Wireless can't find existing wireless router

Bowler · 10 Mar 2011

My wife has an Asus Netbook that has worked fine until now. It is running Windows 7 Starter and until now has been recognizing our Linksys router. The Netbook is only 2 months old and the trial virus protection ran out. so I first uninstalled the original virus program and then downloaded from the internet, the AVG free virus protection program. Everything dowloaded and installed fine. Or so I thought. AVG went to look for updates and couldn't because it couldn't get on the internet. Even though my main desktop and my wifes Iphone recognize the router signal, the Netbook says No connections are available. I even went so far as to uninstall the AVG, reboot several times, cold and warm. Tried Microsoft troubleshooting and all it would say was that "No connections available". I suspect the wireless portion of the Netbook has gone sour. Any suggestions??? Note: Other than the wireless problem, the Netbook is working fine.

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brianzion · 10 Mar 2011

hi there :)
there are lots of reasons "No connections available" if you search this site you will see. your antivirus may have changed settings to the ports check the firewall etc here are some checks for you i use below but i have found windows 7 to be good at re correcting problems with the network

reset router and restart pc/laptop simultaneously
check the driver for the wireless adapter in device manager
i check that im using home network not work or public
run windows troubleshooter

when connected use the router management to see what channel i am using with the aid of a program called inssider(its free) it shows the wireless channels and you can judge interference noise from other wireless routers LINK >>> inSSIDer | MetaGeek

inSSIDer 2
Genuine geeks, whether professional or casual, need Wi-Fi tools that help troubleshoot WLAN networks. With inSSIDer, MetaGeek has created a gift that keeps on giving. Our award-winning, open-source Wi-Fi scanner software, inSSIDer, is an alternative to network scanners like NetStumbler. One big difference: inSSIDer actually works with Windows Vista, Windows 7, and 64-bit PCs

this is worth a read >>> http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...b-f52ec2b1ef7e

Bowler · 11 Mar 2011

I downloaded Insider 2 but when it goes to install, it brings up my Epson Scanner and wants to know how many copies I want. Because I can't get on the internet with the Netbook, I downloaded to my main PC and planned on using a thumb drive to copy and install on the Netbook. I thought I would look at it first on the main PC. It won't get by the Epson Scanner problem.
2, I looked at the netbook device manager and can't see any descrepancies
3. Windows troubleshooter just comes up and says "No connections available".

brianzion · 11 Mar 2011

Bowler said:

I downloaded Insider 2 but when it goes to install, it brings up my Epson Scanner and wants to know how many copies I want. Because I can't get on the internet with the Netbook, I downloaded to my main PC and planned on using a thumb drive to copy and install on the Netbook. I thought I would look at it first on the main PC. It won't get by the Epson Scanner problem.
2, I looked at the netbook device manager and can't see any descrepancies
3. Windows troubleshooter just comes up and says "No connections available".

the inssider needs to be installed when you are connected to the internet i believe. have you tried going into the device manager and un-installing the driver for the adapter, then restarting the machine and letting windows re-install driver? also look in services and see if you have a service called bonjour if you have disable this.(a known problem with affecting wireless adapters)

wilywombat · 11 Mar 2011

Just a thought...have you checked to see the range of addresses available to DHCP on your router is big enough? If there are no addresses free then you won't be able to connect until you have one available.

Bowler · 12 Mar 2011

The problem has been solved! I was unawares that there was a Function key (Fn) on the keyboard and when used with the F2 key, it shut off all wireless functions. It works now. Thank you for those suggestions.

brianzion · 12 Mar 2011

great glad you found that out so we can call this thread resolved. also this is a handy tip to remember for anyone else with wifi probs on the laptop. some laptops have a designated wireless button to turn on/off wireless does the laptop have this?