lost wireless connection

[Jo-Anne]

My new Toshiba netbook running WinXP SP3 arrived yesterday. I "connected" it
to my wireless router by clicking on the wireless connection icon in the
system tray, picking my network from the ones available, and typing in my
key. It worked fine yesterday and this morning. Suddenly, this afternoon, I
can't get connected to anything. When I hover the cursor over the icon, I am
told "Wireless connection unavailable."

My desktop computer and my other laptop are working fine.

I phoned my ISP and was told there could be some interference and I should
bring in the router and the netbook to have something changed (the channel
maybe?).

Is there anything I can try on my own rather than taking everything to the
shop? Could I have done something to screw up the connection in the course
of setting up something else? Is there any chance that one of the automatic
updates could have done something? (I downloaded and installed all of the
high-priority Windows updates this morning.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[Danny Kile]

My new Toshiba netbook running WinXP SP3 arrived yesterday. I "connected" it
to my wireless router by clicking on the wireless connection icon in the
system tray, picking my network from the ones available, and typing in my
key. It worked fine yesterday and this morning. Suddenly, this afternoon, I
can't get connected to anything. When I hover the cursor over the icon, I am
told "Wireless connection unavailable."

My desktop computer and my other laptop are working fine.

I phoned my ISP and was told there could be some interference and I should
bring in the router and the netbook to have something changed (the channel
maybe?).

Is there anything I can try on my own rather than taking everything to the
shop? Could I have done something to screw up the connection in the course
of setting up something else? Is there any chance that one of the automatic
updates could have done something? (I downloaded and installed all of the
high-priority Windows updates this morning.)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

You stated that you desktop and other laptop are working, but you did
not say that they are connected wirelessly or through Ethernet cable.

Put your mouse back over the wireless network icon and right click, then
left click "View Available Wireless Networks". Are there any wireless
networks listed, the one you connected to earlier or perhaps a
neighbors, anything at all? If not click Refresh Network List, and see
if that get you anything.

On some netbook and laptops there is a physical switch for turning off
the wireless network adapter radio, and on some there is a key
combination to do this, you would need to check you owners manual for this.

Please post the make and model of the netbook.

Danny,

 

[Jo-Anne]

You stated that you desktop and other laptop are working, but you did not
say that they are connected wirelessly or through Ethernet cable.

Put your mouse back over the wireless network icon and right click, then
left click "View Available Wireless Networks". Are there any wireless
networks listed, the one you connected to earlier or perhaps a neighbors,
anything at all? If not click Refresh Network List, and see if that get
you anything.

On some netbook and laptops there is a physical switch for turning off the
wireless network adapter radio, and on some there is a key combination to
do this, you would need to check you owners manual for this.

Please post the make and model of the netbook.

Danny

Thank you, Danny! I've been thinking it's probably something I did. I was
playing with the FN key. The computer didn't come with a manual, and I've
only now located one online for the series.

What I bought is the Toshiba Mini NB205-N310. It has Bluetooth, and I'm
unfamiliar with that. I suspect I should print out the entire 207-page
manual for reference. I just found something in the manual about using the
FN key + F8 to enable and disable the optional wireless devices installed in
the computer. But so far it hasn't worked to change anything.

My desktop computer is connected physically to the wireless router. My other
laptop is connected wirelessly to the router. I can't choose a wireless
network on the netbook; when I right-click on the icon, where I'd normally
get a list of networks, what I get instead is "Windows cannot configure this
wireless connection. If you have enabled another problem to configure this
wireless connection, use that software."

Any idea of what I should try next?

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

Thank you, Danny! I've been thinking it's probably something I did. I was
playing with the FN key. The computer didn't come with a manual, and I've
only now located one online for the series.

What I bought is the Toshiba Mini NB205-N310. It has Bluetooth, and I'm
unfamiliar with that. I suspect I should print out the entire 207-page
manual for reference. I just found something in the manual about using the
FN key + F8 to enable and disable the optional wireless devices installed
in the computer. But so far it hasn't worked to change anything.

My desktop computer is connected physically to the wireless router. My
other laptop is connected wirelessly to the router. I can't choose a
wireless network on the netbook; when I right-click on the icon, where I'd
normally get a list of networks, what I get instead is "Windows cannot
configure this wireless connection. If you have enabled another problem to
configure this wireless connection, use that software."

Any idea of what I should try next?

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

Oops: "If you have enabled another problem" should be "...program."

 

[Danny Kile]

Thank you, Danny! I've been thinking it's probably something I did. I was
playing with the FN key. The computer didn't come with a manual, and I've
only now located one online for the series.

What I bought is the Toshiba Mini NB205-N310. It has Bluetooth, and I'm
unfamiliar with that. I suspect I should print out the entire 207-page
manual for reference. I just found something in the manual about using the
FN key + F8 to enable and disable the optional wireless devices installed in
the computer. But so far it hasn't worked to change anything.

