Laptop won't recognise my wireless network??

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poppy767

16 posts

Geek

Topic # 112042 24-Nov-2012 10:11

Hi everyone,

Up until a few days ago my 5 year old Dell laptop (OS = vista) picked up my home's wireless network fine, but now it's not recognising it. It picks up other networks of my neighbours, but not mine. My other laptop picks up my network just fine so I've been using that in the meantime.

Any ideas??

Poppy

Oldhat

172 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 722454 24-Nov-2012 22:48

When you say "It picks up other networks of my neighbours, but not mine" do you mean that it can see other networks, but your network is not visible?

If this is the case, it could be worthwhile trying an alternative wireless channel as it may just be a combination of older hardware in the Dell and some new wireless device (either your's or a neighbour's) causing interference.

The primary wireless channels are 1, 6 or 11 for 2.4Ghz when using 40Mhz bandwidth.

poppy767

16 posts

Geek

Reply # 722657 25-Nov-2012 18:50

Yes, it picks up other networks but mine is not visible. Sorry to be a pain, but how do I change th channel?

Cheers :)

Oldhat

172 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 722785 25-Nov-2012 23:33

It depends on the make/model of the wireless router.

Opening a command prompt from the Accessories Folder, type ipconfig and look for the Default Gateway address (ie 192.168.0.1). Type that in to the address bar of your browser (Firefox, Chrome, IE) and enter the routers username/password.

On the landing page there would be something along the lines of Wireless or Wireless Settings and the channel selection will be in there.

Clear as mud. :-)

chopcomputerrepairs

12 posts

Geek

Reply # 723551 27-Nov-2012 11:57

Just to add if you want to see if the wireless is ok on the router you need to plug a lan cable to the laptop to router then do as old hats says

poppy767

16 posts

Geek

Reply # 724343 28-Nov-2012 19:35

Thanks so much for trying to help, but I don't actually need it anymore - out of nowhere it just started working again! Who knows what happened but it seems to be fine now.