Connecting Win7 laptop to wireless modem problem

persius · 12 Jun 2017

I don't have much experience with wireless networks so I would like to request some help.
I've reformatted a Win7 laptop and due to the machine not having an Ethernet port, I needed to connect to a wireless D-Link router which was provided by the owners of the laptop. So far I haven't had any success so I'm thinking that to connect to the internet I need to be back at their home to use their modem? Also, a password is required but I don't know what it is.

Is there a way to temporarily use my own modem with their router or will I need to complete the work once at their home?
I don't use wireless for personal reasons so I'm not sure what options I have available at this time.

Any suggestions will be welcome

Thank you.

samuria · 13 Jun 2017

It's not clear what you want to connect via wireless you need to be able to see the router in the wireless setting then you connect and have to give a password. The router has to be close enough to connect

strollin · 13 Jun 2017

You may also be in a chicken vs egg situation (which came first?). The laptop may need a driver in order for the wireless card to work but you can't install the driver because you can't connect to the internet. You have 2 possible routes. You can download the required driver to a thumb drive on another computer that has an internet connection and then install the driver from the thumb drive or you could get an inexpensive USB/Ethernet adapter which would allow you to connect the laptop to a wired network in order to download the necessary driver.

You will definitely need the password in order to connect to that particular router unless you do a factory reset which will allow you to use the router's default userid/password. Regardless, the router will need a working LOCAL internet connection in order to connect to the internet. You can connect and use your modem. As long as you use their userid/password to connect to the router, you should be OK.

persius · 13 Jun 2017

Hi Strollin

You have me scratching my head now after you mentioned the driver. From what I understand, and I could wrong, when they initially brought the laptop home they connected via wireless right off the bat. I'm simply trying to do the same to update the OS. Nothing more.

If I do need a driver for the laptop then can you suggest what I look for please?

Thank you.

samuria · 13 Jun 2017

Try and connect see what happens is there any yellow triangles for wireless in device manager?

persius · 13 Jun 2017

I'm starting to feel that this is an issue due to not having proper drivers installed. I have no wireless (Bluetooth) visible in the device manager and I can't download anything from my location because I can't connect to the internet. This is why I was asking if I should wait until I return to their home where I can reconnect through their network.

strollin · 14 Jun 2017

When you formatted the drive, you wiped out the drivers that were installed by the manufacturer of the laptop. Unless you restored from a backup, the drivers need to be downloaded from the laptop manufacturer's website.

persius · 14 Jun 2017

Hi Stollin

I did a backup prior to reinstalling. The "backup" director is on the C: drive. Is there something in particular I need to be look for?

persius · 14 Jun 2017

Since Win7 does wipe out drivers I decided to take the easier route and I bought a USB to Ethernet adaptor. Why waste so much time with drivers, connecting routers etc.

Thanks for all your help everyone.

strollin · 15 Jun 2017

Now that you have an internet connection for that computer, installing drivers should be a very easy process. Just go to the laptop manufacturer's website and download them from there.