my wireless card is broken. I think?

[vettechick99]

My wirelss card in my Compaq CQ-60 is broken. It's internal so I don't know if it's loose or broken or what. I'm a little scared to open it up to look inside. Can I buy an external card to work with my Cisco router?

 

[BunsenH]

Does your laptop connect to the internet if you use a cable connection to the router?

At one time, external wireless cards connected to laptops using a PCMCIA slot. Nowadays, there are probably cards that connect through a USB slot.

 

[tiggger1]

are you sure it is broken..do you know if you have a button or a switch that you can turn your wireless is off...maybe it just got shut off?

 

[vettechick99]

Does your laptop connect to the internet if you use a cable connection to the router?

At one time, external wireless cards connected to laptops using a PCMCIA slot. Nowadays, there are probably cards that connect through a USB slot.

Well if I hard-wire to the router or the modem, it will go online.

are you sure it is broken..do you know if you have a button or a switch that you can turn your wireless is off...maybe it just got shut off?

I have a switch next to the power button. I turn it on and it turns itself off. That's what makes me think the card is broken. I mean if it was the router, it wouldn't work if I was hard-wired to it? Right?

 

[BunsenH]

1) Well if I hard-wire to the router or the modem, it will go online.



2)I have a switch next to the power button. I turn it on and it turns itself off. That's what makes me think the card is broken. I mean if it was the router, it wouldn't work if I was hard-wired to it? Right?

1). OK....just wanted to confirm that the router is working.

2) Does it turn off immediately? Do you need to enter a password to connect to your network (router)? Have you tried to reset (power off/wait/on) the router?

 

[jsmith]

Not true-the ports you connect to hardwire function differently that the radio signal that the router puts out-they could still be working and it could not be broadcasting wirelessly.
Before you do anything else-take the laptop to someplace that has free wi fi and see if you connect-then bring in another laptop to your place and see if it can connect to your router.
If your laptop will connect to public wi fi and another computer will not connect your router you can conclude your router is failing ( i had one that failed intermittantly for a couple of years before it quit completely) If you can not connect to public wifi and a new computer can connect to your router-then i would conclude my card is bad-you can easily purchase a USB replacement-and they are not terribly expensive. in the third case-you can connect to public wi fi and someone can connect to your router-you may have a setting incorrect somewhere.

 

[jel0511]

I had a similar problem with my DD's laptop. Her laptop has the windows vista basic operating system and there is a known flaw with that system and the wireless card usually included being able to "talk" to Apple Time capsule routers. I tried everything I knew and couldn't get it to "talk" to the router. It worked perfectly with our old router and we wanted the time capsule for the seamless back up for our iMac. So the only thing cheap thing I could think of to fix the problem was to buy a new external wireless card. I just turned off the internal one and installed the new one. It connects with the new router with no problems. So, you could go buy a new USB based external card and connect that way. It's not as pretty as the internal cards, but it gets the job done. On another note, her wireless card did work with other routers, just not with mine. I took it to Geek Squad and they found no problems with the card, it connected with their router.

 

[vettechick99]

1). OK....just wanted to confirm that the router is working.

2) Does it turn off immediately? Do you need to enter a password to connect to your network (router)? Have you tried to reset (power off/wait/on) the router?

No password. As soon as I turn it on, it turns itself off automatically. Yes, I've reset the power on both the modem and router several times.

Not true-the ports you connect to hardwire function differently that the radio signal that the router puts out-they could still be working and it could not be broadcasting wirelessly.
Before you do anything else-take the laptop to someplace that has free wi fi and see if you connect-then bring in another laptop to your place and see if it can connect to your router.
If your laptop will connect to public wi fi and another computer will not connect your router you can conclude your router is failing ( i had one that failed intermittantly for a couple of years before it quit completely) If you can not connect to public wifi and a new computer can connect to your router-then i would conclude my card is bad-you can easily purchase a USB replacement-and they are not terribly expensive. in the third case-you can connect to public wi fi and someone can connect to your router-you may have a setting incorrect somewhere.

