Problems connecting my laptop my wireless network?

Question

I had previously managed to successfully connect my laptop to the wireless network on my main computer so I know that the connection worked. However, a couple of days ago, the connection just cut out and the wireless Network Adapter on my laptop wont connect to the network.

My laptop recognises the signal and it shows the signal strength to be excellent so I know that the laptop can pick up the signal from the router. In fact it repeatedly tells me that it can detect the network and it shows up in the list but when I try to connect, it says

'Windows is unable to connect to the selected network. The network may no longer be in range. Please refresh the list of available networks and try again'

The actual router shows up as working fine as well so I dont think its a problem with the main PC.

Do I need to reinstall software, enter the right codes or just kick it?

By the way, I followed Blndchick's advice and I uninstalled the wireless adapter. It restarted and now it wont even log on so I suppose it doesn't matter anymore as the whole laptop has broken.

Nevermind. Fixed it.

Answer 1

Try restarting the router. Just remove the power cable and then plug it back in.

If that doesn't work, I would try uninstalling the wireless adapter from device manager and allow windows to reinstall it. Then set up the connection again.

Answer 2

If you've verified that you have the WEP/WPA password entered correctly on your laptop and that the router knows your MAC address if you are using filtering, then there could be one other problem:

If you live in a neighborhood with lots of houses or in an apartment building, the problem can come from multiple people using wireless routers and not changing the default settings, or when people use very generic SSID's for their routers. When this happens, you might find that you have 3 or 4 people with the SSID "Linksys" all living very close to each other. If that is the case, your computer may be trying to connect to someone else's wireless router which might have a different WEP key (if they've configured one) or it might have MAC filtering. The other potential problem could be that you have someone close enough by that is using the same channel and causing just few enough errors that your physical connection won't be affected, but the data will have enough errors that the WEP/WPA authentication can't complete.

If you want to have a peek at what other wireless devices are around, try getting a program called Netstumbler from www.netstumbler.com It will show you what other wireless devices are in your area, what their SSID's are, what channel they are on, whether they are encrypted or not, and other information that is useful for when you setup a wireless network.

Other than that, sometimes unplugging the wireless router for a minute and then plugging it back in helps.

Answer 3

Is there a switch on your laptop? I have one on mine. I was trying to get my wireless interenet on. but it wasn't working then I noticed the switch. you may also need to add a wirless network.