HP Wireless Assistant

[Robbi4656]

I have an HP dv6000 notebook computer with Vista. All of a sudden the wireless connection stopped working. I have wireless in my home so I know there is connection service available. The computer I am using to write this uses it, too.

I try to click on HP Wireless Assistant and nothing happens. I went out to hp.com and downloaded the drivers for HP Wireless Assistant, but still, nothing happens. Nothing shows up for wireless connection anywhere.

Any ideas? I've tried everything I can think of with no results. The first time it happened, I turned off the computer, cut the power, and removed the battery for a couple of minutes. It started working again so I thought life was good. However, the next time I signed on it was not working and hasn't worked since.

I went into device manager and under Network Adapters, I noticed it said that the Microsoft ISTAPI was not working properly so I uninstalled it and reinstalled it. It is working properly now, but the HP Wireless Assistant will still not work and my wireless connection does not show up. HELP!!!

[Suspishio]

What does Device Manager say about the wireless adapter? Is there a yellow triangle or a red cross against it?

What does the Network Control Centre report for that adaptor when enabled?

Some specifics would be helpful.

Also an IPCONFIG /ALL listing from the Command Prompt would be informative.

You could try IPCONFIG /RENEW before you take the /ALL report. If it then works just let us know otherwise post the information.

[rashi25]

Hi

Go to start>run>and type services.msc.

Check wireless zero configuration is started, if not right click and start it.

If there is any issues with the drivers update the driver once.

[kaninelupus]

Is wireless turn on?? Most notebooks have a button to turn off/on wireless. Just check if you have accidentally turned off

have also come across references to a need for updating HP's "Wireless Assistant"... which is kind of disturbing as it sounds like HP has disabled or patched the native wireless tools for thier own, and made a botch job of it!

[Robbi4656]

To Suspishio:
I'm assuming the Wireless Adapter you are talking about is:
Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
When I first started having a problem, it showed up in Device Manager and was yellow. I messed with it and couldn't get it to change so I removed it and reinstalled it. Now, it only shows up if I go to "View" and click on "Show hidden devices".

I can't find anything that says "Network Control Centre". All I have with HP is the HP Wireless Assistant and it refuses to start up. It shows up, but does nothing when I click on it.

I ran the IPCONFIG/RENEW command and it said that the operation could not be performed on Local Area Connection while it has its media disconnected.

I ran the IPCONFIG/ALL command.
Windows IP Configuration
Node Type....Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled..........No
WINS Proxy Enabled..........No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Media State..........Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix Description....NVIDIA nForce 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
DHCP Enabled..........Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled...........Yes

Tunnel Adapter Local Area Connection*6:
Media State...........Disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix Description....isatap.<90B417F8-A0C1-(and a bunch of other numbers/letters)>
DHCP Enabled.....No
Autoconfiguration Enabled............Yes
Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection *15
Media State........Media Disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix Description.....Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
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
DHCP Enabled...........No
Autoconfiguration Enabled.......Yes

Tunnel Adapter Local Area Connection *22
Media State........Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix Description.....6T04 Adapter
DHCP Enabled..........No
Autoconfiguration Enabled...............Yes

To rashi25:

I went to start and typed services.msc in the search field.
There was a whole list of services, but none that said anything about wireless. Therefore, I couldn't finish the idea you had for fixing my problem.

To kaninelupus:
Yes, the wireless switch is in the on position. I learned that trick very quickly after getting my computer. I ran the program to reinstall HP Wireless Assistant, but it still does not work.

Any help from anyone would be appreciated! Still cannot get on the Internet with my laptop.

Thank you in advance.

[Suspishio]

To Suspishio:
I'm assuming the Wireless Adapter you are talking about is:
Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
When I first started having a problem, it showed up in Device Manager and was yellow. I messed with it and couldn't get it to change so I removed it and reinstalled it. Now, it only shows up if I go to "View" and click on "Show hidden devices".

I can't find anything that says "Network Control Centre". All I have with HP is the HP Wireless Assistant and it refuses to start up. It shows up, but does nothing when I click on it.

