easier to dislodge.

In reply to a post by flippery:

What does it say about wireless adapter in the Device manager.
Most laptops these days have the Wireless chip embedded in motherboard.
Problem could be antenna connection but unless you are OK with dismantling Laptop. Easier to use PCMCIA card. Cheap as chips on Ebay. USB easier to dislodge.

All the laptops I have seen in the last few years have the wireless as a plug in Mini PCI-E card which is easily replaced.

PCMCIA works but it is still a pain as part of it still sticks out. Better than USB though.

Yeh, if I can't easily replace the internal adaptor I will get a PCMIA card. The USB stick is currently being helped to stay in place by the judicious use of some black insulating tape.

Device Manager says there is a problem with the wi-fi adaptor which I suppose is more evidence that is no longer of this world. To be honest whenever I have rebooted the router it has struggled to re-establish the link until I reboot the laptop too.

Opened it up and found the card. Tried re-seating it but no joy so I have ordered a replacement from Amazon. It is an Intel 4965AGN which seems to be still their current model so have gone for the same again.

As I said earlier, remember which way round the antenna leads go and you'll find it easier if you attach them to the new card before you fit it.

In reply to a post by flippery:

..... Most laptops these days have the Wireless chip embedded in motherboard...

My memory is shot but I don't remember seeing an embedded card on a laptop in probably the last decade or so.

In reply to a post by gomezz:

Opened it up and found the card. Tried re-seating it but no joy so I have ordered a replacement from Amazon. It is an Intel 4965AGN which seems to be still their current model so have gone for the same again.

Lets hope your laptop isn't HP?

HP and some others only allow you to install their parts, so an amazon part would not work.

This is because some laptop manufacturers setup a bios whitelist which has specified part numbers. The bios rejects anything else and generally the laptop wont boot up until the unspecified parts removed.

Otherwise you should be fine! These things are so easy to replace and I've done it myself before.

A HP intel wifi card is different to a standard intel wifi card. Even if they're the same model. So you have to specifically buy the HP part number.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Wed 01-Aug-12 22:18:06)

It is and Acer and I am replacing an Intel card with the same model number. There are only two leads attached and I found those easier to ease off and on with the card screwed in position. There is a third terminal which had nothing attached.

Perfect !!

With 3 antenna you can get some pretty good cards! (not that you need one now)

Edited by ukhardy07 (Thu 02-Aug-12 08:02:10)

I am not sure what you mean by 3 antenna. There are three terminal points on the card itself. A black lead is attached to the first and a grey one attached to the third with nothing attached the middle one. Are these the antenna leads? In which case there are only two antenna built into the laptop even if the card itself can take three. Or am I misunderstanding?

Well, fitted the new card and that doesn't work either. So it is either a software problem, something upstream of the card itself or the new card was DOA (bit of a coinkidenky).

Curiouser and curiouser! Checked again this morning and it was not working. Happened to update ZoneAlarm to the latest free version, rebooted and it is now working! At a guess the old card would work as well. Can ZA interfere with internal connections like this?

That's all it does.

Just as a matter of interest, I had a lappy and the wifi would work intermittently. I use to go to device manager, uninstall and reboot. The lappy detected the wifi card on booting, reinstalled the drivers and it would work for a couple of weeks.

In the end I bought a replacement card on Ebay and problem solved.