Me vs Wireless Card: can't find any networks, eh

[aimlessWonderer]

Finally, I break down and post.. won't find any networks, can't find any networks

I will try to provide as much info as possible to hopefully help anyone who is willing to take a gander at this issue that I can't solve

first off here are computer specs:
gateway m-6309,
Windows Vista
Intel Pentium Dual cpu T2230 @ 1.6ghz, 2gb ram
wireless lan network adapter, realtek RTL 8187b 802.11b 54mbs usb 2.0 adapter on

observations:
- device mgr says wireless adapter device is working properly
- wireless switch on side is on
- have fn-f2'd my **** off
- have checked for driver issues and have reinstalled realtek driver just for good measure
- have checked home lynksis router and all other devices can wirelessly connect
- this machine won't find any networks at home or in other hotspots
- ipv6 and ipv4 are checked
- firewalls and the like are turned off at the moment
- have reset the tcp/ip stack and winsock entries
- services are all enabled

have tried to "diagnose the problem" through Vista "help"
- keeps saying i need to turn on wireless capabilities
- windows cannot find any networks

Questions:
possibly a bad wireless card? if that was the case, would the device mgr still
show the device as 'working properly'

Not really sure what I'm doing here, but wanted to see if anyone has more suggestions

Thanks

here is the ipconfig/ all
================================================== ============
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : My host name
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8187B Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps
USB 2.0 Network Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-44-94-20-6D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8101 Family PCI-E Fast Etherne
t NIC (NDIS 6.0)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-E0-B8-E5-34-63
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 6TO4 Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 10:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{738BBA66-B8E2-429B-A78C-4C01A3C7F
D7D}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 15:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{00B90D53-A500-4F32-B723-C86E48BBE
055}
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

[johnwill]

Sounds like either wireless driver issues or the adapter may have died.

[aimlessWonderer]

okee dokee...

Well ethernet does work fyi
Wireless still a no go

I updated with driver from Realtek site, then in my infinite wisdom decided i needed to restart the computer because i had done something more than ctrl+S.... as the cpu was shutting down, the sys icon displayed "Networks Found"... oh ****, now i'm shutting down, there they go.. blam

Okay, so with confidence that the driver fixed it I let the restart finalize, and then now I'm back to the same issue. I've reinstalled the driver again to no avail.

And when I go to the driver's folder and run the install.exe file nothing happens.. nor does the SetVistaDrv.exe file work, as it give an error: "SetVistaDrv.exe has stopped working"

So, the driver update looked promising, but now seems such a tease.. maybe even a hallucination

That's the update I have as of now.

[jfhoffman3]

go into the services and kick start wireless zero service

[aimlessWonderer]

I know it was set to Automatic prior to the driver install when I was tinkering around before.... and, I do remember sorting by Startup Type after this past install and that was not one of the ones that was 'disabled'....

When I get back home tonight, I will check to see if it's status is "Started" and its startup type is "Automatic"

Are these the values we're looking for?

[aimlessWonderer]

oh yeah, this is vista.. that service option doesn't exist as far as i'm aware.. instead it's WLAN...

which is started and set to automatic

[johnwill]

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows Vista.

Start, All Programs\Accessories and right click on Command Prompt, select "Run as Administrator" to open a command prompt.

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following commands:

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reset IPv4 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ipv4 reset reset.log

Reset IPv6 TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ipv6 reset reset.log

Reboot the machine.

[aimlessWonderer]

i had tried uninstalling the driver before i ever posted many days ago, and the unsinstall process went on for over an hour (obviously a problem), so I just installed on top of it the realtek driver.

Though, I believe doing this again initiated the resolution to the problem:

Last night I

1. resetting the tcp/ip stacks again!!

2. I did uninstall the driver again last night, which worked this time in less than one minute. I then allowed windows to pick up the device upon reboot and it reinstalled the driver that came with the machine I suppose.

3. I still could not connect to a network, then i hit the fn+f2 (which has worked 0 out of about 1000 tries before).. though if a driver was funked out then I guess that didn't matter how many times i punched it.

At any rate, the resetting the tcp/ip stacks + uninstall/reinstall + fn/f2 WORKED!

[johnwill]

You need to get the driver directly from the laptop maker, they sometimes customize them for their specific design.