Have a read of this and then forget about the ISATAP adapter!
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932520

The "Network Control Centre" I mentioned is actually the Vist Network and Sharing Center within Control Panel.

If your wireless is turned ON at the switch, then the Wireless connexion will show in the moddle block and a View status link will be offered.

Maybe you could take a screen print of this and post it back in a reply. The IPCONFIG stuff is only of value to the wireless problem if the wireless card is actually seen.

Looking a stage further, though - if you are sure wireless is turned on, and from Device Manager the wireless adapter is not disabled, and then it doesn't appear in the Network and Sharing Center list, I'd say you have a hard fault.

[mothea123]

You don't say which wireless router you have but you need to access the controls within.
To find the address of the router type CMD & press Enter to get a black screen up. In that screen enter IPCONFIG and press Enter again. The figure you are looking for is listed as Default GAteway. It will be in the format 192.168.2.1 or 10.0.0.2. Enter this number in the Browser's address to access the router.
You will need to know the user name and password - username is usually admin but the password changes depending on manufacturer. Check leaflet that came with router or router manufacturer's website for information.
Once in the router you can change the wireless security settings. Try removing all security to confirm whether the problem is in the router or the laptop. If the problem persists then the problem is probably the laptop - consider a USB wireless adaptor. If the connection works with no security then play with the settings until you get all PCs working with either WEP or WPA security.

[Suspishio]

You don't say which wireless router you have but you need to access the controls within.
To find the address of the router type CMD & press Enter to get a black screen up. In that screen enter IPCONFIG and press Enter again. The figure you are looking for is listed as Default GAteway. It will be in the format 192.168.2.1 or 10.0.0.2. Enter this number in the Browser's address to access the router.
You will need to know the user name and password - username is usually admin but the password changes depending on manufacturer. Check leaflet that came with router or router manufacturer's website for information.
Once in the router you can change the wireless security settings. Try removing all security to confirm whether the problem is in the router or the laptop. If the problem persists then the problem is probably the laptop - consider a USB wireless adaptor. If the connection works with no security then play with the settings until you get all PCs working with either WEP or WPA security.

If you read Robbi's first post again, you'll see that the router is serving other PCs over wireless. So your suggestion in this case doesn't help.

[kaninelupus]

Did you try WITHOUT HP's "Wireless Assistant" and see how that goes?

The reason I ask is that have installed Win7 on both my own Asus notebook and my wife's Acer Aspire, and both run wirelessly (out of the box in fact) without any OEM wireless utilities. My suspicion is that HP's crapware is actually at the root of the problem. Win7 brings all the drivers and tools you really need for full wireless connectivity, so should not even need third 3rd party apps.

Now, my suspicion is that HP have bundled their own driver-stack with the utility install, so after uninstalling the utility, you should open up Device Manager to check on this. If drivers are any newer that the Windows install date, "roll back driver" through the properties window to correct the issue.

Lets us know how you go

[Suspishio]

I think that between the advice of kaninelupus and myself we'll get to the bottom of this.

My advice also was to get to the Vista tools rather than HP's.

At your first sensible opportunity, I hope you dump HP.

[kaninelupus]

As an extra tip in case HP's utility leaves behind any misconfigurations, you might have to right-click on wireless icon in System Tray and run a trouble Shoot... should re-configure to default settings

[Robbi4656]

You got that right on dumping HP! In talking to others, HP seems to be notorious for things like this.

Nothing has helped. HP Wireless Assistant says it installed okay, but still does not work.

Wireless is working intermittently (rarely) so that makes me think something "went bad". So what did you mean when you said it may be a "hard fault"? Do I need to physically remove something within the computer and replace it? If so, what do I buy? I was reading the manual to my computer and it shows me how to take it completely apart and replace each piece, but not sure what the "bad" part is actually called.

Thank you!

[Robbi4656]

Wireless icon in system tray is not there. It doesn't show up at all.

