Wi-Fi Not working on new laptop

[Squid_uk]

Hey guys,

Just got a new Acer Aspire 5741 to find the wi-fi cannot pick up any wireless networks. I have check that the wireless is turned on which the light on the laptop indicates it is and have tried updating drivers (via ethernet) etc but to no joy.

Any suggustions what else I could try before sending it back?

[TreeTops]

Did you try the function key thing? On my laptop, if I hit Fn and F2 it will toggle the Wi Fi. Yours may be a different combination of keys, but it is worth a try.

[JonnyCabs]

Are you trying to connect to your own network or just scouting for others to connect to ?

[Squid_uk]

Treetops: Yes i did it was fn +f3

JonnyCabs: I have tried to connect to different wifi at friends house and my own but it is not detecting any of the wireless networks

[JonnyCabs]

Do you have other devices that are able to connect to the wireless network at the same time that your laptop is not able to.

[Squid_uk]

Yes i have to other laptops and my iphone

[TimA-C]

Try connecting your new laptop to your router via a network cable, let it downlaod & install all the updates (especially any driver updates) and then see if it will connect wirelessly. Don't forget to unplug the network cable before trying to connect wirelessly.

[Squid_uk]

TimA-C I have already done that as mentioned in the 1st post

[johns0]

Try setting up an access point manually to your router,just get the ssid and see if it connects,i have to do that for my wireless cause it doesn't see any access points.

[JimmyS]

When you right-click the Wireless Network Connection in the Network Connections control panel, and select "View Available Wireless Networks", does your (or any) network show up? If not, check to see if your wireless NIC is accessible (sometimes from the bottom of the laptop, or under the keyboard). If so, verify that it is properly seated and that the antenna connection has not come loose. Also, whenever I add a new device into my wireless network, I have to re-enable broadcasting on my router in order to configure the new device's connection.

[stiltman]

How about, what version of wireless your router is running a,b,g,n?
Is your wireless card in your new laptop the same?
(ie. is the wireless card in your new laptop n only and your access point b/g)

[Nelson37]

Verify from OUTSIDE the device.

Verify that the two routers between them are broadcasting, AND connecting, both G and N bands, and SSID's or manually enter them. If no networks found, that would about do it right there for me. External switch, plus Fn key switch, checked and no connection or identification of KNOWN GOOD wifi should get you an RMA approval.

Updating the drivers certainly worth a shot but definitely a bad sign if they're that clueless. If Device Manager says drivers are OK I wouldn't spend a lot of time hunting down the latest drivers.

You might want to try a utility like NetStumbler which will show much weaker connections. My guess would be a bad antenna wire or bad card.

Assuming you still have warranty, I would not attempt any disassembly or repair at all, just get a replacement unit.

[classfour]

Check Acer tech support. You may have a bad WiFi card or missing driver.

The last laptop that I had that acted like this was running XP.

I had to set up the network manually, then reboot.

[lowellriggsiam]

You may need to manually turn on the wifi function.

[SLK001]

Load the program called "Wireless Net View" and run it. It will find any wireless networks in the vicinity and verify if your card is working.

If you have a Linux distro, you might want to boot into that to see if Linux is able to see any networks. If so, you may have a driver issue.

[titigrom]

Can you access to your router with a network cable ? Maybe you can't access to resources by air because your MAC address isn't listed. That happens when you have authorized some devices to be connected by wireless networks.

[Squid_uk]

I have tried everything you have all suggested apart from taking the unit apart and the only one that could be a problem is the the device manager say that there is a Broadcom 802.11n Network adaptor but according to the Acer website is say that the wifi standard is IEEE 802.11b/g

My modem is set to broadcast in g&b

Hope this may shine a little more light on the problem

[vhelp]

I hope i got everything down correctly, i was trying recall all the steps I went through and you know how it goes, once you've gotten everything setup, you start to forget how it all came together. And sorry for the long history/novel. But let me take this from a different angle.

Squid_uk: but your netbook won't see other netbooks or notebooks. That's you problem.

