Lost my wi-fi connection (but it works on my other pc)

[Small Man Big Horse]

I was working this morning on my fairly new (about three weeks old) laptop when all of a sudden I lost my wi-fi connection, and so couldn't connect to the net. I have a second, old and slowly dying laptop and it doesn't have the same issue, and connects to the internet without any problems.

So does anyone know how I might fix this? I've turned off and rebooted both laptop and router but it just ncan't detect the network, whereas it sees all of the others like my neighbours, etc, etc, so it's all a bit frustrating.

[DrGreggles]

Manually enter the SSID?

[Small Man Big Horse]

Thanks for the reply, I'm in the middle of a factory reset at the moment as a friend suggested it, but if that doesn't work I'll definitely give the SSID thing a shot.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Do you have access to the router's admin portal? The wifi band is split into discrete channels, routers can have this manually set or automatic, where it selects the least busy channel in your area, it could be that the router has decided to pick a very high or low channel that your laptop can't quite get (the exact channels vary slightly by region, but there's lots of overlap). So you might be able to switch it to a channel in 'the middle' and see if the laptop can connect.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Manually enter the SSID?

Unfortunately that didn't work, it's all very odd.

Do you have access to the router's admin portal? The wifi band is split into discrete channels, routers can have this manually set or automatic, where it selects the least busy channel in your area, it could be that the router has decided to pick a very high or low channel that your laptop can't quite get (the exact channels vary slightly by region, but there's lots of overlap). So you might be able to switch it to a channel in 'the middle' and see if the laptop can connect.

I don't, but if I called my landlord I'm sure he'd sort that out. Fortunately(ish) doing the factory reset lead to it recognising the ethernet cable and connecting that way (when that had stopped working too) so I can get online for now, it's not a perfect solution and I'm going to have to try and work out what's happened, but at least it's partially fixed for now.

[Dex Sawash]

Hold down the Genius Bar

[Wilbur]

Uninstall the network adapter and then reboot the machine.
Control panel devices/networking find the wireless adapter right click remove. Dont tick the delete driver box.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I've done the first part and uninstalled the network adapter and rebooted, but I'm confused about the "wireless adapter" part and how to remove it. I've gone in to Control Panel but can't find the Wireless Adapter - It just has "Broadband Connection / Ethernet / Wi-Fi" options, but I can't remove any of them. By remove did you mean delete? (Apologies for being so dense, I'm rubbish with computers these days).

[Wilbur]

It should be identifieacle under network adapters in device manager  right click on it and select unistall device.

[Small Man Big Horse]

I'm sure this is me being ridiculously stupid, but I've uninstalled the Broadcom802 Network Adapter bit:



But whenever I reboot it's back up there (as you can see from the pic), and I'm not sure what the wireless adapter option is.

I really do appreciate your trying to help though, and wish I understood computers better than I do these days.

[Wilbur]

No you've done it right that has reinstalled  it. If it's not fixed it then I'd probably get the router reset.

[evilcommiedictator]

Was going to say it might be a A/B/G/N/5G issue but you're machine is newer. Could always try changing the broadcast channel maybe.
Given it was working before it seems very odd. Call a Priest for a exorcism

[Small Man Big Horse]

No you've done it right that has reinstalled  it. If it's not fixed it then I'd probably get the router reset.

Thanks for that, and I'll get in touch with the landlord and hopefully they can help on that front.

Was going to say it might be a A/B/G/N/5G issue but you're machine is newer. Could always try changing the broadcast channel maybe.
Given it was working before it seems very odd. Call a Priest for a exorcism

That's what confused me, it was working fine and half way through a lesson I was teaching online it lost the network, which is all kinds of odd. At least I've got it working with the ethernet cable so it's not a complete disaster, but it is all very strange.

[Neomod]

I had a similar problem with a new router and ended up using a nano wifi dongle. After changing suppliers and getting a new router the inbuilt wifi receiver worked again. No idea why.

So if all else fails a cheap wifi dongle might be an option.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Cheers for that, I did have one of those dongle things a few years back when I lived someone without any wi-fi (and Virgin Media kept on coming up with excuses as to why they couldn't install it) so might have to get one again if resetting the router doesn't work.

[Neomod]

Cheers for that, I did have one of those dongle things a few years back when I lived someone without any wi-fi (and Virgin Media kept on coming up with excuses as to why they couldn't install it) so might have to get one again if resetting the router doesn't work.

I may have used the wrong wording with dongle. Just a £10 or cheaper usb nano wireless adapter should be able to connect you to your router.

Something like this..

[Small Man Big Horse]

I may have used the wrong wording with dongle. Just a £10 or cheaper usb nano wireless adapter should be able to connect you to your router.

Something like this..

Ah, I'm with you now, and cool, I'll order one when I finish work and hopefully it'll do the job, thanks for that.