Wireless connection issues - laptop troubleshooting

[ExtraSlow]

Hey guys, my laptop is acting up. Had problems connecting to a Tim Horton's wifi last week, and didn't think much of it, but turns out I also can't connect to either of my home wireless networks. Laptop can't even see any wireless networks in my house.

Windows automatic troubleshooting attempts to reset the wireless network adapter, but no joy.

Have confirmed that the wireless network exists and has internet access using another device.

Laptop is a Lenovo ThinkPad E550.

Next steps?

[dj_rice]

New Wireless card or get one of those USB wireless adaptors if you dont wanna break into the guts to replace

[revelations]

Yea a 30$ USB WIFI device would be fine - but dummy check first - sometimes with the IBMs you can hit the wifi-off, keyboard combination (or the off switch).

[ExtraSlow]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Yea a 30$ USB WIFI device would be fine - but dummy check first - sometimes with the IBMs you can hit the wifi-off, keyboard combination (or the off switch).

I'm not understanding what you mean.

[Disoblige]

In Control Panel -> Network and Internet, and when you click on "Change Adapter Settings", is your Wi-fi adapter enabled?
Can you disable and enable it again and see if that works?

Maybe something with the driver that you'll need to update/repair? Go in the properties and have a look. Sometimes you can automatically update, or you may have to go to your PC's website to find it.

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

I'm not understanding what you mean.

He means you might have accidentally turned the Wi-fi off by a button or command on the keyboard.

[ExtraSlow]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

He means you might have accidentally turned the Wi-fi off by a button or command on the keyboard.

ah, yeah, that's a good call, there is a keyboard shortcut to turn on airplane mode. That isn't what happened though.

[ExtraSlow]

well, plugged the laptop into the network cable and within minutes it was seeing the wireless networks too. WTF? I don't feel like I did anything, maybe it was waiting for a connection to do some update in the background? Anyway, hopefully this issue is solved. Will report back if anything changes.

[firebane]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

well, plugged the laptop into the network cable and within minutes it was seeing the wireless networks too. WTF? I don't feel like I did anything, maybe it was waiting for a connection to do some update in the background? Anyway, hopefully this issue is solved. Will report back if anything changes.

For future reference from a administrator command prompt run this:
netsh winsock reset

It can generally fix a lot of weird internet issues and if that doesn't work I'd suggest driver update for network card from vendor. Windows 10 just did a update for 1803 which broke a lot of network cards.

[Xtrema]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

well, plugged the laptop into the network cable and within minutes it was seeing the wireless networks too. WTF? I don't feel like I did anything, maybe it was waiting for a connection to do some update in the background? Anyway, hopefully this issue is solved. Will report back if anything changes.

If it's on Win10, creator update is wrecking havoc on a lot of hardware. Make sure firemware/drivers are up to date.

Airplane mode is also hit and miss on Win 10 on some devices.

Ever since Windows 10 went to 6 months cadence, reliability went to shit with constant screw ups from Microsoft and hardware vendors.

[revelations]

Yea Peter, thanks to W10 updates, you might need to reinstall (manually) the drivers for the Wifi/NIC. IBM has a very good support portla where you type in your model or SN and it will show you the latest drivers.

https://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

[ExtraSlow]

I'm running win7 guys. And everything appears to work fine now.

[Kobe]

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Hey guys, my laptop is acting up. Had problems connecting to a Tim Horton's wifi last week, and didn't think much of it, but turns out I also can't connect to either of my home wireless networks. Laptop can't even see any wireless networks in my house.

Windows automatic troubleshooting attempts to reset the wireless network adapter, but no joy.

Have confirmed that the wireless network exists and has internet access using another device.

Laptop is a Lenovo ThinkPad E550.

Next steps?

Got the same laptop for when I travel - I had internet issues with it too.. The USB adaptor didn't exactly help me though

[ExtraSlow]

May require a much more powerful laptop for a business opportunity. Let's hope this current one can survive until that crystalizes.

[ExtraSlow]

Nah, this appears to be not really going away. When I connect to the hard-line, everything works good, and I've done all the driver and windows updates. Wireless works for a few hours after disconnecting too, but twice now, it's freaked out and not been able to see the networks again.
Typing this now from hard-line....

Thoughts?

[revelations]

Uninstall the driver completely - try the Windows generic drive.

If all else fails, you can drop it off at my house again with a bottle of vodka..... haha (Ill give it a good tune up and diagnostic test as well)