My desktop computer is connected physically to the wireless router. My other
laptop is connected wirelessly to the router. I can't choose a wireless
network on the netbook; when I right-click on the icon, where I'd normally
get a list of networks, what I get instead is "Windows cannot configure this
wireless connection. If you have enabled another problem to configure this
wireless connection, use that software."

Any idea of what I should try next?

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

The FN key + F8 will turn the radio on/off.

When the Wireless antenna is ON, the wireless indicator light will
be lit. Be sure it is on.

The message "Windows cannot configure this wireless connection. If you
have enabled another program to configure this wireless connection, use
that software." For this you need to mouse over the other Icons on the
task bar, this would be down by the clock. Look for an icon indicating
the wireless adapter. You may need to use this to configure the
connection. However, I prefer to use this utility to tell windows to use
the Windows Wireless Utility and not use the Network Adapter Utility. It
would seem that somehow the switch was made from the Windows Utility to
the Vendors Adapter Utility.

Danny,

 

[Jo-Anne]

The FN key + F8 will turn the radio on/off.

When the Wireless antenna is ON, the wireless indicator light will
be lit. Be sure it is on.

The message "Windows cannot configure this wireless connection. If you
have enabled another program to configure this wireless connection, use
that software." For this you need to mouse over the other Icons on the
task bar, this would be down by the clock. Look for an icon indicating the
wireless adapter. You may need to use this to configure the connection.
However, I prefer to use this utility to tell windows to use the Windows
Wireless Utility and not use the Network Adapter Utility. It would seem
that somehow the switch was made from the Windows Utility to the Vendors
Adapter Utility.

Danny,

Yes, the wireless antenna is ON; the indicator light is lit.

The three icons in the system tray related to connectivity show the
following when I hover the cursor over them:

1. Wireless Network Connection. Not connected. Right-click here for more
options.
When I right-click, I can change Windows Firewall settings, or Open Network
Connections, or Repair, or View Available Wireless Networks. I tried Repair,
and Windows couldn't do anything. If I click on View Available Wireless
Networks, Windows says it can't configure this wireless connection. If I
click on Open Network Connections, I see four options: Network Setup Wizard,
New Connection Wizard, Local Area Connection, and Wireless Network
Connection.
Should I choose one of those options?

2. Local Area Connection. A network cable is unplugged.
Right-clicking on that icon gives me Change Windows Firewall settings or
Open Network Connections.

3. Wireless Network Connection. Wireless connection unavailable. Local Area
Connection. A network cable is unplugged.
That one seems to be Toshiba's program.
Right-clicking on that icon gives me these options: Auto Switch, Wireless
LAN Access Area, Options, Help, About, and Exit. If I click on Options, it
opens a dialog box titled ConfigFree (Option Dialog) with three
tabs--General, Profiles, and Task Tray.

So...what would be the next thing I could try?

Thank you again, Danny!

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

The FN key + F8 will turn the radio on/off.

When the Wireless antenna is ON, the wireless indicator light will
be lit. Be sure it is on.

The message "Windows cannot configure this wireless connection. If you
have enabled another program to configure this wireless connection, use
that software." For this you need to mouse over the other Icons on the
task bar, this would be down by the clock. Look for an icon indicating the
wireless adapter. You may need to use this to configure the connection.
However, I prefer to use this utility to tell windows to use the Windows
Wireless Utility and not use the Network Adapter Utility. It would seem
that somehow the switch was made from the Windows Utility to the Vendors
Adapter Utility.

Danny,

Fixed--so far. Today I called Toshiba support, and the tech person said to
do a System Restore to before I had downloaded all the Windows Updates (47
of them). He was sure they were at fault--and he said, remarkably, that I
shouldn't download any Windows Updates in the future. I told him he was
crazy (I did it politely). Doing a Restore did restore my connectivity. At
that point, I started installing the updates, 5 at a time. I finally
finished installing all of them, and I still have my wireless connection.
Any idea of what I could have done yesterday that disabled it?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[Danny Kile]

Fixed--so far. Today I called Toshiba support, and the tech person said to
do a System Restore to before I had downloaded all the Windows Updates (47
of them). He was sure they were at fault--and he said, remarkably, that I
shouldn't download any Windows Updates in the future. I told him he was
crazy (I did it politely). Doing a Restore did restore my connectivity. At
that point, I started installing the updates, 5 at a time. I finally
finished installing all of them, and I still have my wireless connection.
Any idea of what I could have done yesterday that disabled it?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

Well, I am glad for you that you are now up and running. Yes, I would
agree with you that the Toshiba Tech was crazy, you should keep you PC
up to date. It looks to me that something had changed your Network
Adapter Software from the Windows software to the Toshiba software.

