Laptop no longer able to get online, except at home

[JohnSmith]

My XP laptop suddenly stopped being able to connect to the internet at a
friend's house, either wirelessly or plugged directly into the cable modem.
Before that it connected wirelessy just fine for several days.

Nor can it find the other nearby wireless networks (neighbors, etc), which
it also could do until yesterday.

BUT - it still connects just fine at my own house, both wireless or plugged
in directly. And, as usual, it detects my neighbors' networks.

At the friend's house, I tried restarting the computer, unplugging and
restarting the router, including waiting 24 hours.

No changes of any kind were made to the computer (connection settings,
installing hardware, clicking on suspicious websites or emails etc.)

This is especially perplexing for many reasons:

1) How could I get online just fine at the friend's house, then suddenly not
be able to?

2) If it was a glitch between my computer and her ISP, then why doesn't my
computer show any available wireless networks at all?

3) How can such a problem only happen at her house but not mine?

Thanks much.. this one has me stumped

 

[JohnSmith]

:

You were probably previously connecting through that neighbours WIFI,
who have now turned on the security, thereby locking you out!

No, definitely her network. She gave me the network name and password, which
I used to connect, and it said "Connected to <her network's name>", which
indeed I was, for the first few days

 

[ANONYMOUS]

Do you get an icon in your sys-tray (bottom right corner)? If so, may I
suggest right-click on it and Select "View available wireless
networks". When you see your friend's wireless in the list, click on
Connect at the bottom of the dialog box you are in and it should
normally connect..

On wires network, follow the same procedure but this time select
"Status, and then click on REPAIR button.

Don't touch your firewall or anti-virus or even anti-spyware products
because they don't suddenly start affecting internet connections.

 

[Jack [MVP-Networking]]

Hi
Without the knowledge of what the friend's Network consist of (hardware
wise) it is impossible to guess.
Some things could change in the other Network and it is Not compatible with
your system any more.
If it was you own network I would say, try to disable the Encryption on the
Wireless Router and see if it connects. However I would Not suggest to mess
up with some one else's system.
In general, http://www.ezlan.net/wireless.html
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).

 

[JohnSmith]

Do you get an icon in your sys-tray (bottom right corner)? If so, may I
suggest right-click on it and Select "View available wireless
networks". When you see your friend's wireless in the list, click on
Connect at the bottom of the dialog box you are in and it should
normally connect..

On wires network, follow the same procedure but this time select
"Status, and then click on REPAIR button.

Tried all that already. See original message - no wireless networks come up
on the list. Also, most of the stuff in the Available Networks pop-up window
(a few buttons and check boxes) is grayed out.

But like I said, all this was working fine until one day it suddenly wasn't.

 

[JohnSmith]

Some things could change in the other Network and it is Not compatible with
your system any more.

You mean, the router could change something by itself? My friend didn't make
any changes. I am absolutely certain of this.

I will print out the pages at the site you mentioned and take them with me
(since my friend will be out of town and took her laptop with her, so I'll
have no working connection.)

I did make sure Wireless Zero was disabled, as it always has been since I
installed my USB wireless adapter some time ago.