Laptop wont connect to wifi network

[cjw1903]

Wondering if someone could help me with a troublesome laptop that won't connect to the newly install wifi network throughout the school other laptops are connecting fine, this one just comes up with network could be out of range even though router is wall mounted a few feet above it.

its a samsung p28
running xp sp2

any help much appreciated

[imiddleton25]

Have you tried it on any other wifi networks to make sure the wireless card is working ok?

[Jose]

we had a problem with some samsung P30 laptops, some intel cards in older samsung laptops do not support AES unless you download the latest intel drivers.

if your APs are set to use AES then I would make sure your wireless cards support this.

[RabbieBurns]

try sticking sp3 on it

[mac_shinobi]

I had a few problems with some dell laptops D520's that had a similiar issue and all I had to do was shut the laptop down, flip it upside down ( may differ for your laptop as far as where the wifi card is located ) and basically unscrew a couple of screws and check which cable connected where on the wifi card and basically remove the wifi card and reseat it and then re connect said cables in relevant places and screw lid back on and turn laptop back on and try again

If its not that then I would say as above software ie updated drivers, ensure Wireless Zero Config service is running and try again.

If its still the same then either a duff wifi card, as above does not support AES or certain wifi security so maybe try it with an AP that has no security on it ?

That or the wifi card is not working at all if none of the suggestions help in which case maybe see about purchasing another wifi card either PCMCIA wifi card or one to replace the one in the laptop if you know where to get to it

If you have another samsung laptop ( same model ) and you know where the wifi card is and one works and the other does not maybe temporarily swap them around and try again ?

[cjw1903]

thanks for the quick responses

ill try connecting it to another network today,

also im gonna try downloading the new drivers for it so hopefully that should work

[Jose]

if there the old p28 laptops then I'm sure that they have older intel cards, the latest driver from the intel site solves quite a few problems.

[chrbb]

I've had some weird problems with wireless that make no sense at all, then when it finally works it still makes no sense

Toshiba laptop couldn't see a wireless access point when placed 1 metre away from it, could see Joe Blog's over the road and round the corner. Walked it round school it connected straight away to another access point, then walked it back to the original one and it finally found it.
I use net stumbler when there's a problem so I can tell which point I'm connected to, but also 'cos it makes alot of noise and looks very technical

[cjw1903]

i tried connecting it to another network which was unsecured and it connected 1st time no problems

i then re tried connecting it to the network i wantes it to connect to but it wouldnt, so the wifi card is working.

Then i tried installing samsung driver updates along with the intel driver updates and still it wont connect

help

[chrbb]

Really daft idea, but when you type in the wpa - num locks not on is it?

[cjw1903]

nope. thanks though

[mac_shinobi]

nope. thanks though

If you go into the web config page for the wifi access point - what type of wifi security has it got on it and if you tweak the security settings and see if that makes any difference

Different wifi channel ?

I would try swapping security type from wpa to wep and then to wpa personal and try the different ones and see which ones it does not work on, also not sure about this as long shot but do you get any firmware updates either for the bios if its onboard wifi or for the wifi card itself ?

If not then may be easier to just buy a mini pci wifi card assuming its got a mini pci slot for the wifi card or a pcmcia wifi card for that laptop if you cant get it to work on the wireless security you want to use