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Can see, but cant connect to, Wireless Router Win7
I have a Toshiba A505-S6980 laptop running Windows 7 64bit version.
All was working well a couple of months ago, connecting wirelessly to my O2 Wireless 2 router (the Laptop has a REALTEK RTL8191SE wireless adapter card).
I also have a desktop running XP that I use to connect to the same router. Whilst on the desktop, I noticed several weeks ago that the router was set up with WEP security rather than WPA, so I decided to change the router to WPA. The Desktop PC was fine with this but the laptop complained and would not connect, failing authentication and just stating "Unable to connect to xxxxx". At the time I assumed it just couldn't handle the WPA authentication for some reason and decided that I'd probably turn it back to WEP at a later date to get it working again. At some point, I did remove an 'O2 Connection Manager' that had been installed when I bought an O2 3G dongle, in case it was confusing the issue but it made no difference. In the mean time, I tried connecting the Laptop using a wired connection and that worked fine.
However I have now (several weeks later) decided I wanted to use the Laptop wirelessly again so set the router back to WEP expecting this to work, but it didn't. As per with WPA, it does not get past authentication when I put the security key in. So, I'm trying to figure out the problem.........
What's happening;
1) The laptop CAN wirelessly see my router (and my neighbours), but just cannot connect.
2) I can connect using a Wireless USB Adapter on the same Laptop.
3) I can connect the Laptop to the router using a wired connection and there is no problem.
4) My desktop running XP can connect to the router wirelessly as WEP or WPA so router is ok.
5) It was working several weeks ago!
What I have tried;
1) I have installed the latest REALTEK RTK8191SE driver.
2) I have tried turning security off on the router, no joy.
3) I have removed all network profiles on the Laptop.
4) I have tried it with Norton Virus Scanner and Firewall turned off (but haven't uninstalled it) but no help.
5) I have tried doing a system restore to the earliest possible point and no help.
5) I have uninstalled the wireless adapter and its driver in Device Manager......... Windows 7 then see's it after a reboot and re-installs it (using the default older driver) but this doesn't work. I have then re-installed the latest version from REALTEK to make sure it's up to date.
What is odd is that
1) it works ok using a USB Wireless Adapter
2) the internal REALTEK wireless adapter works to a point as it can SEE my router, just not connect
3) it fails authentication almost instantly
My suspicions are that a Windows 7 automatic update or the O2 Connection Manager has somehow screwed it up. I have uninstalled the O2 Connection Manager and have tried un-installing the automatic updates but there are loads of them and I'm not sure how far back I need to go. Also, because it fails the authentication straight away, it seems it's not giving it a chance to actually work.
Does anyone have any ideas on how I can proceed or had a similar problem?!