Can anybody help; problems with BT wireless usb?

Question

I have gone wireless and bought a USB wireless adapter, I have only had it for a week and at first it worked fine. We switched the laptop off and on with the usb still attached and it has slowly gone down hill and now the laptop doesn't even recognise it if you replug it in nor does the light light up. Have I broken it or do you think that this is a commen problem?

Answer 1

I have a BT Wireless USB adapter and found it very flaky. So nothing unusual there. BT Help were no help. I tried a different USB slot and it worked so I think it must have been the USB slot itself.
First check that the wireless device is enabled; it's easy to switch it off. You should have an icon in the system tray which is the BT wireless utilty.
Then check Device Manager to see if you have a problem with the drivers:
Go to Run
and type
devmgmt.msc
in the run box; hit ok

Expand "network adapters" to see if your network device is being flagged with a yellow exclamation mark; reinstall your drivers

If the wireless device is not present at all then either the device has failed (you might be able to get a refund) or you have a problem with your USB slots - either they are producing insufficient power (unlikely) or the USB root hub power management is set to "allow the computer to switch off this device to save power" especially if you are running the laptop off batteries. In device manager expand universal serial bus controllers, double click on each entry for "USB root hub" and in the properties dialog box, hit the power management tab
and uncheck the box marked "allow the computer to switch off this device to save power". Press OK, close device manager.

Frankly on a laptop I don't like USB adapters. They're just not reliable. I either use the built-in wireless adapter and if this isn't present, I use a PCMCIA cardbus adapter. In fact I am using the BT Voyager 1065:
http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?ProductID=1950
I leave it plugged in and windows recognizes it when it boots without a hitch; the registry is more likely to have problems with devices attached to a USB slot

I hope you can solve your problem either with BT or some local tech guy - it isn't insurmountable so don't be fobbed off.

Answer 2

It's probably the USB port you have it plugged in to. Go to My computer - right click on it. Properties. Hardware. Device drivers. You now have a list of your hardware - find USB ports and click the plus sign - uninstall and then reinstall the USB ports. Don't worry about uninstalling them - in XP if your restart your computer XP will reinstall them all for you anyway! Hope that fixes it. The same trick works for virtually any hardware that goes wrong - it's usually the device driver. Good luck! Make sure you are close to your router so you have a good signal when you try it too.

Answer 3

If you have another USB port, try swapping it into another port. Also, if you have another PC available, try it on another PC.

I'm a bit puzzled by what you mean by it "going down hill". What symptoms were there?

It sounds very much as though your USB wireless adaptor has died, but a few additional steps as above should confirm this.

Answer 4

im not sure about this, but i have a bt wireless thingy and if ever anything goes wrong just ring bt and they will sort it out for you all over the phone. you can also type in your address bar this :
192.168.1.1
this will tell you if you are connected and if not it gives a reason why.