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I'm in WinXP on a Sony VAIO. I have cable Internet with a Linksys CM100 modem and a Linksys WRT150N router. These cooperate well enough so that I'm watching IPTV right now wirelessly. My connection is secured by WPA TKIP.

However, my laptop wireless connection is broken. (I'm connected by Ethernet to my router now.) Before securing the connection, my laptop connection worked very well wirelessly. But on a support call to get IPTV working, I uninstalled my wireless device on the laptop. When I tried to reinstall it, it couldn't find the device. So I went to the Sony site and downloaded the driver, then installed it.

Can anyone help me reconnect my WLAN device wirelessly to the router?

I suppose I could roll back my laptop, but I'd prefer to not do that.

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A few concise, practical diagnostics and fixes that often resolve a wireless adapter disappearing after a driver change. asked about detection — the key is to determine whether Windows sees the hardware at all. confirmed that restoring the system fixed the problem; that indicates a driver/configuration change was likely the root cause rather than an immediate hardware failure.

Common, ordered checks that help isolate and fix this class of problem:

  • Verify the adapter in Device Manager. Select View -> Show hidden devices, expand Network adapters, and look for unknown entries or devices with warning icons. Use the adapter Properties -> Details -> Hardware Ids to identify the chipset if the driver name is generic.
  • Confirm the radio is enabled. Many laptops have a physical wireless switch or an Fn+key toggle; some BIOSes also have a wireless enable/disable option.
  • Ensure Wireless Zero Configuration (Windows XP) or the vendor wireless service is running and set to Automatic. Vendor utility conflicts can hide the Windows-managed interface.
  • If a wrong driver is installed, uninstall the network adapter (delete driver if prompted), reboot, then install the exact driver matching the hardware ID or the OEM model. Use the Add Legacy Hardware wizard if the device is not auto-detected.
  • If the adapter still does not appear, test with a known-good USB wireless dongle or reseat a removable mini-PCI/mini-PCIe card (when applicable) to distinguish software from hardware failure.

Notes and cautions: driver packages from other models or generic sources can break detection. Before major driver changes, create a restore point or back up the current driver. When WPA/TKIP or other encryption is involved, confirm that the chosen driver supports the router's encryption mode; mismatches can prevent successful reconnection even when the adapter is visible.

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Member Avatar for cguan_77

were you able to detect the wireless connection on your laptop or not? what's the scenario right now, any errors or what?

Member Avatar for Member #498034

Yes, I solved it: I just rolled my system back about a week, and it's OK now. I still have some problems to solve, but it generally works.

Thank-you!

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