Resolved Weird W7 wireless issue

I fix computers. My workshop LAN is powered by a NetComm NB304N modem-router. Every day for the last couple of years since the modem was new, a fresh batch of customer's laptops have connected to the net wirelessly and hitchlessly.

I'm belaboring this point to show that my network and modem are pretty much trouble free.

However, today I ran into a wifi problem with a Windows 7 Ultimate laptop that I can't solve.

This Acer 5220, with fully updated drivers and Windows updates, can 'see' the half dozen neighboring networks that surround my workshop, but not my own. As I type this, on the Acer, two other machines that sit beside it - one XP, the other W7 - are connected wirelessly. The Acer will only connect by cable.

I'm stumped. I can't understand how this computer can detect networks 30-40 meters away but not one in the same room.

Anyone have a suggestion?

 

Thanks, TonyT. No, that was the first thing I tried.

Then I thought maybe the Atheros wifi card drivers. So I installed the latest. No improvement.

It's crazy. The neighboring networks are visible and apparently available for logon if I had their passwords. But no hint, flicker, sign of my own.

I tried switching my NetComm off and on again - no change.

Later: Just talked to the customer. He said the laptop worked wirelessly on his home network when it was running XPP. Then, several months ago, a friend upgraded it to W7 without any obvious problems.

But ever since the upgrade the machine had been wired into his LAN. He only discovered the wifi issue last week when he tried to use it remotely.

Thanks for the input.

 

Have a look at this link to see if you've covered these suggestions: WiFi lost after upgrade from XP to W7

Cheers Neil.

 

Problem solved but first I'll answer:

Neil: Thanks but the 'wifi wasn't lost after an upgrade'. It works fine, just not on one modem router.

TonyT: Tried swapping in another card but still no joy.

The solution? Rebooted the modem. Must have been an IP address issue

Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

 

just for jokes, did you look in the router's log and see an attempt by the DHCP to give that machine an address? Did it see the MAC address?

 

No, default setting is no logging and I've never turned it on.