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Older laptop won't connect wirelessly
loddellbosh
Posts: 5,315
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My dad hasn't used his laptop for several months and now he wants to use it but it won't connect to the internet. It will connect to the router, just not the internet. It used to work before but he's got a new router.
It's not that old a laptop, it's a few years old and running on Vista.
He's been to a PC repair shop and they said it was because it's older and needs upgrading. Is this right and is it something I can do for him with my limited computer knowledge?
It's not that old a laptop, it's a few years old and running on Vista.
He's been to a PC repair shop and they said it was because it's older and needs upgrading. Is this right and is it something I can do for him with my limited computer knowledge?
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Try this MS Fixit as a first try
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357
to check PC ip is automatic:
http://www.wikihow.com/Change-your-IP-Address-(Windows)
use method 3 but select obtain and automatic IP.
Reboot PC and hopefully it will connect. You may have to delete old wifi network profile.
As mentioned it's best to first check if the router is connected to the internet because that might be all it is.
I don't mean just connected with a cable, I mean an actual "live" internet.
Routers need setting up correctly too.
Has he set the network ID and password to exactly what it was before? Note, though you may already know, that this is different to the router's username and password.
Do you have a network indicator at the bottom right of your screen? If so, does it show the network, and does it say "Connected" or "No internet connection"?
one is in post two.
the other is another famous vista issue with the dhcp broadcast flag
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233
That doesn't work.
Yes, and it is.
Here:
Yep, using it right now with my laptop.
The other option that might work is to delete the connection altogether then re-establish it. You delete the connection in the Manage Wireless Connections window, see here
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-manage-wireless-connections-using-windows.navId-323046.html
Select the connection then you can delete it. You can then re-connect to it from scratch by calling up the list of available networks and selecting your network and clicking Connect. You will have to enter the security key again so make sure you know what that is before doing this.
But sometimes zapping the connection and starting again from scratch sorts out connection problems.
I haven't tried the ethernet cable yet (will have to ask him if he has one), but I've just tried your second suggestion and that hasn't worked.
It works fine with a BTFON network (obviously I can't use it as I don't have an account, but it connects).
Will an adapter definitely work?
shouldn't have any probs with it I use the same one on an old pc and it works well.
Also what happens if he enters
212.58.244.66
into the address bar of the browser (just the numbers, no http or www before it). If it opens the BBC website then that might tell us something.