Intel wireless wifi link 4965agn can't connect

First off, I'm not extremely knowledgable in computers, so try not to lose me with too much technical information.

I just bought a brand new laptop 2 days ago from ibuypower.com and my Intel wireless wifi link 4965agn card will not pick up any networks in range at all.

I use Windows XP 32 and as far as I know, the settings are correct for the card.

There are clearly networks in range and I tested this on an older laptop which found 6 networks in range of my house. I also went over to a friends house who has his own wireless network and stood 2 feet away from the router and still would not connect. The local area internet works fine.

I just transferred the newest drive from intel.com via flash drive over to my laptop and the wireless network still will not pick up anything.

In a strange instance, I had my laptop hooked up to my friends local area network using a cable and when we took it out, the wireless network actually worked. I walked around his house and it worked fine. I shut the laptop down for a while and when I rebooted, it couldn't find his network even though it was a preferred network.

I just called intel and ibuypower but I literally just missed them and now they are closed for the weekend. I need to get this resolved before I go to college.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

You could try making sure that everything is set up properly, like security and your password. Most of my connection issues were always related to wrong password and wrong encryption.

 

Are you connected now using Ethernet?

 

Problem isn't that I can't connect to networks, it's that I can't find them.

 

I'm on my desktop right now which does use ethernet. But the only time I've been able to connect to the internet on my laptop was using my friends network. However I had to connect it with a cable, the wireless card didn't actually find the network.

 

This might not solve the issue but it's worth a try. Go to Start-->Run and type services.msc and hit enter. Scroll to the Wireless Zero Config. Service and make sure it's set to "Automatic" and it's "started". If it is already set like this, restart the service either way.

I really can't think of any other reason the laptop wouldn't find networks nearby unless the above mentioned service wasn't started OR the wireless adapter card isn't turned on and enabled.

Edit: Or maybe the wireless card is being turned off to save power. To check this go to Contol Panel-->System-->Hardware-->Device Manager. Look for ur wireless card under the network adapters list, right click on it and select properties and take a look at the Advance tab for settings pertaining to power saving features. [Do not allow the computer to turn off the device.]

 

It is set to automatic and started (I restarted.) There weren't any problems with power saving either. What do you mean by the wireless adapter card? I'm not sure I have that.

On a side note, when I go to Wireless Network Connections and refresh the network list, it tells me "No wireless networks were found in range. Make sure the wireless switch on your computer is on." I'm not sure if it gives that message as a default when networks aren't found, but I'm 95% sure my laptop doesn't have a wireless switch.

 

1. The wireless adapter card is your Wirless Card..I don't know how else to explain it...u have the LAN (Local Area Network) card, and u have a WLAN (Wireless LAN) card...the interface inside the laptop is reffered to as an adapter card. If u went to device manager u would see ur network devices under the "Network Adapters" section.

2. Umm..i've never came across a laptop w/ out a wireless adapter switch. [which is used to turn ur WiFi card on/off] So i'm sure urs has one as well. If it's not a switch or button it's a combination of keyboard keys that has to be pressed to enable it. Something like the FN (Function key) and another key that looks like a "wireless" signal symbol. This key is usually to the top where the F1, F2....keys are.

 

Wow!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited. It turns out it was one of the Fn Keys. It doesn't look like a wireless symbol to me but it definately turns wireless on and off. Thank you so much. You've saved me so much trouble.

 

yup.. was just about to mention going into the network connection properties and enabling the wifi device.
same thing as Fn

 

Gr8...you've learnt something new about ur laptop.