identifying Wifi card in laptop

[persres]

Hello,
I had purchased a new laptop. I have not been able to connect to
wifi networks. I am beginning to suspect that the laptop may not have
a wifi network card. How can I verify this?.

I have windows vista. I went to Device manager in control panel. Under
network adapters there is only one entry for my lan card. There is no
entry for any wireless lan device.

May be the driver is not installed. Can you tell me how to check
1) If the device is there.

I am beginning to suspect may be there is no wireless card at all.
Thanks

 

[Paul Montgomery]

I had purchased a new laptop. I have not been able to connect to
wifi networks. I am beginning to suspect that the laptop may not have
a wifi network card. How can I verify this?.

You normally have to turn it ON for it to work. There should be a
switch.

Check your user's manual, fer cryin' out loud.

 

[persres]

well, well. I certainly have turned it on. Thanks a lot. But my
question is :
How do find out what device I have or if I have one at all?.
Either through the registry or through control panel.
Thanks

 

[Paul Montgomery]

well, well. I certainly have turned it on. Thanks a lot.

Not the computer, THE WIFI card <shaking head in disbelief>.

DID YOU CHECK YOUR MANUAL to see where the switch is??????

If it's not ON, it won't SHOW anywhere.

 

[Paul Montgomery]

you didnt specify which laptop, but normally it is FN + F2.

What brands does "normally" cover. It doesn't cover my Toshiba.

 

[persres]

I do see an ethernet controller with a question mark. So, can I assume
that the device driver is not present for this device?. And how can I
know what kind of device it is?. Its vendor type, device type etc. I
am not able to find them out. If I know the vendor type and device
type I can look for the inf in my own machine.

How do I know it is of type network card?. Can I know it in the UI?.
Or should I go to the registry?.


This is what I found in registry :
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\{4D36E972-
E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\Descriptions]
"WAN Miniport (L2TP)"=hex(7):31,00,00,00,00,00
"WAN Miniport (PPTP)"=hex(7):31,00,00,00,00,00
"WAN Miniport (PPPOE)"=hex(7):31,00,00,00,00,00
"WAN Miniport (IPv6)"=hex(7):31,00,00,00,00,00
"WAN Miniport (IP)"=hex(7):31,00,00,00,00,00
"RAS Async Adapter"=hex(7):31,00,00,00,00,00
"Realtek RTL8101 Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0)"=hex(7):
31,00,00,00,\
00,00
"Microsoft Tun Miniport Adapter"=hex(7):31,00,00,00,00,00
"Microsoft ISATAP Adapter"=hex(7):32,00,00,00,00,00


Thanks

 

[Spikey]

I do see an ethernet controller with a question mark. So, can I assume
that the device driver is not present for this device?. And how can I
know what kind of device it is?. Its vendor type, device type etc. I
am not able to find them out. If I know the vendor type and device
type I can look for the inf in my own machine.

You could try right click on the item with yellow? Properties - update
driver and let it search.

Also does it not show up in control panel - network connections - manage
network connections? The lan should show there as well.

 

[Big John]

well, well. I certainly have turned it on. Thanks a lot. But my
question is :
How do find out what device I have or if I have one at all?.
Either through the registry or through control panel.
Thanks

I have an HP Laptop and there is a little lighted icon (I guess that's
what you would call it) near the upper right corner of my keyboard. I
think it's supposed to look like an antenna. It's "touch" sensitive.
When the WiFi is turned off it's orange. Put your finger on it and it
turns blue and its on!

Big John

 

[Roberto de Cornielle]

Hello,
I had purchased a new laptop. I have not been able to connect to
wifi networks. I am beginning to suspect that the laptop may not have
a wifi network card. How can I verify this?.

I have windows vista. I went to Device manager in control panel. Under
network adapters there is only one entry for my lan card. There is no
entry for any wireless lan device.

May be the driver is not installed. Can you tell me how to check
1) If the device is there.

I am beginning to suspect may be there is no wireless card at all.
Thanks

If you received a manual with it there should be references to it,
else just go to the manufacture's web site and see if there are any
WiFi NIC drivers listed for your model notebook.

rgds
Roberto

 

[anton.m]

To get information on your network cards and all other hardware, install the
freeware program SIV from
http://www.gtopala.com/ I have been using it for more years without
problems. Anton