Strange Problem

I have a Sony VAIO Notebook model PCGTR3A that came installed with
Windows XP Home edition. I installed Windows XP Professional edition
with Service Pack 2 over the holidays, and lost a bunch of my drivers,
including all my network adapters, so I couldn't connect to the
internet. Luckily, it was over the holidays, so I had access to my
mom's computer to go on the internet in order to download all the
original drivers from the Sony eSupport site. After installing the
drivers again, I had no problems connecting to the internet through the
LAN via an ethernet cable.

However, after leaving my home and returning back to my place by my
campus, I discovered that my wireless network connection was having a
strange problem. Before the holidays (before I installed professional
edition), I had no problem opening my wireless network connections,
viewing the available wireless networks, and connecting to the one at
my place. Now though, I cannot see any of available wireless networks
when I refresh the network list. Yet, when I check the box
"automatically connect to non-preferred networks" in the wireless
network connection properties, I can access the internet (that's the
reason I am able to write this post today). Despite being able to
access the internet, I still cannot see any of the wireless networks
and my computer still tells me I am not connected to any network. I
have brought my laptop on campus to see whether the same problem would
occur there, and it did.

Anyone know how I can fix this problem? I have tried reinstalling the
original wireless driver a couple times and it fails to work. Does it
have anything to do with with XP Professional edition? I really would
like to see the networks I can connect to rather than having my
computer automatically connect to a random network. Thanks

santyclaz@gmail.com

Hi
Installing the Drivers probably installed the Sony Wireless Manager too.
Wireless client can be managed only by one agent. If the Sony Wireless
utility is ON Windows Zero Configuration is probably turned Off.
If indeed that happened, and you want to use Windows Zero Configuration, you
have to Unload the Sony Utility.
Be careful in some Wireless computer uninstalling the utility uninstall the
Wireless Drivers as well. So, do some snooping and find away to block the
Sony Utility to load at Startup rather than Uninstalling it.
http://www.ezlan.net/wireless.html
Jack (MVP-Networking).

<> wrote in message
news: ps.com...
>I have a Sony VAIO Notebook model PCGTR3A that came installed with
> Windows XP Home edition. I installed Windows XP Professional edition
> with Service Pack 2 over the holidays, and lost a bunch of my drivers,
> including all my network adapters, so I couldn't connect to the
> internet. Luckily, it was over the holidays, so I had access to my
> mom's computer to go on the internet in order to download all the
> original drivers from the Sony eSupport site. After installing the
> drivers again, I had no problems connecting to the internet through the
> LAN via an ethernet cable.
>
> However, after leaving my home and returning back to my place by my
> campus, I discovered that my wireless network connection was having a
> strange problem. Before the holidays (before I installed professional
> edition), I had no problem opening my wireless network connections,
> viewing the available wireless networks, and connecting to the one at
> my place. Now though, I cannot see any of available wireless networks
> when I refresh the network list. Yet, when I check the box
> "automatically connect to non-preferred networks" in the wireless
> network connection properties, I can access the internet (that's the
> reason I am able to write this post today). Despite being able to
> access the internet, I still cannot see any of the wireless networks
> and my computer still tells me I am not connected to any network. I
> have brought my laptop on campus to see whether the same problem would
> occur there, and it did.
>
> Anyone know how I can fix this problem? I have tried reinstalling the
> original wireless driver a couple times and it fails to work. Does it
> have anything to do with with XP Professional edition? I really would
> like to see the networks I can connect to rather than having my
> computer automatically connect to a random network. Thanks
>

Thanks Jack, I'll look into it right away.

Hmm, I have located and uninstalled the VAIO Wireless Utility on my
laptop. I have also restarted the Windows Zero Configuration on my
computer, but the same thing still occurs: "no wireless networks were
found in range" despite being able to connect to the internet when I
refresh the network list.

One thing has changed though, the tiny wireless connection icon no
longer has a little red "x" by it, and no longer says "not connected".

Here is a screen shot:
http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/1...problemjz8.png

Any other feasible solutions or explanations for this problem? Thanks!

wrote:
> Hmm, I have located and uninstalled the VAIO Wireless Utility on my
> laptop. I have also restarted the Windows Zero Configuration on my
> computer, but the same thing still occurs: "no wireless networks were
> found in range" despite being able to connect to the internet when I
> refresh the network list.
>
> One thing has changed though, the tiny wireless connection icon no
> longer has a little red "x" by it, and no longer says "not connected".
>
> Here is a screen shot:
> http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/1...problemjz8.png
>
> Any other feasible solutions or explanations for this problem? Thanks!
>
Did you reboot after uninstalling the VAIO wireless utility? And set
wzcsvc startup type to "automatic"?

It seems highly unlikely, but perhaps all of the wireless networks in
range have hidden SSIDs.

From the screenshot you posted, click on "change the order of preferred
networks". Do you see a list of networks there? If you don't,
something really strange is going on.

In the list of preferred networks, you can delete the ones you do not
want to connect to, and manually add the one that you do want to connect
to -- if you know its SSID.

Go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893357 and check the files to see
if you have the WPA2 update. If not, download and install it. This
should enable the "Choose a wireless network" dialog to show hidden
SSIDs. It will also allow you to use WPA2 if your hardware and
drivers/firmware can support it.

You might also take a look at this KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/907405 but I really doubt that your
issue is caused by a bunch of hidden networks -- especially one with the
default SSID of "linksys."

--
Lem MS MVP -- Networking

To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

I have set the wzcsvc to "automatic" and rebooted my computer, but the
same problem occurs. When i go to the "change the order of preferred
networks" box, but there are no networks listed at all. I tried adding
"linksys" to the list, but after clicking okay, I simply got
disconnected from the internet. In addition, when I returned back to
the "change the order of preferred networks" box, the "linksys" I had
manually added before was no longer there.

wrote:
> I have set the wzcsvc to "automatic" and rebooted my computer, but the
> same problem occurs. When i go to the "change the order of preferred
> networks" box, but there are no networks listed at all. I tried adding
> "linksys" to the list, but after clicking okay, I simply got
> disconnected from the internet. In addition, when I returned back to
> the "change the order of preferred networks" box, the "linksys" I had
> manually added before was no longer there.
>
Some of the behavior you describe makes a little sense, but not all of
it. If there are no entries in the list of preferred networks, checking
the box to "automatically connect to non-preferred networks" allowed the
system to look for and connect to the "linksys" network shown in your
screenshot. But I don't understand why a manually-added preferred
network should disappear from the list. The usual problem is the
opposite -- networks that get inadvertently added to the list stay there.

Perhaps something in WZC has become corrupted. You could try installing
the WPA2 update I linked in an earlier post and see if that fixes
things, or you could open a command prompt window and type
"sfc /scannow" (without quotes; press enter)
If you do this, you may be prompted to put your XP Pro CD in the drive.

Alternatively, reinstall the Vaio wireless configuration utility and
stop wzcsvc and set its start type to manual. Perhaps the Sony utility
will work properly. You may even find that it has features you like
that are not available in WZC.

For future reference, please don't snip material when you reply. It
makes it harder to understand what's going on, particularly for someone
else who may not have seen the earlier posts in the thread. Also, if
you post again on a new topic, make the subject more descriptive, such
as "list of available networks is blank."

--
Lem MS MVP -- Networking

To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer