I know that this is probably something stupid
 

I have this HP Laptop.

It has Vista. Yes, I know that's stupid to begin with, but I'm not currently interested in upgrading to the cool new version.

Anyway, it has suddenly decided not to connect to wifi.

It "sees" the network ... and several others around me, but it doesn't connect. the "connection" wizard churns a bit and then announces, "I can't find anything wrong, you're fucked."

I do not recall changing any settings or anything like that.

Any thoughts? yeah, I know I've given you all nothing to work with here, but I don't really know which nothings you need to figure this one out.

Did you try restarting it?

Sorry. I got nothing here.

Does it offer you the option to reset the network adaptor? That sometimes works.

But it doesn't always offer it. If you just use the diagnose and repair function in the network and sharing centre, it doesn't seem to offer this. just tells you it can't find anything to repair. But, if you go into network and sharing and click 'status' and then use the diagnose option on that dialogue box it tells you it cant find anything and offers you the reset.



[eta] ah...I just reread your post. I think we're talking about two different things. Yours is a connection not being found, whereas mine is a dropped connection.

There may be a tiny check box that says (something like) "Connect to network automatically", or maybe in the list of found networks, there may be an option to "connect to this network by default".

Other than that, I'm no help here.

Tell us what it was when/if you find out.

Unfortunately to make it more 'user friendly', Vista eliminated many powerful tools. One was found when right clicking on the Network Icon on the dashboard (the bottom right corner where the clock is also located).

The options in that list included Repair.

Some places to find problems include Device Manager (found in Computer Management). Any hardware problem is flagged.

Another is the system event logs. These may mean nothing to you. But would be essential for others to provide useful replies.

HP also has a switch to power off the wireless while on a plane. And often an adjacent light that says if the Wifi is seeing other sites. Your Wifi may be off and only reported previously discovered Wifiis.

And finally, get a free program called Netstumbler. It does not work on all WiFi hardware. And will say if it does not. But if your Wifi is really working, then NetStumbler will not only make that obvious. And make finding future Wifi connections easier.

LOL!

Boo.

Hiss, boo.