You must think I live in a normal town where that's available. I may can run to a friend's house and try to log onto their wifi, but there isn't any place in my town I can go. I'm surprised there is actually Internet here.

I had a similar problem with my DD's laptop. Her laptop has the windows vista basic operating system and there is a known flaw with that system and the wireless card usually included being able to "talk" to Apple Time capsule routers. I tried everything I knew and couldn't get it to "talk" to the router. It worked perfectly with our old router and we wanted the time capsule for the seamless back up for our iMac. So the only thing cheap thing I could think of to fix the problem was to buy a new external wireless card. I just turned off the internal one and installed the new one. It connects with the new router with no problems. So, you could go buy a new USB based external card and connect that way. It's not as pretty as the internal cards, but it gets the job done. On another note, her wireless card did work with other routers, just not with mine. I took it to Geek Squad and they found no problems with the card, it connected with their router.

I am running Vista. It did connect with the Cisco router for a long time, but not anymore. Just decided one day to not do it anymore.

Is there anything I can do with my blackberry - to see if it will connect through the router?

 

[jel0511]

I am running Vista. It did connect with the Cisco router for a long time, but not anymore. Just decided one day to not do it anymore.

Is there anything I can do with my blackberry - to see if it will connect through the router?

Based on that, I'd vote your wireless card is kaput and I'd look into getting an external one. If that one doesn't work return it and say it doesn't work. You could use your blackberry if it's a WIFI enabled one. I know my iPhone is and I connect it to my router all the time. I know that DH's work blackberry isn't WIFI enabled.

 

[vettechick99]

Based on that, I'd vote your wireless card is kaput and I'd look into getting an external one. If that one doesn't work return it and say it doesn't work. You could use your blackberry if it's a WIFI enabled one. I know my iPhone is and I connect it to my router all the time. I know that DH's work blackberry isn't WIFI enabled.

Thanks. Do I have to buy a Cisco one, or will any external card work?

 

[jel0511]

Thanks. Do I have to buy a Cisco one, or will any external card work?

I think anyone will work. I think we bought a d-link one and it works with my Apple Time Machine.

 

[FireDancer]

Thanks. Do I have to buy a Cisco one, or will any external card work?

Unless you are using a high end enterprise router you can use any compatible card.

Your router will be 802.11b/g/n (remove letter from the right as needed) so all you need is a card that is rated the same. N is backward compatible with G which is backward compatible with B. Buy a card that is rated the same as your router. If you can tell us the model number of your router I can give you a recommendation on a wireless card. The built in radio was 802.11b/g in your laptop.

You might want to try and update the driver for your built in wireless card or, if it has updated recently, roll it back to a previous driver. Sometimes the issue is as simple as an input device driver messing with the WiFi switch on your laptop. That happened to our COO's laptop. An update to the keyboard driver made the WiFi power switch malfunction and it wouldn't turn on through the wireless manager because of it. I rolled it back and it worked just fine.

 

[vettechick99]

It's Linksys by Cisco. Model #WRT54GS2 V1

 

[FireDancer]

It's Linksys by Cisco. Model #WRT54GS2 V1

That is a 802.11g router so I would go with a 802.11b/g card. It looks like your laptop doesn't have a PCMCIA, Cardbus, or Express Card slot so you'll need a USB adapter.

I'd go with this one.

Also, if you don't have it secured with a WPA2 key do so. The minimum security I would advise for a wireless router would be:

20 character WPA2 key (your router and the adapter I linked to support it) using no dictionary words that has upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols. You only have to enter it once per device and it can be written down (not on the computer of course) and filed away somewhere for future use. You don't have to try and memorize it.

Turn off universal plug and play (uPNP).

Change the default administrator password.

Turn off WAN side administration.