Wireless card cannot see any Networks all of a sudden? Why?

Hello,

A Packard Bell laptop in the office seemingly overnight stopped being able
to see any available networks.

On the Thursday Norton Security removed and AVG anti virus and firewall
professional were installed and for the rest of the day all worked fine with
connection - although no one particularly using it - just the odd checking
of emails.

On Friday morning , the laptop had lost it's internet connection and was
unable to see any wireless networks.

I tried disabling and re-enabling the wireless card but it still cannot see
the network. All other laptops in the office can see many wireless networks
in the area fine (and there are about 10 to choose from). This one cannot
see any.

I have tried disabling AVG and reinstalling drivers.

Could it just be faulty? do wireless cards just die like that?

Note the mini PCI internal card is a:
Intel Pro Wireless Lan 2100 3B Mini PCI Adapter

Thank you for any input?

Dave

David Smithz wrote:
> Hello,
>
> A Packard Bell laptop in the office seemingly overnight stopped being
> able to see any available networks.
> Thank you for any input?
>


Did you reboot?

Unfortunately, always on computers that are connected to an AP and go into
hibernation, do wierd things when the covers opened(turned on etc)...Even
worse is when the power saver kicks in and puts it in hibernation/and yuck,
turns off the hard disk!

Only thing I have found, since the laptops are always plugged into AC power,
is on AC I set it to never hibernate/never turn off (screen saver still
works, and on battery all settings are still in effect... Just change em for
on AC)

I'm sure there is probably another way to do it, but this worked, and I
haven't really messed with it since I got it working...

Keywords that make me think you should check that... A) Laptop B) seemingly
overnight

"Peter Pan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> Did you reboot?

most certainly, many times. Tried running from the battery, tried running
from the power source. Reinstalled te drviers (at least the drivers I round
on the Intel website that matched the supposed model number of the mini PC
card.
I tried turning Windows management on and off (although there does not seem
to be an alternative management option - when I turn Windows off, the Intel
drivers did not offer another software applicaiton that manages the
wireless).

So I'm thiunking I might have to buy another mini wireless Laptop card?

Or maybe start with trying a USB one?

Any other suggestions? Any other things I should try? Could AVG ben anything
to do with it?

[POSTED TO alt.internet.wireless - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <(E-Mail Removed)> on Wed, 10 May 2006 02:54:41 -0700, "Peter
Pan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>David Smithz wrote:
>>
>> A Packard Bell laptop in the office seemingly overnight stopped being
>> able to see any available networks.
>> Thank you for any input?
>
>Did you reboot?
>
>Unfortunately, always on computers that are connected to an AP and go into
>hibernation, do wierd things when the covers opened(turned on etc)...Even
>worse is when the power saver kicks in and puts it in hibernation/and yuck,
>turns off the hard disk!
>
>Only thing I have found, since the laptops are always plugged into AC power,
>is on AC I set it to never hibernate/never turn off (screen saver still
>works, and on battery all settings are still in effect... Just change em for
>on AC)

FWIW, my IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T30 with NETGEAR WG511v1 PC Card (latest drivers)
has no problem hibernating and then waking up properly on a wireless network.
The only time I run into problems is when I've changed the hardware
configuration (e.g., removed Bluetooth dongle or the wireless PC Card) while
in hibernation.

--
Best regards, SEE THE FAQ FOR ALT.INTERNET.WIRELESS AT
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/FAQ_for_alt.internet.wireless>

David Smithz wrote:
> "Peter Pan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>> Did you reboot?
>
> most certainly, many times. Tried running from the battery, tried
> running from the power source. Reinstalled te drviers (at least the
> drivers I round on the Intel website that matched the supposed model
> number of the mini PC card.
> I tried turning Windows management on and off (although there does
> not seem to be an alternative management option - when I turn Windows
> off, the Intel drivers did not offer another software applicaiton
> that manages the wireless).
>
> So I'm thiunking I might have to buy another mini wireless Laptop
> card?
> Or maybe start with trying a USB one?
>
> Any other suggestions? Any other things I should try? Could AVG ben
> anything to do with it?

You didn't mention that before... Turn off ANY virus checker/firewall while
you are testing things....

As an aside, you did mention it was mainly used intermittently for email and
stuff.. I keep all my important data on the network, and reinitializing
(restore the emergency backup) works very well.. Done that a few times, and
it almost always fixes the problem (you never know what someone has tried
that screwed things up).. Think start fresh... What the heck, your important
data should be elsewhere.

PS, I have a standard/fresh image (norton ghost) that I can restore fresh
when things go to heck (or whenever I get a new computer)