What I was going to have you do is set it so the Windows Software
controlled you Wireless Network Connection. To do that you would do the
following. Right click on My Computer then Left click on Manage. In the
Computer Management Window that open in the left column, Left click on
the plus sign next to Services and Applications to expand it. Then left
click on Service. Now this window usually comes up rather small so
expand it. Now on the right side of this window is a list of all the
services, scroll down to the very bottom. Now near the bottom look for a
service called "Wireless Zero Configuration". Now double click on the
Wireless Zero Configuration service to open the properties box. Now look
at the center of the window and find Startup Type and set this to
Automatic. Now just below that you will see Service Status click on the
Start button to start it.

Now this is all mute because you are up and running already. However, if
you feel adventurous feel free to explore. You could go in and create a
restore point first that way you can do a system restore if need be.

Happy Computing,

Danny

 

[Jo-Anne]

Well, I am glad for you that you are now up and running. Yes, I would
agree with you that the Toshiba Tech was crazy, you should keep you PC up
to date. It looks to me that something had changed your Network Adapter
Software from the Windows software to the Toshiba software.

What I was going to have you do is set it so the Windows Software
controlled you Wireless Network Connection. To do that you would do the
following. Right click on My Computer then Left click on Manage. In the
Computer Management Window that open in the left column, Left click on the
plus sign next to Services and Applications to expand it. Then left click
on Service. Now this window usually comes up rather small so expand it.
Now on the right side of this window is a list of all the services, scroll
down to the very bottom. Now near the bottom look for a service called
"Wireless Zero Configuration". Now double click on the Wireless Zero
Configuration service to open the properties box. Now look at the center
of the window and find Startup Type and set this to Automatic. Now just
below that you will see Service Status click on the Start button to start
it.

Now this is all mute because you are up and running already. However, if
you feel adventurous feel free to explore. You could go in and create a
restore point first that way you can do a system restore if need be.

Happy Computing,

Danny

Thank you, Danny! I think you're exactly right that somehow I set up
Toshiba's program to handle wireless and then didn't know what to do with
it. (There were some pretty weird visuals on my screen.) When I'm feeling
less stressed--and after I get Outlook Express up and running, which
probably means doing something to set up my network--I'll go through the
steps you've outlined. In fact, I'm printing the information right now.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

 

[Lem]

Thank you, Danny! I think you're exactly right that somehow I set up
Toshiba's program to handle wireless and then didn't know what to do with
it. (There were some pretty weird visuals on my screen.) When I'm feeling
less stressed--and after I get Outlook Express up and running, which
probably means doing something to set up my network--I'll go through the
steps you've outlined. In fact, I'm printing the information right now.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

Just to add a bit to Danny's advice ... the issue isn't just making sure
that Windows Wireless Zero Configuration service is started and set to
automatic, but *also* making sure that the Toshiba wireless
configuration utility is not running.

Some people like the non-Windows wireless utility because it often has
features that Windows doesn't include. For example, if I recall
correctly, the Toshiba utility has a screen that shows all of the
available wireless networks as icons located on a series of concentric
circles, to graphically indicate the relative signal strength. On the
other hand, although Windows wireless zero configuration may not have as
many bells and whistles, it generally works well for the functions it
does have.

Typically, manufacturer-specific wireless utilities have an option
somewhere that says, in effect, "let Windows do it." This should be
explained somewhere in your user's guide. You don't have to print it all
out; use the search function to search for "wireless." Or just
right-click on all the icons in the notification area (near the clock)
until you find one that sounds like a wireless configuration utility and
then find its "options" or "settings" menu.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Just to add a bit to Danny's advice ... the issue isn't just making sure
that Windows Wireless Zero Configuration service is started and set to
automatic, but *also* making sure that the Toshiba wireless configuration
utility is not running.

Some people like the non-Windows wireless utility because it often has
features that Windows doesn't include. For example, if I recall correctly,
the Toshiba utility has a screen that shows all of the available wireless
networks as icons located on a series of concentric circles, to
graphically indicate the relative signal strength. On the other hand,
although Windows wireless zero configuration may not have as many bells
and whistles, it generally works well for the functions it does have.

Typically, manufacturer-specific wireless utilities have an option
somewhere that says, in effect, "let Windows do it." This should be
explained somewhere in your user's guide. You don't have to print it all
out; use the search function to search for "wireless." Or just
right-click on all the icons in the notification area (near the clock)
until you find one that sounds like a wireless configuration utility and
then find its "options" or "settings" menu.

--
Lem

Apollo 11 - 40 years ago:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html

Thank you, Lem! That's a very clear explanation. I know I must have started
using the Toshiba utility because I did get the concentric circles--but I
lost my wireless connection somehow. I'm almost afraid to click on the
utility again in any way--but I'll do that after I check the manual, so I
can make sure I set up the Windows version. Simplicity means a lot to me. I
don't need all the bells and whistles.

Jo-Anne