Missing wireless network connection in network connections folder

Question

Hi,   My fiance recently bought an Inspiron 530s with Windows XP Home Edition from Dell. As he had recently purchased a wireless adaptor for his dying laptop the PC was to replace, he did not need to purchase another wireless adaptor with the new PC. However, the problem is that the wireless network connection icon is missing from the network connections folder (although there is a Local Area Connection icon as per usual) so we cannot get the computer to even look for the wireless network in the house!! The adaptor is recognised by the computer and appears in device manager, wireless zero configuration is started and set to automatic. We have tried many combinations of restarting this, the computer and re-installing the adaptor and it's drivers, but with no luck, the icon is still nowhere to be seen. As the adaptor is working fine on his old laptop which also runs XP, it is obviously not a problem with this. How can we get the wireless network connection to appear in the network connections so that we can actually attempt to connect to a wireless network, and any ideas why was it missing in the first place?   Thanks!

volcano11 · Answer

Make sure you have the driver installation file for the network adapter available. Then, boot into Safe Mode, go into Device Manager, and uninstall the wireless adapter. Reboot to normal mode, cancel the New Hardware Wizard, if it starts, then reinstall the drivers for the wireless card.

If I knew why things liked this happen, I would be rich. Unfortunately, I doubt that even Microsoft knows why things like this happens.

Steve

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Was this post helpful?