# Laptop not "seeing" wireless network **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 19, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-not-seeing-wireless-network/525605 "2010-01-19T20:15:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-not-seeing-wireless-network/525605/1 "2010-01-19T20:15:59Z")
I have a friends laptop that is having trouble connecting to her home wireless router. When at home, the computer doesn’t even detect the SSID for the network, and won’t connect if I try forcing it. It will connect to the router through an ethernet cable with no problem. The laptop in question has no trouble connecting to other wireless routers, and other computers will connected to this router. So, I have no idea why this laptop won’t connect to this router. The laptop in question is running Vista, and the router is a NETGEAR. If anyone knows what I can do to get this fixed, I would greatly appreciate it. ---
**Author:** ![HorseloverFat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8e8cbc/32.png) [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-not-seeing-wireless-network/525605/2 "2010-01-19T20:52:09Z")
Go into hardware manager, find the wireless device under network, right-click and select uninstall. Reboot it. That’ll reapply the driver and might clear up any weird issues. ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-not-seeing-wireless-network/525605/3 "2010-01-19T20:58:50Z")
Alternatively, the router might be set to not broadcast the SSID. Hook up an ethernet cable and type “192.168.0.1” into your browser’s address bar. This should bring up the router’s configuration screen. (You may have to login, try leaving the user/pass empty or leave whatever pops up and hit ok. If there is a password that your friend doesn’t know about, you may have to reset the router) There should be a menu for wireless settings or something like that and a button for enabling/disabling SSID broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-not-seeing-wireless-network/525605/4 "2010-01-19T21:00:49Z")
Personally, I’d go into the router and re-check the config to make sure that it’s set up as an AP (and not in wireless bridge mode), that the SSID is being broadcast, that it doesn’t have MAC address filtering enabled, etc etc…before I blew away the wireless NIC driver, especially since the OP says it works fine on other wireless AP’s. That’s my advice anyway, FWIW. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-not-seeing-wireless-network/525605/5 "2010-01-19T21:03:35Z")
> [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](#): > > I have a friends laptop that is having trouble connecting to her home wireless router. When at home, the computer doesn’t even detect the SSID for the network, and won’t connect if I try forcing it. It will connect to the router through an ethernet cable with no problem. > > The laptop in question has no trouble connecting to other wireless routers, and other computers will connected to this router. So, I have no idea why this laptop won’t connect to this router. > > The laptop in question is running Vista, and the router is a NETGEAR. > > If anyone knows what I can do to get this fixed, I would greatly appreciate it. Can the laptop detect and connect to other WiFi Networks? Can other WiFi adapters see and connect to the Netgear router? Is the Netgear Router an 802.11n product? Check and see if it’s set to 5 Ghz only mode. If it is, and your friend’s adapter is B/G, it won’t be able to see the 5Ghz broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-not-seeing-wireless-network/525605/6 "2010-01-19T21:05:40Z")
I’ve had success twice with solving problems of the kind you describe by installing an upgraded firmware for the router (Netgear routers both times). You can access the firmware upgrade by logging into the router as described by Nunavut Boy (over a cable connection of course!) Also you could try changing the wi-fi channel, in case you are getting interference. And check the MAC access as suggested by xtisme. ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-not-seeing-wireless-network/525605/7 "2010-01-19T21:23:42Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > Can the laptop detect and connect to other > WiFi Networks? Yes > [@](#): > > Can other WiFi adapters see and connect to the Netgear router? Yes > [@](#): > > Is the Netgear Router an 802.11n product? Check and see if it’s set to 5 Ghz only mode. If it is, and your friend’s adapter is B/G, it won’t be able to see the 5Ghz broadcast. I’m not actually sure, however since it works fine with my laptop which is a 802.11B I don’t think that’s the problem. > [@hibernicus](#): > > I’ve had success twice with solving problems of the kind you describe by installing an upgraded firmware for the router (Netgear routers both times). You can access the firmware upgrade by logging into the router as described by Nunavut Boy (over a cable connection of course!) I didn’t think of that, I’ve always been hesitant to upgrade the firmware of devices, ever since the power went off when I was flashing a BIOS way back when. If I can’t fix the problem any other way I’ll try this. > [@](#): > > Also you could try changing the wi-fi channel, in case you are getting interference. And check the MAC access as suggested by xtisme. I actually thought of that, but when I went into the setup to change the channel, I couldn’t figure out how to. The channel field in the setup only has the one option (channel 06 if curious). > [@xtisme](#): > > Personally, I’d go into the router and re-check the config to make sure that it’s set up as an AP (and not in wireless bridge mode), that the SSID is being broadcast, that it doesn’t have MAC address filtering enabled, etc etc…before I blew away the wireless NIC driver, especially since the OP says it works fine on other wireless AP’s. MAC filtering is disabled, it is broadcasting SSID, and I even tried changing to just to rule that out. It is set up as an AP. > [@HorseloverFat](#): > > Go into hardware manager, find the wireless device under network, right-click and select uninstall. Reboot it. That’ll reapply the driver and might clear up any weird issues. I’ll try this next time I get over to her house, hopefully tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestions so far, keep them coming. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-not-seeing-wireless-network/525605/8 "2010-01-19T21:29:29Z")
Do you have encryption turned on? If so, try disabling it and running it in the clear. Also, check compatibility between the laptops WNIC and what the router is broadcasting. You can also try the update the firmware as another poster upthread suggested…I’ve had that ‘fix’ similar problems in the past. (ETA: try changing the channel on the router…the default is usually 7, but I’ve had problems interference before) Short of that, try nuking the AP back to factory defaults, then go in with a basic config and see if it will connect then. If not, then I’d try the first posters suggestion and whack the wireless NIC driver and re-install (also, can try firmware on the motherboard of the laptop and make sure you have the latest NIC driver for the wireless card). If none of that helps, try sacrificing a chicken… -XT