Help Please. Vista and WIFI

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tiler65

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My wife brought a laptop home from work, brand new still in the box. We loaded it up for the first time (Toshiba sat pro a300series, vista basic). Everything is fine apart from .......

The problem is that the wife's laptop is unable to find any available wireless networks. I have switched on the wifi, I have downloaded the latest drivers, my laptop running XP finds lots of networks at home, densely populated area, so I know there are networks in range.

We are both new to vista and I am a little bit confused as to how to check for the settings. I have looked a couple of other forums to look at my problem but found I was not understanding them.

We do not have wifi at home but the purpose of the wifi on the laptop is that when she goes to work/hotels/offices she wants her laptop to 'see' all available networks so she can connect and present her wares :D so to speak. At the moment the laptop does not give the option to connect to a wireless network.

In device manager I have 1 yellow exclamation mark , Other devices>Network controller. This seems to be not loaded. I tried to load automatically but it says vista cannot find it on the system, could this be the problem? How do I find the 'network controller' driver?

I am not very techie so any advice on how to resolve this problem will have to be in plain English please.
 
im really interested in this, i just got vista basic and also a first time user. So far im not liking it as much as xp but then i dont know how to use it
 
i want that little black penguin on my laptop, linux just works Vista seems a bit poo
 
are you sure it has a wireless adapter to start off with?

secondly can you post an image of what the device manager says about the network controller - in it's properties
 
Is your wireless router in 'broadcast' mode, some have the option to turn them to silent to stop people trying to piggyback you wireless and steal bandwidth, do you have another mmachine which can see your wireless network? In which case what are the settings? :)

MB
 
Thanks for your replies but I had to download another driver

Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945/4965/5100/5300Vista 32 12.0.0.73.0


It now appears to work.

What gets me is, why is this is not preloaded on the machine. Its like buying a car from the showroom but it has got no wheels.


My head hurts , off for a strong cuppa.

Thanks all.
 
tiler65 said:
What gets me is, why is this is not preloaded on the machine. Its like buying a car from the showroom but it has got no wheels.
Thanks all.
Click to expand...


My Acer Laptop has a Bluetooth button but no Bluetooth hardware & it can't be fitted :thinking:



So why the ******* does it have a button :bang:
 
mrgubby said:
My Acer Laptop has a Bluetooth button but no Bluetooth hardware & it can't be fitted :thinking:



So why the ******* does it have a button :bang:
Click to expand...

You can get a bluetooth unit which plugs into a usb port (size of a memory stick). That's what I have on both the desktop and laptop. I got mine from PC world - I think the cost was about £15.00 each...

Your bluetooth button may then work?

Anthony.
 
Anthony.Ralph said:
You can get a bluetooth unit which plugs into a usb port (size of a memory stick). That's what I have on both the desktop and laptop. I got mine from PC world - I think the cost was about £15.00 each...

Your bluetooth button may then work?

Anthony.
Click to expand...

I've got a bluetooth dongle I use with other stuff, my rant was about the fact that next to the wifi button there is a big bluetooth button which doesn't work & you can't buy the Acer option for that laptop. They just used the same case for different models & didn't even bother blanking out the bits that weren't connected :shrug:
 
tiler65 said:
Thanks for your replies but I had to download another driver

Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945/4965/5100/5300Vista 32 12.0.0.73.0


It now appears to work.

What gets me is, why is this is not preloaded on the machine. Its like buying a car from the showroom but it has got no wheels.


My head hurts , off for a strong cuppa.

Thanks all.
Click to expand...

It's incredibly stupid that this isn't preloaded... perhaps they hadn't sorted out the Vista driver when the unit was produced.

Anyway, glad you got this sorted.

Now, can I interest you in some tux? :D
 
tbh vista deals with intel wireless chipsets like a 2 year old throwing a tantrum whereas xp is fine with them, dunno if that's of any use?
 
Mattfeliks said:
It's incredibly stupid that this isn't preloaded... perhaps they hadn't sorted out the Vista driver when the unit was produced.

Anyway, glad you got this sorted.

Now, can I interest you in some tux? :D
Click to expand...

What is tux??? I am going to regret asking that me thinks :thinking:
 
mrgubby said:
I've got a bluetooth dongle I use with other stuff, my rant was about the fact that next to the wifi button there is a big bluetooth button which doesn't work & you can't buy the Acer option for that laptop. They just used the same case for different models & didn't even bother blanking out the bits that weren't connected :shrug:
Click to expand...

I agree that's frustrating and sloppy product presentation (like you I would have thought that they could use a blanking piece if they *had* to use the same casing?). :shake:

Anthony.
 
alexkidd said:
tbh vista deals with intel wireless chipsets like a 2 year old throwing a tantrum whereas xp is fine with them, dunno if that's of any use?
Click to expand...

They really don't, just you need to know what your doing.

When i brought my dell the wireless wasn't working and couldn't find how you turn the wireless on/off because i hadn't had a dell before, Why couldn't they just write wireless on the button instead of having a thing that looks like a radio transponder :lol:
 
The damn wireless switch on my HP laptop is right on the front edge.

When I am vegging out and watching tv it gets switched off when the laptop is too close to me. Why not have it on the side...........fools!! :)
 
Janice said:
The damn wireless switch on my HP laptop is right on the front edge.

When I am vegging out and watching tv it gets switched off when the laptop is too close to me. Why not have it on the side...........fools!! :)
Click to expand...

Ahhhhhhhhhh the thought of Janice vegging out, fluffy pink slippers, grey jog pants and a sweater so big 2 people could get inside it.

:coat:
 
Janice said:
The damn wireless switch on my HP laptop is right on the front edge.

When I am vegging out and watching tv it gets switched off when the laptop is too close to me. Why not have it on the side...........fools!! :)
Click to expand...

:lol: My PB was like that but never switched it off having it on my lap haha

tiler65 said:
Ahhhhhhhhhh the thought of Janice vegging out, fluffy pink slippers, grey jog pants and a sweater so big 2 people could get inside it.

:coat:
Click to expand...

Dude you better start running now :runaway: :lol:
 
tiler65 said:
Ahhhhhhhhhh the thought of Janice vegging out, fluffy pink slippers, grey jog pants and a sweater so big 2 people could get inside it.

:coat:
Click to expand...

OI ! :D :lol:
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How did YOU know? :D
 
ianm79 said:
i can forgive the tracksuit, but PINK FURRY slippers????!!!! :D
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Actually thats not true!

I bought some new ones cheap the other day and they were too big but I couldnt be bothered to take em back so I put them in a bag for Help the Aged (yes, I know that will be ME next year!!)

and now have no slippers and a stone tiled kitchen floor.....COLD!

So it's sox.................even sexier eh? :D:D
 
Janice said:
Actually thats not true!

I bought some new ones cheap the other day and they were too big but I couldnt be bothered to take em back so I put them in a bag for Help the Aged (yes, I know that will be ME next year!!)

and now have no slippers and a stone tiled kitchen floor.....COLD!

So it's sox.................even sexier eh? :D:D
Click to expand...

those pink fury slipper socks then? :D
 
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