Your netbook is not a router. Routers by deault display their computer name (or, SSIG) i.e, Belkin; Linksys; Netgear; etc., all dispaly their SSIG name by default, so when you turn on a wi-fi device like a netbook, and you go down to the tray area and click on the bar graph to view the connection list it is displaying whatever router (or other devices) that are currently within the wifi distance of your netbook.

(But, even if you have other wi-fi devices enabled, since this is a brand new acer laptop you may still need to set up the notebook or laptop to either "see" or "connect" to them, hence have access to'em)

The "other" I was refering to earlier are the routers, compuers, notebooks and netbooks and other such devices that have wifi capabilities and feature the ability to turn on/off their SSIG name. I don't like my router (name) seen so I turn off the routers SSIG by going into a web browser and typing in the following http://192.168.1.0 or http://192.168.1.1 (depending on your router-if you have one) (and you may have to log into the router--assuming you have one in this illustration) and then navitate to the area that controls the SSIG on/off.

(If you don't have a router but are planning on getting one, get one that features printer/usb connection, this will help you later when you want to see how your computer/xbooks relate, for debuggin purposes)

For computers and laptop/netbooks/notebooks, its a little different and relates to the Networking aspects. Somewhere in the configurations of the network/wifi setup under windows, (98 xp vista win7 all different) you can turn on/off your SSIG (or, in this case, your computer name) and then it won't display it whenever someone turns on their netbook. And this includes iPod Touch's, since they too display wifi connections within the range of your iPod. So I turn my router's SSIG off, and when I go into my iPod touch or my acer aspire one netbook, and go down to the bar graph (click it once) and view the list, my router won't be listed. So, it looks like I don't exist. But I have the ability to still log into my router because down at the very bottom of that connection list is the selection called "other network" and when I want to manually log in to its wifi: I select it, give it the SSIG name, and Password, and then I'm in.

If your router (or other (SSIG anabled) wi-fi devices) are off then when you turn on your netbook you will not see anything. And perhaps that is part of your problem.

Here's what I learned from my own hell'ish endeavor dialup -> deskcomputer -> netbook -> ipod = success

Your computer can have and show all the wi-fi's out there in your connections list (bottom tool tray area) but you will never connect to them untill you have their SSIG name and password and log into them.

Here is a list of different possible scenarios:

A. Router: wireless / wifi
B. Desktoip Computer: Ethernet
C. netbook: wi-fi and Ethernet
D. iPod Touch: wi-fi

If I want my iPod Touch to connect to my netbook or desktop pc, I have to set it to the Router, not the netbook, and also all the other devices need to be set up to the router as well either through wi-fi and/or ethernet.

EXAMPLE: to set the ipod up to a router, you do the following in the ipod's settings:

1. \Settings\Wi-Fi\Other...
2. type in the network name (in this case, the routers SSIG name) i.e., Linsys.100-1
3. select the Security level according to the one used or setup in the Router (this is the Wep/Wpa/wpa2)
4. then click back on the [Other Network] button
5. and enter the password: xyz
6. then you'll see your Linsys.100-1 name with a checkmark next to it but it will have the lock icon on, but don't worry that is ok, you can't see files/folders on the ipod, but we are only interested in connecting to the internet interface so we can surf the web using the ipod's safari browser.

Then, in the netbooks setup, you have to configure it similar through windows via Network configuration, and to connect to the Router's SSIG, Security Key (ie WEP/WPA) and then the password. When they are all mapped to the router, bingo. You are connected. You can brows the internet, etc. There's a few more tid-bits to get this working on my setup because I am using dialup but i'll spare you that aspect.

I'm probably the only person in the world who is wi-fi 'ing over dialup, and on their iPod Touch

-vhelp 5455

*~*!*~*!~* HaPpY HoLiDaYs *~*!*~*!~*

[aedipuss]

I have tried everything you have all suggested apart from taking the unit apart and the only one that could be a problem is the the device manager say that there is a Broadcom 802.11n Network adaptor but according to the Acer website is say that the wifi standard is IEEE 802.11b/g

My modem is set to broadcast in g&b

Hope this may shine a little more light on the problem

acer doesn't have a good rep. i can believe they don't even know what kind of wireless card is in the unit. before the return date passes i'd get rid of it.