Question

XP Home - Wireless WIFI (WZC), Linksys and Sony VAIO GRT170 - wLAN not showing up in 'Available Networks'

Asked by: jbrin

Have a wireless LAN serviced by a Linksys WAP11 access point. Configured pretty much down the 'Typical Configuration' easy setup line (no WEP, channel 6, etc). Only real difference from out of the box is the SSID has been changed from 'linksys'. Have several laptops running PC Card Linksys 802.11b cards that find and use the wLAN just peachy. Have one Sony VAIO GRT170 with the embedded WiFi interface that is giving me fits.

On the first attempt to configure the VAIO's internal wLAN card properties, no nets show at all in either the Available Networks or Preferred Networks portions of the dialog. If I manually add the wLAN to the Preferred Networks section, it shows there, along with the icon that indicates that the wLAN is 'seen' (radio tower with circle). But it still does not show in Available Networks and remains disconnected. No amount of cajoling, fiddling or threatening seems to help.

I can even slide one of the PC cards in the VAIO and it works immediately, showing the wLAN in its Available Networks. The WZC service is started.

Been all over Google, MSDN, Sony KBs. Still stumped. Client who just bought the Sony disappointed, needless to say.

Thanks in Advance

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2003-08-20 at 09:22:46ID20715110
Tags

wzc

,

vaio

,

available

,

networks

,

showing

Topic

Windows Networking

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
9

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. WIFI Troubles...
    Hello. I just set up a wireless network. It works as follows. There is a cable router connected to a WIFI router. The wifi router is connected to a wireless router, which has two computers connected to it. The first computer is working ok, it is connected via a cable. T...
  2. WLAN
    Hi, I have installed RedHat 8 (I believe kernel version: 2.4.18-14) onto my laptop. For this laptop I bought a pcmcia network pc card (LinkSys WPC11 v3) and have a LinkSys Wireless router. I am having trouble getting this network to work The router works correctly for all m...
  3. N95 8gb shows  "Hidden WLAN?"
    Am getting to know my N95. Why does "Hidden WLAN" show on the screen when I do a wifi search? If a wlan does not want to be detected, then why is it showing up? Is it because my cellphone detects "something" is there and has to lable it "hidden&quo...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: homer99Posted on 2003-08-21 at 10:24:10ID: 9197106

What protocol does the Sony embedded wifi use?  And is the Access point compatible with this protocol?

 

by: jbrinPosted on 2003-08-21 at 10:36:17ID: 9197195

If I interpret your question the way I think you intended it, the WiFi standard being used on both ends is 802.11b. I believe the protocol (TCP/IP) is irrelevant at the layer of the stack at which this configuration activity takes place (the physical and data link layers). That would be borne out by the fact that the configuration utility indicates it recognizes the presence of the wLAN when a Preferred Network is manually configured. It just won't permit you to connect to it by promoting it into an 'Available Network'. But thanks for the question.

 

by: homer99Posted on 2003-08-21 at 10:53:27ID: 9197348

Oh yes, sorry I misread that.  Only thing I can say is I had a similar situation with Toshiba Satellite Pro laptops where the embedded wifi would not communicate with the access point.  I tried for hours trying to get it to work and finally found a solution from Toshiba where if you reinstalled windows on the laptop you had to edit the registry to get it to communicate.  After editing the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pcmcia\Parameters and adding DisableIsaToPciRouting DWORD with a value of 0x00000000 (0) it worked fine.  I put in 3rd party wireless card like you did and it worked fine and downloaded the latest driver for the embedded wifi and nothing worked until i added this DWORD.  Not sure if this will help you or not, but thought I would throw it out there.  Good luck.

 

by: ewtaylorPosted on 2003-08-21 at 11:07:18ID: 9197452

Is the sony running xp? I was having similar problems with a Toshibam, until I found a little switch that said do not automatically join unsecdured (no wep) networks. I  unchecked this and it was just peachy.

 

by: ewtaylorPosted on 2003-08-21 at 11:08:07ID: 9197462

Ahh I just saw it was xp, look for that switch then it will solve your problem.

 

by: jbrinPosted on 2003-08-21 at 11:14:03ID: 9197508

Sounds like two tips worth pursuing there, homer and ew. Certainly far more useful than I have been able to find yet. Will do at the client tomorrow and keep fingers crossed. Thanks in advance.

Jess

 

by: wLANnnyPosted on 2003-08-22 at 18:28:06ID: 9207495

jbrin-

I had exactly the same problem with a Sony. You're going to hate yourself if this is it. ;)

The new Sony's have a small switch just under the screen latch that turns the wireless card on and off. Make sure it's on. It took me 4 days of loading drivers, cussing, getting ZERO help from Sony, and all that until my user said, hey, what's that little button?

Boy, did I feel like getting away after switching it on and watching it work!!!!!!! How embarassing. RTFM and all that.

LANnny

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...