help?

[scoobstein]

Ok.... here's my situation. I'm going nuts trying to figure out a wi-fi problem, which landed me here

I have a Sony Vaio laptop with a LAN-Express AS IEEE 802.11g mini PCI adapter, a motorolaSB 5100 cable modem, and a d-link di-514 wireless router. My OS is XP Pro.


Here;s the scoop ( with comcast cable). I connected everything, and it worked fine for the first 24 hours. It hasn't worked since. Comcast says its a router problem, D-link says its a Sony problem, and Sony says it seems to be a Comcast issue. GRRRRR!

I am using an Ethernet connection, and it works when I hard-wire it to the router, but the laptop always says wireless connection unavailable now... i.e it doesn't seem to be seeing the router from a wireless perspective..

THoughts?? suggestions??? I've tried everything I thought I knew at this point.... and still no luck. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.... and thanks!


Scoob

[M/Q]

Welcome to the forum. And you are not alone, that combination has been very troublesome to many people. Would like to ask a few questions first. Is the Sony a Centrino processor? Was the miniPCI adaptor included with the notebook or an addon? It sounds obvious, but can you remember anything that might have preceded the problem. Add software, change configurations, you see where I am going? Also have you checked the XP's event viewer for any information about possible problems? You say the link works fine with a wired connection, have you checked the TCP/IP settings for the wired connection against those for the wireless connection and are they the same? Specifically check whether the XP firewall is enabled. Also do you have a third part firewall installed?

With all that said, is there any way you can test the notebook/wireless connection on a different network/node. I am trying to isolate the problem. It appears to be one of two devices, The wireless portion of the router or the wireless card in the notebook. The reason I feel this way is that the system was working and unless you made some sort of change it appears to be a hardware issue.

With that said, I have had numerous problems with the onboard miniPCI cards, so I am suspect of that. So, testing it with another node would be very helpful. Also, it would be beneficial to have all the devices and software up to date, especially drivers and firmware. I know that it was working without that, but sometimes some little change will affect the system. Also, perchance do you have a wireless pc card available to you? Where you could check the router with that. Hopefully, this might be of some help, but I have been here before and the only real solution has been to replace the miniPCI with a wireless pc card. Maybe it will be something simple.

[scoobstein]

first, huge thanks for the in-depth reply. I'll respond as thoroughly as I can....

<Is the Sony a Centrino processor?>
no.

<Was the miniPCI adaptor included with the notebook or an addon? >

included...

<It sounds obvious, but can you remember anything that might have preceded the problem. Add software, change configurations, you see where I am going?>

I do - but I can't think of anything specific.


<Also have you checked the XP's event viewer for any information about possible problems?>

No, but I just went there ( for the first time ever) and it all looks Greek to me.

<You say the link works fine with a wired connection, have you checked the TCP/IP settings for the wired connection against those for the wireless connection and are they the same?>

Yes, they are...

<Specifically check whether the XP firewall is enabled.>

Not enabled.

<Also do you have a third part firewall installed?>

No...

<With all that said, is there any way you can test the notebook/wireless connection on a different network/node. I am trying to isolate the problem.>

Unfortunately....no. I can get wireless access elsewhere from hotspots, etc, but I do not have access to another setup that deals with a similar router situation.

< The reason I feel this way is that the system was working and unless you made some sort of change it appears to be a hardware issue.>

Yep - thats what I was worried about.


>With that said, I have had numerous problems with the onboard miniPCI cards, so I am suspect of that. So, testing it with another node would be very helpful. Also, it would be beneficial to have all the devices and software up to date, especially drivers and firmware.>

I've updated the firmware - not entirely sure how to know that I have updated drivers.

<Also, perchance do you have a wireless pc card available to you?>
Unfortunately, no, but thats my next move if I can't resolve the issue.


Again, big thanks...

[M/Q]

OK, thanks for the thoughtful answers. Am I correct is understanding that you are able to take your notebook to a hotspot and it works? Have you tested this after the connection problem surfaced with the router? If the notebook is working at another network, it probably is not the problem. As you mentioned that nothing else happened to affect the wireless card configuration. The router maybe suspect if the above is true.

It may sound obvious, but I assume you have checked the wireless configuration settings on the router? Maybe even did a reset of the router to see if that helps? Also, is it possible that there maybe other wireless networks in the vicinity? On an outside chance there maybe some interference that is blocking the link, like a 2.4gHz cordless phone.

As for the event viewer, I would like to know about any of the system and application ones that have a red X by them.

As for the drivers, you should check out the Sony website to see if there are any updates for the wireless card available. The same applies for the router.