Wifi Stopped Working on older PC Running XP

When that happened to DW, I re-installed drivers. I turned the WIFI off then back on in DEVICE MANAGER. I finally bought a new WIFI card, opened up her laptop and installed the new card. Nothing helped.

Then, I noticed one of her computer keys had a little "beaming antenna" symbol on it. I though "hmmmmm." I held FN and hit that key, and VOILA, her WIFI started working again.

At some point she had accidentally hit FN and that key.

She does stuff like that. I occassionally see her status bar on the side of the screen, or on the top. Or, the whole screen displayed upside down, or sideways. She never knows how she does it. I have learned how to fix it though.

Her laptop went from b/g to b/g/n capability though. Sigh.

Big Bruce wrote:
Let me clarify. First of all friend was using Vista. Second he went to major geeks site and got a free program. He could then updatde his drivers using that program. I do remember the numbers of the driver going from 7xxx.xxx.xx to 9.xxxx.xxx.xx. As we all know there is no support for Vista either, he could get on the net being hardwired but no wifi. I don't know exactly all the particulars but I do know after he did that he was able to connect to wifi. He did have a problem by trying to use the update driver selection on his laptop because it kept saying that it had the updated driver. Here is what he used... http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/iobit_driver_booster.html I just know it worked for him because I saw him do it because he was connected to my router.

It might have "worked" for your friend BUT..

Randomly installing any unknown source of drivers is really a terrible idea.

ALWAYS, REPEAT ALWAYS go directly to your manufacturer for driver support or updates..

NEVER, EVER use third party "fixer" search programs.. Your friend was lucky, could have easily ended up with a bad virus.

What you don't understand is XP is older than Vista, Vista has a bit more robust encryption settings for WiFi.. Not to mention a good chance your friends PC has a WiFi card which has a newer firmware built in to support some of the newer encryptions.

OP is dealing with older laptop which most likely does not have a WiFi card which has a new enough firmware to support the newer encryptions.

OP does need to eliminate the encryption thing as being the problem by either disabling the router AP encryption, lowering the encryption level or taking laptop to a place that has free open WiFi access (IE no encryption or password).

I would do that FIRST before declaring the drivers to be the problem..

Do the easy thing first.

IF, it turns out that the WiFi card is not compatible with newer encryption I would highly recommend buying an external USB WiFi card like the one I linked to.. It will have newer firmware and SOFTWARE that SHOULD get around XPs own encryption limitations.

Let me clarify. First of all friend was using Vista. Second he went to major geeks site and got a free program. He could then updatde his drivers using that program. I do remember the numbers of the driver going from 7xxx.xxx.xx to 9.xxxx.xxx.xx. As we all know there is no support for Vista either, he could get on the net being hardwired but no wifi. I don't know exactly all the particulars but I do know after he did that he was able to connect to wifi. He did have a problem by trying to use the update driver selection on his laptop because it kept saying that it had the updated driver. Here is what he used... http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/iobit_driver_booster.html I just know it worked for him because I saw him do it because he was connected to my router.

Big Bruce wrote:
Same thing happened to a friend of mine and he had to update the driver for the wifi, network card. After he had done that it worked like a charm.

OP is dealing with "XP" ON A OLD LAPTOP, NO "support" = NO DRIVER UPDATES..

Not to mention drivers do not just suddenly quit or "go out of date" as many people seem to think around here..

I suspect that the OP has a INTERNAL radio card failure or incorrect/incompatible security settings on the laptop and/or the access point.

XP may not fully "support" all the newest latest security settings which are available on newer access points/routers.. Most newer encryptions will need a min of Win7..

To test the security settings OP can access their router/access point and TURN OFF all security settings for the AP (IE "OPEN SYSTEM")..

Doing so for WILL NOT ALLOW HACKERS TO HARM YOUR PCS SO DON'T BE SCARED DOING SO FOR TESTING PURPOSES..

Once the AP is open then try accessing the Internet.. Good chance it will work..

If still no joy then the problem is the INTERNAL WiFI RADIO CARD IS SHOT. THEY CAN AND DO GO BAD.

You can get around that by buying a plug in USB WiFi dongle (just have to make sure it supports XP)..

Something like this..


For $12 at HERE would be a good choice.

are you doing this at home ?
what is the encryption status of the router?
can the old Xp machine do the same encryption

can you access anything else that is on the home network, like a printer

Same thing happened to a friend of mine and he had to update the driver for the wifi, network card. After he had done that it worked like a charm.