"Paul" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:


Thank you, Paul! This stuff is complex, isn't it! I have a friend who is
a programmer, and even he has trouble with wi-fi. He says that about
twice a month he has to unplug his router, pull the battery (as far as I
know, mine doesn't have one), and then plug everything back in to get it
to work again. I'll start reading the router manual tomorrow and see if I
can work it out.

Jo-Anne

Many networking devices (like my ADSL modem/router box), have a small
pinhole, with a reset button hidden there. By inserting something
that can press the button, without puncturing or damaging it, you
can reset the box. The user manual, should tell you where to press,
and how long to press, for reset to take place. On some units,
you press the button, while powering up at the same time.

I'd reset the box, if I thought my new Wifi device, didn't support
the same standards, as the existing, working Wifi clients.

But if it appears the specs for your new Wifi device, support WPA2
or whatever the other ones are using, I'd just work on the new laptop
until I got it working. I wouldn't trash the rest of the working
cases, unless there was a good reason.

*******

Many people suffer from "network box insanity", where the box
crashes, or goes nuts. I had a Linksys product, that would
do that *several times a day*. I would power cycle it, like
your programmer friend. I did that for years. Finally, I saw
a new box on sale, for a very good price. I *never* have to
power cycle it. It just works.

One thing I learned in the lab, about such things, is this
can be caused by the quartz crystal plugged into the main
chip in the design. Many designers (myself included), are
putzes when it comes to selecting and specifying quartz
crystals for things like embedded processors. Rather than
learn how, I simple design four-legged oscillator chips
in, instead. They cost more, but they're bulletproof, and
a customer never has to suffer on my account.

(Math, and pictures of the ones I try to avoid :-)
If not done right, these can cause boxes to crash. )

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_oscillator

The four-legged ones, "take a beating and keep on ticking".
If an insane design used one of these, it would be sane
again. This still has the two legged kind inside, but an
expert in the field, makes sure it works, and all the way from
very low temperatures, to very high temperatures.

http://www.oscilent.com/graphics/Pro...r_8pin_dip.jpg

Paul


I'll pass this info on to my friend, Paul; and I thank you very much for it.
My router does have a reset, but I've been afraid to cause more trouble by
using it. Since both the laptop and the netbook worked with this router for
a year or more, I don't know why they stopped. Putting in the WPS PIN from
the underside of the router got the laptop back to working. I'll try to
figure out what's happening with the netbook.

Jo-Anne