[kaninelupus]

So what did you mean when you said it may be a "hard fault"?

Not sure who that one asked to? Didn't remember suggesting hardware fault. My thoughts is actually either driver based, software based, or combo of both.

Wireless icon in system tray is not there. It doesn't show up at all.

This just verifies that the HP Wireless Assistant is not even doing what it is s'posed to do. Now before you uninstall it, go into the device manager and try to source out the manufacturer of the wireless device (not the OEM - HP - but the actual manufacturer) and download their drivers in advance.

Next - uninstall that god-awful HP app, and reboot.

After reboot, install the manufacturer's drivers. Now, even with wireless running (which it now should be) you may need to run Windows' own Trouble Shoot to re-configure settings sent askew by HP's own utility... that's normal and should weed out any buggy settings left behind. Win Update may even update the manufacturer's drivers, and this is also OK, as sometimes they get released to MS for update before becoming available for general DL'ing.

[Soleybancing]

I'm experiencing the same problem on my compaq it uses Broadcom

[dutara]

Ok, so here I am nearly two years later. I had the same problem, did a web search and found this website and thread. Here goes:

I have a CQ40 with internal Broadcom wifi running Windows7. I was in a place where I didn’t use wireless for a few months. When I tried to use wireless again it was no-go, Window’s diagnostics was telling me my internal wireless was turned off, push the button on the front of the computer to enable etc. Well, that was already done, the button is blue for ‘on’ so no help. I have an external USB wireless so used that while I pondered the problem. Had HP Wireless Assistant on my machine but the installation went south for some reason, and when I try to re-install it says there is a previous version already installed. Dorked around with every fancy uninstaller I could find (I usually use Innovative’s Advanced Uninstaller), only CCleaner listed it, but when I tried to uninstall or re-install I got all sorts of excuses about files not being found. Even tried some uninstallers that were exclusively for HP stuff. All diags I ran told me the wifi was turned off, push the button to enable it. I looked around the machine thinking maybe there was a secondary button I didn’t know about.

Some time in the past year I installed something from HP that was a maintenance program, HP Health Check I think. It got to be a pain in the ass and perhaps a disk hog so I uninstalled it. And when I did I think it hosed all the other (un)cool HP utilities.
Well, I have a dual-boot set up running Ubuntu. Powered that up and even Ubuntu said the modem was turned off. Ok, now I know it wasn’t a Windows thing. A little more thinking and I decided I had to run HPWiAss (I would rather call it HWiPAss), which meant a new Win installation. Then I looked through my backups (I use Acronis images) and found one from back when I was using wireless. I did a fresh backup, restored the 4-month old image, and whattaya know, HWiPAss worked, said my modem was off, turned it on and the internal wifi worked!
Rebooted into Ubuntu, it could now connect via the internal wifi. Restored my most recent backup and there it all is.

Moral of story, as I can figure: HP Wireless Assistant shuts off the wifi and Bluetooth at a hardware level. It would be nice to know of another way reach down to the hardware level and get some control of it. I tried many times via Device Manager to uninstall and disable the Broadcom, then reboot, but even when re-installed it was still off. It would be nice to have a live disk (like gparted or grub does) to address this.
Otherwise, back up your C: drive, do a clean Win install, install and run HWiPAss, make sure your stuff has become functional, and then restore. HP is doing their best to keep us from getting bored.

The other HP crap in my Program Files directory is called HP Health Check, HP Support Framework, and another dir called Shared. Somewhere in there is something called HPNetworkCheck which is still working, it gives connection info you could probably find with Win’s built-in utilities or other utilities like Everest. Here again, this HP thing does not appear as an uninstall candidate.
I’ll probably do a fresh Win7 reinstall in the coming months, and you know who’s stuff I’ll avoid whenever possible.

Well, I hope this helps any other poor soul who has this problem and does and web search to discover this page.

BTW, in the HP Wireless Assistant dir there is a command line utility called wireless.exe. This supposedly allows me to turn the wifi and Bluetooth on and off, but that didn't work either.