Laptop Wireless can't find any networks

[Devo37]

got a problem with the wireless signal on my laptop.

i was over at my parents' house and happened to have my laptop (HP Pavillion, XP, SP3) with me. i turned it on and scanned for open wireless networks that i could piggyback on, but i couldn't find any (i know, unethical, but i was bored and just wanted to check the news headlines, nothing high-bandwidth).

When i got home, i scanned for wireless networks and couldn't find any either! when i'm home, i just connect a network cable to my laptop, so i don't usually use the wireless connection, but i can normally see some secured connections from other people in my apartment building.

i checked from my netbook, and it can see networks that my laptop can't. the device manager says everything is working fine. i haven't made any system changes recently, and the wireless has never been a problem in the past.

before i get into any major troubleshooting, has anyone experienced this type of issue?

[zentraed]

I'm having that problem right now with my HP Pavillion running Vista. It's about 3.5 years old, and it does this quite a bit. Usually a restart fixes it, but you may need a driver reinstall. I have some other hardware issues (screen doesn't work, random restarts during graphics-intensive applications), so I know it's time for a new notebook. How old is yours?

[Devo37]

about the same. 3-4 years old. working fine otherwise, and the wireless was working until recently.

[boosterp]

Uninstall then reinstall the drivers from the HP site. I see this more often with the Intel based wireless chips than any other.

[Tenbatsuzen]

Does the laptop have a switch to turn off and on the wireless card? My work laptop had one and the card was switched off and I couldn't figure it out until the tech guy showed me it.

[Devo37]

Does the laptop have a switch to turn off and on the wireless card? My work laptop had one and the card was switched off and I couldn't figure it out until the tech guy showed me it.

yeah, there's a switch on the front. when it's off, there's an orange light, and when it's on, there's a blue light. when i flip the switch it changes color, and if i manually disable the device, it changes from blue to orange, so it seems the physical hardware is working.

i uninstalled the device frrom the device manager, but when i rebooted, it was there again. it didn't give any 'found new hardware' message, it was just there in the taskbar. is that normal?

[boosterp]

yeah, there's a switch on the front. when it's off, there's an orange light, and when it's on, there's a blue light. when i flip the switch it changes color, and if i manually disable the device, it changes from blue to orange, so it seems the physical hardware is working.

i uninstalled the device frrom the device manager, but when i rebooted, it was there again. it didn't give any 'found new hardware' message, it was just there in the taskbar. is that normal?


Yes, as Windows rediscovered the device. Do the uninstall/reinstall in the same session or you can first try installing the driver over the pre-existing one.