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NHRA225 · 10-31-2015, 06:40 AM

Toshiba Satellite - Vista
Suddenly lost Wifi and Air Card ability to connect, I read all of the trouble shooting I could find on Google and ready to throw it out.
Last ditch effort - any suggestions ??

Thanks

HD4Mark · 10-31-2015, 06:54 AM

What OS? Have you installed any new programs lately?

Assuming it is MS Windows you could try system restore that sets it back to a previous time before whatever went wrong. Also check in system to see if there are any yellow triangles with an exclamation point to see if there is an issue with a driver or something.

Don't toss it out yet! It doesn't sound like a hardware issue if WiFi and an air card both do not work.

Dr. Q · 10-31-2015, 06:55 AM

No suggestions, but you are definitely due for a new laptop!

Personally, I would go with a new Mac laptop....maybe the MacBook Air. Expensive, but well worth it.

If you go Windows based, there are lots of laptops for $500 [or less] that will fit the bill quite nicely.

Cheers!

NHRA225 · 10-31-2015, 07:04 AM

Thanks for the Early Saturday responses.
OS is Vista Home edition and all programs function and its still relatively fast.
One of our Son's looked it over last night and called it and me a Dinosaur and recommended a new one with Windows 7 . He's probably right.
I've had this since 2009 though.
He did the restore and reinstalled the drivers and suspects a hardware issue.
Estimated repair cost in the $150 range.

HD4Mark · 10-31-2015, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NHRA225

Thanks for the Early Saturday responses.
OS is Vista Home edition and all programs function and its still relatively fast.
One of our Son's looked it over last night and called it and me a Dinosaur and recommended a new one with Windows 7 . He's probably right.
I've had this since 2009 though.
He did the restore and reinstalled the drivers and suspects a hardware issue.
Estimated repair cost in the $150 range.

The WiFi should be a network adapter on your motherboard while the air card I assume is a USB device. Seems odd they both don't work as a hardware issue. Make sense? While I agree it is (the computer not you

) is a dino if it works for what you need then why buy a new one.

If your Toshiba has the minimum system requirements you may be able to upgrade to Windows 7 for free Upgrade Your New PC to Windows 7 for Free | PCMag.com scroll down to the Toshiba info. I could not get the link to work but contacting them might help.

Crankshaft · 10-31-2015, 08:33 AM

Get an external WiFi USB dongle. It will solve your problem and is a lot cheaper.

Belkin N150 Micro Wireless USB Adapter (F7D1102tt) - Newegg.com

NHRA225 · 10-31-2015, 08:39 AM

Well Son # 5 came by a short time ago and spent 30 min and uninstalled all of the drivers and re-installed them and guess what ?
back on Wifi and my usb air card works perfect. Don't know the cause neither does He- but I'm a happy camper and I can return my Wife's laptop to her down the hall.

Thanks for the help and suggestions !
Cheaper than repairing the MH as she mentioned a few min ago .

unw1red · 10-31-2015, 09:19 AM

I would recommend a new laptop as Vista is End Of Life and End Of Support. This makes it very hard to insure compatibility with modern devices. Your mobile carrier could send a software update to your USB adapter and break it permanently.

Up to date is not always about speed. It is about compatibility and supportability. You are simply asking for continuing issues by using EOL products.

Just my two cents worth.

OLYLEN · 10-31-2015, 10:13 AM

Know of several older laptops with the same problem. Cure for most is to go in disable the driver, apply back out. Then go back in and enable. That's on the WiFi board.

LEN

wa8yxm · 10-31-2015, 04:04 PM

Sometimes due to a disc error a driver goes south.. When this happens what your son did fixes it.. Usually.

I had problems like that with an HP.. An update to the driver is bad,, I disabled updates to that driver and now I have no tribbles with it.

OH.. I do have an "Alternative path" when that happens. But it's a pain.

It happend twice on the HP. the first Time we did a full factory reset to fix it.. The second time I applied the alternate path and let HP service work on it for like 2 hours via remote control ... Guess what.> THEY failed... and they were unable even to factory reset.. had to return to factory. Oh well. I need to get better backup/restore programs.

NHRA225 · 10-31-2015, 04:09 PM

Thanks for all of the great suggestions and help !
Son# 6 showed up this afternoon and suggested what I've been hearing this week- Get a New one which is what I will do this week !

Again Thanks !

nothermark · 10-31-2015, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NHRA225

Thanks for all of the great suggestions and help !
Son# 6 showed up this afternoon and suggested what I've been hearing this week- Get a New one which is what I will do this week !

Again Thanks !

Waste of money if it is still working. I'm still running XP on an older machine than yours. Works fine, no reason to upgrade.

FWIW If you do get a new PC migrate that one to Linux, suggest Mint. Get off the Microsoft gravy train and continual relearning the OS cycle. Use the old one to learn Linux and then convert the new one as 7 will hit end of life in a couple of years. ;-)

jacwjames · 10-31-2015, 04:56 PM

Only problem with XP is that it is not supported anymore, Vista will follow suit in the near future.

If the computer still works and you don't mind the speed I see no reason to replace but I would suggest that you have a good backup system and religiously back it up.

Earlier this year I had 3 computers crash. Desktop with a video card that prevented startup, was able to create a backup before trying to restore. New Dell laptop with a bad hard drive, all info lost. 3 year old Dell laptop crashed, had recent backup.

MattC · 10-31-2015, 05:12 PM

Chuck,

This sort of thing is to be expected at that age. The fact is that the half life of all laptops is about 3 years. I have had some that didn't even make that. That means that only about 25% of the brothers of yours are still operational. So, keep it until it goes TU, but get a back up drive and carry the essential source disks for everything you use and need. The best cure I have found recently is the trade off the hard drive for an SSD (no moving parts). This is particularly good for your traveling computer. A unit that old won't have a huge HD, so if you need more room for pictures and music, get an external drive for that.

Even Win7 will be obsoleted before you know it, but don't let that bother you. By the way, Win8 is why I run Linux. I'll wait and see about Win10.

Matt