3250HX80 Wireless Cannot See Hotspot

What are the most likely settings to check to make the onboard wireless g see hotspots, bearing in mind that I connected a Belkin USB wireless adapter which works.

When I r-click on the wireless icon in the tray and choose "view available networks" then choose "refresh networks list" nothing is found. Whereas the external Belkin finds and lets me connect to the hotspot.

This is a brand new system. Everything else seems okay ... so far.

 

Chutman- I'm not completly familiar with the 3250s setup, but if its like some other AV laptops you may need to switch ON the onboard wireless. There may be a button somewhere by the power switch. I know it sounds corny, but sometimes that simple step does get overlooked. If it IS on, then you may want to reinstall the drivers or see if an updated driver is available, that could issus as well.

Of corse, if none of this works, then i'd be on the phone with Averatec support for more assistance.

DD

 

The other problem you might have is that the Windows wireless interface you are trying to use might be being overridden by another control interface preinstalled by the manufacturer. In this case that would be the Broadcom Wireless Utility in the Control Panel. If you want to use the Windows default interface you were trying to use before, then go to the Broadcom Wireless Utility in the Control Panel and then check the box "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings" under the Wireless Networks tab.

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Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician
CompTIA A+ and Network+ Certified
"Why are you laughing? Change the name and the story is about you." ~Horatius

 

Right click on the wireless connection icon in the system tray and select status on both systems. Compare the IP addresses on the support tabs between the two systems. If they have different gateway addresses that could be your problem. If they are the same, go to Tools > Options > Connections in IE, click LAN settings, and make sure automatic configuration is checked. Restart IE. See what happens. Tracert'ing a URL wouldn't be a bad idea either.

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Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician
CompTIA A+ and Network+ Certified
"Why are you laughing? Change the name and the story is about you." ~Horatius

 

Thanks Damnage ... that got me one step further - the switch to turn on the wireless was next to the ON/OFF switch - darndest feature I've ever come across!!

Now I'm getting a good connection, but when I launch IE, it cannot find the website. Tried several websites. Another notebook I have here has no trouble getting the websites.

Any suggestions for this?

 

Okay, I see two differences:
Working Unit: Gateway - 192.168.1.1
Not Working: Gateway - blank

Working Unit: Address Type - Assigned by DHCP
Not Working: Address Type - Automatic Private Address

How do I make the change in the Gateway and the Address Type (if this matters)

Thanks.

 

After posting my last reply, I went looking and found that TCP/IP settings. As you said, all was set to auto. So I tried a manual setting and copied the settings from the working unit. Then checked them in the Status/Support Tab as suggested before by Lucian (automatic config in LAN settings of IE were checked) and except for the ADDRESS TYPE now saying Manual, all the number were the same, BUT still no web pages are accessible.

A router is not in the equation here, at least one that I have control over ... this is a free hot spot.

BTW, I couldn't find a Broadcom Wireless anywhere in the CP.

 

go to network connections in control panel. then right click on the wireless card (the one that isn't working) and click properties. in the 2nd window, double click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Now everything should be set to auto here, (at least mine is and its working). Try that. It may do something different now, if those weren't on auto. But is sounds like they are. It could be your router isn't giving the card an address. You should check to see if DHCP is set up on your router. and if you have mac filtering, add the new laptop to the filter list.

 

I'm not so sure about the lack of addresses to give out, but I'll check into that. Yes, I am trying to have both laptops connected at the same time. BUT ... I have some success of sorts ... it is not perfect or "pretty".

If, in IE, I set the Option to "Dial whenever a network connection is not present" I can get some web pages to come up BUT some will not and I get the "WEb Page unavailable offline... " window popping up.

In those pages that come up, I cannot get to where links point - again the "Web page unavailable offline ... " window pops up.

Thanks again ... getting closer and closer [ ]

 

there could be a chance that the ap that you are trying to connect to doesn't have anymore ip addresses that it is set to lease out left. And here is something else, which i am sure you aren't doing, dont use both cards at the same time (just in case).

 

Ignore what I said above about partial success ... seems like the pages were coming up from the cache.

