I use 7 ultimate / SP1 from the repository and daz loader. It works perfectly, but now I also want to be able to use WLAN, but I cannot get anywhere on the control panel. I go to network and sharing center. I go to setup a new connection, where it says: set up a... wireless connection. But that is where it seems to end.... To use WLAN I have bought and added a Buffalo air-station and connected to my router. I plug in a cable there to this computer and it works fine, but not the WLAN. At the same time, for my laptop, which runs XP, it works perfectly…. I may have deactivated WLAN on this desktop (along with a lot of other services), but I do not know. The device manager shows only the REaltec adapter, no adapter with "wireless".... Where do I look, and what am I looking for? Thanks
Open the Computer Management panel and under services see if you have "WLAN Auto Config" disabled. What Buffalo air-station device did you connect to your router ... a wireless access point, a wireless router ... what exactly? By saying "At the same time, for my laptop, which runs XP, it works perfectly…." are you saying you can connect to your WLAN using the XP computer that is obviously not your desktop? If that's the case, you're done and your system is working properly. Computers that connect wirelessly will see a wireless LAN card under their "Network Adapters", a wired-only connection desktop will show only the wired adapter ... the Realtek. If your desktop has a wireless card installed, it should show under "Network Adapters". Does your model have a wireless card? If it does, and it's not showing, it's dead or damaged somehow.
"WLAN Auto Config" is set to automatic and started, and yes, the laptop works works perfectly with the WLan. I use this desktop for three years now, and it has never used Wlan. "If your desktop has a wireless card installed, it should show under "Network Adapters". IT does not, only the Realtec "Does your model have a wireless card? " I do not know (its a japanese computer, everything is in japanese and no one speaks english in this country. I had to install the Win7 From MDL to have an english OS. When I used Vistalizer to chenge the laguage on the installed 7 Pro, the pop up told I am using an illegal software.... Just trust me: Japan is a weird country ) The installed Win7 Ultimate does not show anything about a wireless card, but then, I would not know how to find it.... "If it does, and it's not showing, it's dead or damaged somehow." How can I find out which it is? Is it hard to install one? It simply has to work, we have legal problems (up to 10 years in jail for illegal downoads) here in Japan since Oct 1, and want to use a computer that at least has Wlan it installed, if you know what I mean....) Thanks for your help, I do appreciate it.
Just got back from a computer shop. They sell usb sticks called Network adapter, about the size of the usb-reciever which I plug in for my wireless mouse. (from 150 to 750 Mbs) Because of the language I cannot get any reliable information from the guys there. Is that what I need? Is that all I need? Is that what is meant by wireless Lan card, or do I first have to get one. Will I need a driver?
There are several way you can determine if your desktop has a wireless LAN card: - Read the specs for your model. Language difficulties aside, reading the specs is always a good idea. - Look under "Network Adapters". If you have one it'll show; a broken card is the same as it not being there. - Open the machine and look. Search online to see what various ones look like. If your desktop is using it's wired connection with no problems, a wireless card will be worthless unless you move it to a location where no wired connection is available. If your built-in wired connection were to stop working you can install a wired card. Generally, cards are easy to install just read the instructions. USB Adapter: Why do you want to add wireless to a machine with a working wired connection? There's nothing to gain by doing that. A USB wireless adapter is just that, a USB device that you plug into a USB port that allows wireless connection. They aren't really "cards" since they don't plug into a mobo slot but they do the same thing a card does.
I am not sure I understand what you have written: Are these USB sticks the same as a wireless card? If I buy one and stick in an USB slot, will that be sufficient to use WLAN? If tehy do the same job as a card, why would I want to open my computer? If there is one inside that is broken, or none inside, does not make any difference then, right? As Anarchist9027 suggests: There are USB sticks with an Antenne and there are some without an antenna. Do I need one with antenna?
