Vista- Connecting to wireless network.

We have just bought a laptop and it is Vista. We have always used XP
before. We have a router and our XP laptops are connected to the
wireless network- one has something built in which picks up signal, but
another had to have a card that slots in the side which picks up signal.
The network is open. The new laptop says it has something built in so it
can have wireless network so we assumed it would just pick up the signal
but it said it couldn't find it. We refreshed several times but got no
response. The laptop is also quite close to the router. We have searched
the help but found nothing useful and we have tried all the options we
know but we are new to Vista so don't really know where to find things.
We cannot find a switch on the laptop to switch it on either. The
language and settings are set to Maltese, but we are currently in the UK
( I don't know if that makes a difference but I thought I'd better
mention it) The signal and Internet work fine when the laptop is plugged
into the Ethernet lead, but we can't connect when it is wireless. Please
help! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.


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Kymberli wrote:
> We have just bought a laptop and it is Vista. We have always used XP
> before. We have a router and our XP laptops are connected to the
> wireless network- one has something built in which picks up signal, but
> another had to have a card that slots in the side which picks up signal.
> The network is open. The new laptop says it has something built in so it
> can have wireless network so we assumed it would just pick up the signal
> but it said it couldn't find it. We refreshed several times but got no
> response. The laptop is also quite close to the router. We have searched
> the help but found nothing useful and we have tried all the options we
> know but we are new to Vista so don't really know where to find things.
> We cannot find a switch on the laptop to switch it on either. The
> language and settings are set to Maltese, but we are currently in the UK
> ( I don't know if that makes a difference but I thought I'd better
> mention it) The signal and Internet work fine when the laptop is plugged
> into the Ethernet lead, but we can't connect when it is wireless. Please
> help! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> View this thread: http://www.wirelessforums.org/showthread.php?t=28088
> http://www.wirelessforums.org
>
In vista you can find all the possible network connections at

start/connect to

"Kymberli" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> We have just bought a laptop and it is Vista. We have always used XP
> before. We have a router and our XP laptops are connected to the
> wireless network- one has something built in which picks up signal, but
> another had to have a card that slots in the side which picks up signal.
> The network is open. The new laptop says it has something built in so it
> can have wireless network so we assumed it would just pick up the signal
> but it said it couldn't find it. We refreshed several times but got no
> response. The laptop is also quite close to the router. We have searched
> the help but found nothing useful and we have tried all the options we
> know but we are new to Vista so don't really know where to find things.
> We cannot find a switch on the laptop to switch it on either. The
> language and settings are set to Maltese, but we are currently in the UK
> ( I don't know if that makes a difference but I thought I'd better
> mention it) The signal and Internet work fine when the laptop is plugged
> into the Ethernet lead, but we can't connect when it is wireless. Please
> help! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> View this thread: http://www.wirelessforums.org/showthread.php?t=28088
> http://www.wirelessforums.org
>

First stop would be device manager, to determine if the wireless card is
'active'. My Compaq has a switch to turn the built in wireless card on or
off, as a security and power saving option.
Next step is to look in power management profile (at least that is what Acer
calls it) to see the conditions for the wireless card being on or off.
Of course, you checked the owners manual for this already?
Then take a look at the kind of card and router wireless b? g? n?

If device manager shows no wireless card, then we have to figure out how to
turn it on.
If it shows a card, then go into windows network setting and do 'find all
available networks'
Usually that is handled by a double click on the 'radio' icon in the system
tray (lower right of screen)

I would also help to indicate the make & model of computer.

Good luck with this

Stuart