A baffling problem

Mar 12, 2009 2 Replies

I have a Medion Akoya S5610 laptop which has an Intel(R) WLAN (Wi-Fi Link



5100) and which has been connecting wirelessly to my Linksys WAG160N without problem since I purchased the laptop last September.

This afternoon, for some inexplicable reason, I cannot connect to my network - in fact the WLAN cannot find *any* networks (it normally picks up



4 or 5 neighbours signals as well as my own).

If I ask Vista to diagnose the problem it tells me that the WLAN is switched off - but it isn't! The WLAN is switched on and off via Fn + F1 keys and a light on the front of the laptop tells me if the device is switched on or not. When I turn it on, the light comes on ok - but Vista still tells me it is switched off!



I have gone into device manager and checked the WLAN which is working correctly and enabled. I have undertaken a System Restore to yesterday when the connection was working fine. I have downloaded the WLAN drivers from Medion's web-site - but when I try to install them I am told that they are no better than the existing installed drivers.



I really cannot think of what else to try. I have spoken to Medion tech support and all they can suggest (as always!) is a factory re-set which I am extremely reluctant to undertake for obvious reasons.



Can anyone suggest anything I haven't already tried to get my WLAN up and running again?



Incidentally, I did consider uninstalling the WLAN from device manager, together with it's drivers and then re-installing. I know how to re-install the drivers - but how do I re-install the WLAN itself once I've removed it from Device Manager?



Any advice gratefully received!!



I have connected my laptop directly to the router via cable to send this post - so I know this is a problem with the laptop and not the router.



Ret.


Try booting off a Linux LiveCD and see if you can get the wireless working. Obviously this would require the wireless hardware work in Linux, but a lot of them do nowadays. If it does work, it would indicate some kind of problem with your Vista installation.

Thanks Alex - but I appear to have solved it. I did another System Restore to an earlier date and that has cleared the problem. I have no idea what caused it - but I'm now back on-line wirelessly!

Thanks for your interest!

Ret.

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