Wireless "No networks in range."

T

TomTT2

I have an older Dell laptop running Windows XP Pro SP3.

I connected to the internet through the Dell wireless module (Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BBG Network Connection) for a number of years. Recently connected to the router via a CAT5 cable (Broadcom NetXtreme 57XX Gigabit Controller) with no problems. I “disabled” the wireless connection so it didn’t show up on the system tray.

I decided to go back to the wireless connection so I disabled the Broadcome CAT5 connection and enabled the wireless module. Now when I click “Show Available Networks” the wireless finds “no networks in range”. Of course there are networks in range. I have two other devices wirelessly connected to the router.

Not knowing if I had a software or hardware problem I took the easy way out and installed the spare “cloned” drive. It detected available networks and connected to the preferred network with no problems. So, I assume it is a “setting” problem of some kind.

Continuing to “cheat”, I pulled out my other laptop which is the same model and same software setup. It connects to the internet wirelessly with no problems.

First, I looked at the list of “Started” services on this machine and compared them to the services started on my problem machine. They both seem to have the same services started.

Next I went to Control panel > System >Hardware and looked at the “properties” of the wireless module.

I went through each tab on the properties window and compared between the two laptops. Except for the MAC address, all values were the same.

Finally, I selected Start>Network Settings>Wireless>Properties. I compared the items listed under the “General” tab. Both listed an “Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), but my laptop that is not working also listed “WLAN Transport” which had its box checked. I un-checked it to see what happened. Well, my wireless card still didn’t find any networks.

So, I’ve confirmed that the wireless hardware does work (when I install a different drive) but I’m sort of at the end of my diagnostics pay grade. Are there other settings related to wireless operation that would affect the wireless card’s ability to detect networks in range?
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I checked the properties as you suggested and it was set to Use This Device. What is interesting is that if I change it to Do Not Use This Device, the change it back to Use This Device. I get a message in the system tray saying Networks Detected. Click this Message to View. Well, when I click on the message the normal window for wireless networks in range shows no networks. I did the process several times with the same results.
Is there some registry key that could be corrupted?
 
do you have your wireless network set for windows to do your connecting??

did you read any of the threads from the link I gave you?
 
Thanks again. I had found many of those links through prior google searches, but read through several of the threads again. The only thing I picked up to try was to Uninstall the drivers for the wireless card then reinstall them. Tried this, but still no networks shown. Again, I noticed that the wireless icon in the system tray popped up the message "wireless networks in range. Click this message to view" So I clicked the message and the wireless window pops up with no networks shown. Odd.
 
This morning I went to the Dell download site and downloaded the drivers for the Intel Pro/Wireless 2200 card. When I tried to install them, I got the message that these were older than the installed drivers.
I then went to the Intel site and downloaded the drivers for this device. The seemed to install without problem, but I still get the "networks detected" message, but no networks displayed in the wireless window.
 
even though the drivers for dell are from intel, they are not the same ones as the ones from the intel website, Dell gives the drivers an added something to make them OEM, so you would do better to download the wireless and wired network drivers from dell,
uninstall all network drivers from the pc, reboot and then install the new drivers from dell, and make sure the lan line works, then have windows setup your wireless connection,

https://www.lifewire.com/automatic-wireless-network-connections-xp-818243

read above, and let windows not intel setup the wireless network.
 
I uninstalled the wireless module again and went as far as deleting the three driver related files in the Windows32 folder. I then shut down and restarted then ran the Dell driver Exe (R155386.exe). It installed with no problems, but the wireless module was never detected by the system. I moved the previously deleted files back to their original place and the wireless card was again visible in the system tray. It says that networks were detected in range, but still no networks show in the wireless window. This was all based on the link you supplied above.

I know that I could fix this with the nuclear option (reinstall windows), bu that is a big pain in the butt to do when all the loaded apps need to be reinstalled.

I'm going to think on it for a while before trying things I've already tried.
 
you can uninstall, reboot and let windows do a scan for new hardware, then install from your desired location or let windows search for a driver. You should not be moving or removing anything from system32, that is not how to uninstall a driver.
 
Thanks Elizabeth32. I've uninstalled the wireless module several times. When I restart, it is found and drivers installed (those in Win32). I keep getting the "Networks in Range" message, but when I open the window there are none displayed.
I'm in the middle of setting up a new laptop, so haven't done a lot on this problem in the past 24 hours. I will attack it again tomorrow (Friday).
Thanks for staying with this.
 
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