Windows Vista Re-connecting to a wireless internet

[knowltona]

My friend recently took his laptop to my house and connected his laptop to my wireless network. This worked fine and we could get onto the internet easily, however when he returned home and tried reconnecting to his own network there was a problem, as it would not reconnect. We've tried troubleshooting the problem, i don't understand why the network doesn't just appear, as on his other computer the network is connected and working fine. Thanks for your help. X

 

[Trouble]

knowltona:
Hello and welcome to the forums.
My first suggestion would be to ask him to power cycle his wireless router (remove the power for a minute or two and then plug it back in) see if he is able to successfully connect then.
Something (I don't know what) may have corrupted his previous profile for his connection at home.
In which case he should open the network and sharing center and from the left column select "Manage wireless networks", from there he can select the problem wireless profile and right click and choose properties and exam the security settings and passphrase, etc., and edit them if he thinks the are wrong, or better yet, just select it, click the remove button and then add a new one with the proper information.
Failing all of the above he might want to arm himself with his router documentation, reset it to factory defaults by using the recessed reset button on the back and see if he can connect then. If so he can go back in and reconfigure his wireless security as this action will most likely reset the router to "Open" (no wireless security).
Keep us posted and thanks for joining our community.
Regards
Randy

 

[knowltona]

Thanks for your response, i've told him to go to the network and sharing centre and he's found the network. if he right clicks it says automatically connect when in range, which is what i don't understand because he is in range and the other computer has connected to it fine! Is there anything else he can do?

 

[Trouble]

yes, as I mentioned above, read the post carefully there are other options that I gave
delete the old profile it may be corrupt
power cycle his router
reset the router to factory defaults and start over with no security and rebuild the security as he is able to connect.

 

[Trouble]

Also I am assuming that while he was at your house that you guys didn't fiddle with the IPv4 settings and they are still set to get IP and DNS automatically. If they are set statically that may have an impact so if you changed them change them back.