If you have a dongle (A wireless adapter that plug into usb) you may or may not have an external antenna. If your wireless adapter looks like it can screw in a small coax cable into it, it needs an antenna. If not, it has an internal antenna. If your wireless card fits into a PCI slot (an internal wireless card) most chances are it needs an external antenna.
okay i am by no means an expert.. allow me to point out that no expertise is really needed.. what has been said here, by one and all, is very true, needless to say.. and it could save you some very little money..let me recount what i have experienced..unhindered by language any barriers.. my old machine, long since decommissioned was a hp desktop with onboard wifi.. it came with vista, oem, so i downgraded to xp, sp3, and found i lacked some drivers. so far so good..by using an xp driver from a usb wifi, i got the wifi running. you get lucky sometimes.. my current desktop machine was just perfect, except that it had no wifi, and i refuse to have network cables running across my floor. so i bought me a usb wifi thing, and plugged it in. [under w7, x64] it came with a cd, that was not even needed, w7 just installed it.. the thing cost me about 25 euros. connected to the router as easy as snapping your fingers.. the morale of this long story; whether your desktop has got onboard wifi or not is not really that important. if it has, but fails to find it, forget the whole onboard thing and buy a wifi dongle..it will set you back some 25 euros at the most, dunno how many yen that is, sorry..and it will install, regardless of whether your machine has onboard but unrecognized stuff..what i mean to say is, really, that getting onboard wifi running in japanese windows is just not worth the time and trouble, if you can just plug in a dongle and be done with it.. perhaps you can try a wifi usb thing you borrow from a friend, to test it.. just my 2 cents..
Thank you everybody.... Computer stuff has the habit of not coming across easily, as I have learned on many a time costing occasion. For someone who does not know, how can it be obvious that a wireless card, that has to be stuck into the right place inside a computer, will not do anything better or different than a simple usb stick? And the latter is the obviously simpler solution, so my question was necessary. Why would anyone suggest doing work inside a computer, when the same can be done simply sticking a usb.... Why I actually also want a working WLAN I have answered somewhere, hidden may be. Now I will get rid of the security, so there is no need for a password and anyone can acces it. If you do not understand, do not ask.... should I not manage to do that, I will ask again.... So, once again, thank you everybody.
For many people, a USB wireless adapter works just fine and is the only choice available. I've used several on older laptops that didn't have wireless built in and older desktops with no available main board slot. However, my experience is an internal non USB wireless card is the better choice. But that's my experience, YMMV. Opening up a desktop is no big deal and people that build, refurbish and upgrade computers do it all the time ... so do enthusiasts. You were unsure if your desktop had a wireless card or not. One simple way of determining if it does is to open her up and have a look. Since the need for an antenna seemed an unknown to you and it might have been broken off or something I didn't mention it. Others did and that was a very good thing. Wanting a wireless LAN is no big deal. I'd venture to say the vast majority of computer users do. You manage wireless security, or lack thereof, within your wireless router or your wireless access point attached to your wired router. Now days that's mostly done with a browser through a web interface at an address such as 192.168.1.1. You can edit your wireless security from your wired-only desktop that has no wireless card and no wireless network connection. You don't have to edit wireless security by way of a wireless computer, you just have to know the address of the wireless router or wireless access point, i.e. the 192.168.1.1 or similar. In fact, I've had routers that advised NOT to do certain operations from a wireless connection. Updating the firmware was one; may have been the only one.
Thank you, that is about what I know by now. Except that I also already know that .1.1 will only get me into the wired router, I was told .1.2 will get me into the WLAN I added. I will find out. The "problem" with threads like this one is, that I usually am quite aware of what I want and so I phrase my question rather precise. As I wrote in one of my post what I need that set up for, I thought others would understand what I mean and what I want. But, as it is reasonable that some people ask a wrong question, because they know no better, I learned that in computer threads answers usually come to the question that the forist answering thinks the questioner should have asked. I have not found a way around that... Thanks again, to everybody who wanted to help.
You have to open your wired router to see what address it assigned to the WLAN device. My Wireless Access Point (WAP) is 192.168.1.154 ... but that can change. It's treated just like any other device plugged into your wired router. I assume since you don't know the address of the WLAN device you don't assign addresses but rather allow the router to do that via DHCP being enabled. My WAP showed up as a 192.168.1.154 with no name. But since it was the only new device, when I typed that address into my browser, the WAP opened. And most assuredly, people respond according to what they read not what's in the mind of the OP. And quite often, the two are not the same.