Wireless problem on two laptops.

[PapaBear]

I reformated two laptops for friends this week. One is a Dell with XP Home and one is an HP with XP Pro. I don't have a disk with the drivers. They got their wireless drivers through Windows update, and searching the HP and Dell websites shows the same drivers. Here's what's happening.

They both work fine wired. But when I try to connect through wireless on my secure network, they both try to connect, but can't fully. One of them tries for a while, will say "connected" for a second, then it says "automatic". The other one shows that it's connected with a good signal, but it also says "acquiring" network (or something like that).

I took one of them to a motel parking lot to try to connect to their unsecured network. Everything about it said it was connected. But I still couldn't get on the Internet.

Any ideas?

[StanUpshaw]

Did you accidentally build a Faraday cage in your house and car and are just forgetting it?

[PapaBear]

Yes, Virginia... There IS a retard!

I still have no idea why the one comp didn't work at the motel (though those connections are always spotty), but I now know why neither of them worked at home. My declining eyesight is failing me. When I wrote down my wireless connection key, I used very small letters and numbers. I then taped the key too far away for my aging eyes to read. I've been entering a "9" instead of a "Q".

:wallbash:

Kudos to StanUpshaw, though. It was a very plausible answer, since it sounds like something I would do while drunk.