I dunno if this goes here but i seen the tech support section so i thought i would ask in here.. Im having trouble getting a laptop to connect to the internet. Its my brothers laptop and he uses the wireless internet on it . He dont have a service provider becasue he lives next door to the police station and he uses there wireless internet (it's a free internet spot, library in the basement of the police station) and the internet of about 10 other people around him that have there service open for use. He has been using it fine for about a year. But today he tried to go online and download his homework for school and it wont conect to the internet anymore and it says a network cable is disconected.. He droped it off to me to try and fix it but i cont figure it out. I had this same problem once with my wireless setup but i had to call my service provider for help. He can't do this because he has no service provider. So does anyone here know how to correct this problem or had this trouble in the past and can help me out with an easy fix for it . I need to try and fix this for him by tomorrow because he has classes. Its a Dell Laptop running windows XP using Firefox for his browser. If this isnt the right place for this can you move it to the correct place for me please ? Thanks in advance guys -Curt
We do not offer free tech support. The TFW2005 Tech Support Forum is for questions/problems with the site only.
Wait. He's stealing internet from the police? That's hardcore. Sounds like his wireless card is either disabled or just not working. And if you get it fixed, he needs to get his own internet connection. Using everyone else's just ain't cool.
Sounds to me like the Police Station no longer wanted people stealing its internet. No network cable I think just means no connection, so either you've closed the wireless on the laptop or they've security checked theirs.
No its one of those internet spots where people can use the internet for free. The towns library is in the basement of the police station so im pretty sure thats where the free internet spot is at and he is close enough to pick up the signal. Its not the one the actual police use lol there connection is secure im sure. I had the same trouble with mine and had to call my service provider to fix it all. It shouldnt be saying a network cable in disconnected if its on a wireless connection. There is no cable to have disconnected.. I had to go in and change settings and stuff but it was so long ago that i cant remember. So i was hoping someone here knew how to do it..
I'm just offering wild guesses, maybe their internet is having problems, and is currently down? Are other users affected?
I have no idea.. Im sure he screwed something up in it because he is not very PC friendly lol. Im fixing this thing every few months because of problems he causes on it, but this time i cant remember what to fix..
since it was clarified that its not the Police's own but the library, sounds like it is a free wireless hub...as those are getting in more and more places...but dunno if all libraries are free (i know one here that is free) have him try go to the library and see if it works there...find out if they changed anything (no longer wireless, no longer free, password needed) does the library's wireless name even show up on the computer in question.
If it's a Dell, look for a small slide button on the edge or "lip" of the body, just under the "seam" of where the monitor folds down, typically near the front edge. It will have an icon of an antenna with a O and a | (or >>) above it. This turns the wi-fi card on/off. Make sure it's in the | (or >>) position. This happend a lot with Dells, because they put the switch right where it's natural to grab the laptop.
Umm did you even bother to read my post . the internet is from a FREE internet connection at the library that is located in the basement of the police station. I don't know how it is in the UK but here in the US they have free internet connections at such places and also mcdonalds, burgerking, K-mart, Walmart, Malls, ect. So how is it stealing ? Wish people would read posts completely before they post replys lol... Anyways thanks to those that tried to help me out . I gave him back his laptop today and gave him the number to a friend of mine that could help him out. I know its not the connection, something got turned off in the PC because its the exact same thing that happened to me and my laptop when i had wireless hooked up in my place.. I just couldn't remember how it was fixed because it was so long ago..
