Windows 7: Wireless Connection Suddenly NOT Working

I am going ask here simply because I have asked in Vista Forums and HP Support forums and received no responses.

My wife has an Compaq Presario CQ60-417DX and about 5 days ago it stopped seeing our Netgear router.

When I check the connections it should see, the Netgear is listed and is set to automatically connect.

I know the router is working because I had a friend bring his laptop over and it saw and connected to the router immediately.

I suspect the wireless network adapter in her laptop has failed, but how can I tell?

If it has failed, can I buy a usb wireless adpater and will it override the built-in adapter?

Any help would greatly appreciated

If the router is listed, then the card is working. I doubt the card is the problem. What exactly is happening? Are you getting some sort of error message?

hi and hello have you tried to un-install the wireless and reboot straight away and on reboot windows should have configured the wireless again?
if you use another wireless adapter it will not matter as long as windows installs the driver for it.

also have a look at brinks tutorial How to Remove a Wireless Network in Windows 7 this will help reset settings
Wireless Network - Remove
also try this How to reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
How to reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

BTW the laptop has Vista Home Premium and not Windows 7.

I will try to get some screen shots of what is going on.

There is no error messages just get the red X in the network icon by the clock.

When it is told to connect, then it wants to set up a new network connection. At this point, it does not see the Netgear router. She has several that were set up previously at friends and relatives homes as well as the one we have (Netgear), but it does not actually see any of these.

When you said uninstall the wireless router, I am not sure what you mean or how to do that.

I tried to get her to take it over to McDonalds where they have wifi and see it could detect theirs. Since I am disabled, I can't do that and she doesn't want to try it.

Anyway I will get back when I actually know more. Thank you.