Laptop Question

[Ron]

My sister has a HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr with Vista.

She has Uverse and had to have a new modem/router installed (they are one in the same). After that, no wireless connection. Installer came back to thehouse and told her (after an hour and a half) that her wireless network card was probably bad. He gave her a Netgear wireless/wifi flash drive and she now has a wireless connection in the home.

Question, is that Netgear drive a cheap replacement for the actual wirelesscard? IOW, I told her not to worry about getting the network card replacedthat the wifi flash drive would be fine for all wifi locations.

 

[Paul]

My sister has a HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr with Vista.

She has Uverse and had to have a new modem/router installed (they are one in the same). After that, no wireless connection. Installer came back to the house and told her (after an hour and a half) that her wireless network card was probably bad. He gave her a Netgear wireless/wifi flash drive and she now has a wireless connection in the home.

Question, is that Netgear drive a cheap replacement for the actual wireless card? IOW, I told her not to worry about getting the network card replaced that the wifi flash drive would be fine for all wifi locations.

The Netgear device would be a "USB Wifi adapter".

It has a radio chip, a small patch antenna, all on a PCB
inside the adapter.

It would take the place of the Broadcom Wifi module and dual
antennas, inside the laptop itself.

The only reason for not wanting it, is having it stick out
of the laptop.

If you unplug it, chances are the Uverse to laptop connection
will no longer be working. Until you can figure out what is
mis-configured on the internal Broadcom one.

You can see what the Wifi module inside the laptop looks like, here.

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/images/HP-Pavilion-dv7/disassemble-notebook-04.jpg

Paul

 

[Ken]

My sister has a HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr with Vista.

She has Uverse and had to have a new modem/router installed (they are one in the same). After that, no wireless connection. Installer came back to the house and told her (after an hour and a half) that her wireless network card was probably bad. He gave her a Netgear wireless/wifi flash drive and she now has a wireless connection in the home.

Question, is that Netgear drive a cheap replacement for the actual wireless card? IOW, I told her not to worry about getting the network card replaced that the wifi flash drive would be fine for all wifi locations.

Two things: When the modem is replaced the security key to communicate
with the modem will be different unless the installer manually changes
it on the new modem to the same key as the old modem. I know this
because I have a laptop and U-Verse, and also had the modem changed.


Also, is your sister sure that the wireless card in her laptop is simply
not disabled?? I have a HP laptop and it can be disabled by the FN key
and I [think] F-9 if I am not mistaken. The reason I ask is that I
inadvertently disabled my wireless by hitting the keys to disable it.

 

[Larry]

My sister has a HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr with Vista.

She has Uverse and had to have a new modem/router installed (they are onein the same). After that, no wireless connection. Installer came back to the house and told her (after an hour and a half) that her wireless network card was probably bad. He gave her a Netgear wireless/wifi flash drive and she now has a wireless connection in the home.

Question, is that Netgear drive a cheap replacement for the actual wireless card? IOW, I told her not to worry about getting the network card replaced that the wifi flash drive would be fine for all wifi locations.

I have a usb wireless adapter running on a desktop. It has an antenna
and extends out a couple of inches from the front of the desktop. It
works great and less expensive than a network adapter. No problems
with it except that it takes up a usb port, but I can spare that.
Larry

 

[Ken]

Ken used his keyboard to write :

My sister has a HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr with Vista.

She has Uverse and had to have a new modem/router installed (they are
one in the same). After that, no wireless connection. Installer came
back to the house and told her (after an hour and a half) that her
wireless network card was probably bad. He gave her a Netgear
wireless/wifi flash drive and she now has a wireless connection in
the home.

Question, is that Netgear drive a cheap replacement for the actual
wireless card? IOW, I told her not to worry about getting the network
card replaced that the wifi flash drive would be fine for all wifi
locations.

Two things: When the modem is replaced the security key to
communicate with the modem will be different unless the installer
manually changes it on the new modem to the same key as the old
modem. I know this because I have a laptop and U-Verse, and also had
the modem changed.


Also, is your sister sure that the wireless card in her laptop is
simply not disabled?? I have a HP laptop and it can be disabled by
the FN key and I [think] F-9 if I am not mistaken. The reason I ask
is that I inadvertently disabled my wireless by hitting the keys to
disable it.

User name and security key were changed. She did that over the phone.
ASA the wireless being disabled, I'll ask her about that. Don't know if
that was mentioned to her or not. I thought about that but I don't know
for sure which key it is and didn't want to create more problems since
it's working now.

The key is F-12 and has a LED to indicate the wireless card is enabled
when lit. If it is off, press FN and F-12 at the same time. I believe
it should then turn on and the LED light to indicate it is active.

 

[Ken]

Ken used his keyboard to write :

Ron wrote:
My sister has a HP Pavilion dv7-1135nr with Vista.

She has Uverse and had to have a new modem/router installed (they are
one in the same). After that, no wireless connection. Installer came
back to the house and told her (after an hour and a half) that her
wireless network card was probably bad. He gave her a Netgear
wireless/wifi flash drive and she now has a wireless connection in
the home.

Question, is that Netgear drive a cheap replacement for the actual
wireless card? IOW, I told her not to worry about getting the network
card replaced that the wifi flash drive would be fine for all wifi
locations.



Two things: When the modem is replaced the security key to
communicate with the modem will be different unless the installer
manually changes it on the new modem to the same key as the old
modem. I know this because I have a laptop and U-Verse, and also had
the modem changed.


Also, is your sister sure that the wireless card in her laptop is
simply not disabled?? I have a HP laptop and it can be disabled by
the FN key and I [think] F-9 if I am not mistaken. The reason I ask
is that I inadvertently disabled my wireless by hitting the keys to
disable it.

User name and security key were changed. She did that over the phone.
ASA the wireless being disabled, I'll ask her about that. Don't know if
that was mentioned to her or not. I thought about that but I don't know
for sure which key it is and didn't want to create more problems since
it's working now.

The key is F-12 and has a LED to indicate the wireless card is enabled
when lit. If it is off, press FN and F-12 at the same time. I believe
it should then turn on and the LED light to indicate it is active.

This is for a DV-6, but it might be the same as yours.


http://www.microcentertech.com/tech_center/DB/read_article.php?faqid=./HowTos/HOW2000021B.htm