Vista wireless issue

I'm currently sorting out my mother in law's laptop, which she's managed to screw up....

I've had to revert it back to factory settings - it's a 3yr old Acer 5702.

Problem I had initially was getting it to connect properly to my router wirelessly - I could connect, but then couldn't get the laptop to connect to Internet sites. Network and sharing centre was showing the laptop connected to my router, but then not to the Internet.

I eventually, after much grief, managed to get this resolved by installing new wi-fi card drivers for the inbuilt Atheros card and managed to get data flowing.

After the inevitable zillions of updates, I then reinstalled Office 2007.

Some time later, when I tried to get web pages up via Firefox or IE, it would appear to connect to the site, but then just sit there doing nothing. I can ping numeric sites and can also ping named sites, so I have DNS working.

I've been tearing my hair out last night trying to sort this out - there's no aftermarket firewall blocking traffic and the Vista one is turned off.

If I connect via an Ethernet cable, all's fine - hence it's got to be something to do with the wireless card driver/settings?

Before I end up reverting it AGAIN, any suggestions on what might be causing this?

You could try changing the power management settings with in windows. Not sure if this is how it works in vista but should be a similar process.

Process One:



Step 1: Select Control Panel

Step 2: Select Hardware and Sound

Step 3: Select Device Manager

Step 4: Open Network Adapters List by clicking on name

Step 5: Select *wireless adapter name as in what ever wireless card is available*

Step 6: Right Click and Select Properties

Step 7: Select tab titled "Power Management"

Step 8: UNCHECK or DESELECT the option button which says "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

Step 9: Hit OK



Process Two:



Step 1: Select Control Panel


Step 2: Select Hardware and Sound


Step 3: Under Power Options, Select Change Battery Settings, Left Click
Step 4: Under Recommended Power Plan, Select Blue Link Titled "Change plan settings"


Step 5: Under Blue Link Titled "Change advanced power settings"


Step 6: Look for TAB Titled "Wireless Adapter Settings", Open this selection by clicking on left mouse


Step 7: Open Menu Power Saving, for on battery and plugged in, Select "Maximum Performance" VICE "Low Power Savings" *Make sure to do both settings for battery and plugged in.*


Step 8: Hit Apply, Then Hit OK

I had an issue with a similar laptop updated drivers also did the above seemed to help.
Best of luck. Hope it makes sense its rather early for me.

I had a similar issue with my Dell Studio. Regularly the wireless card would disable itself and only a reboot would fix the issue. Once, only a Vista reinstall would work. The drivers were up to date.
After upgrading to Win7 I have had no issues at all.

I know that is no help but maybe the upgrage route might be the solution.

I used to have problems with a couple of Acer laptops (rather older than yours) using Vista, I found the problems disappeared if I removed the "helpful" Acer wireless connection software and relied on the ordinary Microsoft code in Vista.

Unfortunately I can't describe exactly how I did it because I've forgotten the details- it was some years ago and I've since switched to using Macs, but if you're using the Acer stuff it might be worth a try.