Question : Problem: Wireless network not visible

Hi,

A friend of mine has moved into a house with a wireless network with a shared internet connection. There is a PC connected to the wireless router by cat5/RJ45 cable and a laptop that connects by wireless.

For some reason his laptop doesn't detect the wireless network. If he opens the Connect to a network window a couple of other nearby networks are visable but the one in his house only appears intermitently, usually it just isn't detected. When it does appear he can't connect and he isn't even asked for the WEP password. The router is broadcasting the SSID.

I took his laptop home with me and tried it on my network and although it didn't always detect my network,  when it did I could connect OK.

Sorry I don't have the make/model of the laptop or router - router is TP-LINK, but I don't know the model. The laptop has Vista with SP1.

Many Thanks for any help.

Answer : Problem: Wireless network not visible

A lot of people have wireless routers these days, and your computer can get confused about which one it is trying to connect to.

OK so full disclosure now - I work for Pure Networks, a maker of networking software products that make home and small office networking easier for people.

We have a couple of products which may help you out.

One is a free online wireless network scanner. You could run it and it may help diagnose whether you are actually connecting to your own wireless router. You can find that wireless network scan here:

http://www.purenetworks.com/securityscan


Also, you may want to try the free download of our Network Magic software, which helps people setup and manage their networks. You can get that at - http://www.networkmagic.com/download/

Hope that helps.