I think the problem has to do with what Lucian alluded to about the settings seen when you r-click the tray icon and choose the Support tab. Two working notebooks have the same settings, but I cannot make the Averatec match those settings on its own.

 

THe thing there is, if both systems are configured to obtain IP addresses automatically, and one is doing this successfully and the other is not, that limits possible solutions quite a bit, and most of them are unlikely.

The most likely is that the network is encrypted. You can check this on your Averatec by going to start > control panel > Broadcom Wireless Utility > Site monitor and checking the security column for your wireless network. If it is encrypted it will say WEP, otherwise it will say none. If your network is encrypted you will need to find the guy who set it up and get the WEP key from him, and he can probably set it up for you more easily than I can via this forum.

Less likely is a standards incompatibility, although I have seen it happen. It may be that you have to set your Averatec's wireless manually to operate at 11 mb/s as opposed to autoselect up to 54 mb/s. This is done by:
right clicking on the wireless network tray icon, selecting status
clicking on properties button in the general tab
clicking on the configure button in the general tab of the window that comes up
clicking on the advanced tab
find and select IBSS 54g(TM) Mode
set the IBSS 54g(TM) Mode value to 802.11b only
find and select rate in the list
set the rate value to 11

And while you're at it, set power save mode to disabled.

The least likely explanation for this behavior is that your access point is configured for MAC address inclusion/exclusion, which also would require you to hunt down whoever configured it.

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Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician
CompTIA A+ and Network+ Certified
"Why are you laughing? Change the name and the story is about you." ~Horatius

 

Lucian, first off, I appreciate the time you are taking to help. I tried your suggestions without success. But I suspect that the problem is because the gain/sensitivity or whatever, on the onboard wireless device is not adequate. My reasons:

1. I can connect a Belkin USB wireless adapter and it connects to the hotspot AND I can access the web.

2. I went to the local library, which has wireless, connected instantly AND got on the web.

Here in my house, I think I'm on the very fringe of the hotspot even though three other systems (two laptops and a Mac desktop) are able to get on the web through it. One of these laptops and the Mac, while they can get on the web, the signal is not always consistant. The other laptop, a Sony 10-inch, is able to keep the connection more solidly. In fact I think I can crawl under the bed or go in a closet with the Sony and it will still keep the connection [ ]

So is there some variation in the sensitivities between wireless devices?

You mentioned Broadcom Wireless Utility ... I don't have that in the Control Panel, should I?

 

I thought the Broadcom Wireless Utility would be common on all 3200 series. Guess not.

However if you are having to work as hard as it seems to get systems to keep a reliable connection in your location then you are probably right in thinking you are too far away. I would recommend getting another wireless card and an external antenna if it's important enough to you to get that signal. Fleeman Anderson and Bird is a good place to start for such hardware.

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Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician
CompTIA A+ and Network+ Certified
"Why are you laughing? Change the name and the story is about you." ~Horatius

 

Thanks again .. I've ordered another Belkin USB adapter since the one I borrowed off another system works fine.

 

Even my 6130 HS had the broadcom wireless utility, but the card was made by Ralinktech! and it did absolutely nothing. So they (averatec) seem to randomly put wireless software on.

 

Are you saying that the onboard wireless does not work for you or you had to remove the Broadcom software? If you removed the software, what did you replace it with?

 

I got the drivers and config software right from ralinks site. And it controls the card a lot better then windows. THe broadcom software was there for no reason, it wasn't compatible with the ralink card. Windows was able to control it, but averatec had loaded the wrong driver on it from factory. So it also dropped connection lots. Once i got the ralink drivers, it fixed all my wireless problems.

I dont know what card is in the laptop that you have, but if you can find out, check out the manufacturers site. They will prolly have better drivers and such.

 

I ran Everest Home and all it said for the wireless card is "802.11g MiniPCI Wireless Network Adapter". How do I tell if it is a Broadcom or an RALink?

 

Okay, nevermind .. found it in Device Manager ... it's RaLink. I saw someone posted that there were some new drivers. I'm going to try them.