wireless network connection problem

[Venus]

ok, this is stupid but
we have a wireless router. and several hardline connections also plugged into the router

two other laptops work fine on the wireless, so its not the router
its just this one laptop, it used to work fine on the same router, now it wont connect

im fairly sure that it needs to be adjusted in network settings, but im not sure exactly what i need to do

ive pretty much tried about ten different things today, and none work when i do ipcofig it says media disabled, i suspect that might be part of it, but i dunno how to fix
im pretty much stupid when it comes to computers but ive been fixing my own for a while now by trial and error and this one i just cant get to work!

any ideas? questions? cause i know i probably didnt give enough info there

again, this same laptop, with the SAME router i have now, has worked before
we dont use it alot, its been turned off for a few months and now i cant get it to go online

help?

[MoP]

Is the wireless switch on your laptop on?

[Teanos]

MoP has a good question. If there is a switch on the laptop, make sure its on. Or a button.
On HP laptops theres a button that glows orange when its off, blue when its on. It has to be on.

Also you can go to Start --> Control Panel (or start --> settings control panel) and find something like Network Connections.
You should see something like "Local Area Network" and another that says Wireless.

Right click on the wireless and click "Enable".

Its going to be different if its Windows Vista or Windows 7. They hid the networking shit.

Hope that helps.

[Venus]

ok it is an IBM think pad.
as far as i know, and can tell, it has no button or switch. but ill ask my ex just to be sure, since it was his a few years ago before he gave it to my daughter.
im fairly positive however that there is no switch

and when i do what u said about network connections demmy, it gives me the option to disable, view available wireless networks<it finds one but will not connect> and repair<it cant repair because it says that it could not connect to the network.

also its windows xp

[MoP]

And can you connect to another wireless network with that laptop?

Also: is it a router between the modem and the laptop? Or is it a switch? Some internet providers limit the number of IP adresses, so if you have reached that number, you won't be able to connect a new device. If it's a switch, that is, a router solves that problem.

[Venus]

its a router not a switch
and no it wont connect to any network.

[MoP]

Seems like you're using a different connection manager than windows' standard. Any idea what it may be? Any icons in the lower right task bar that might indicate there's an available connection?

You can see if the Windows Zero Config service is running by typing this in command prompt:

sc query wzcsvc

it should say: STATE: RUNNING or something like that.

[Nagash]

I usually go for the "hit it three times on the top side, then reset" strategy when it comes to flawed computery stuff. Has a success ratio of about 5-10%.

[Kaz]

Is your wireless network secured in any way?

Two different types of security could prevent your laptop connecting.

MAC Filtering enabled and not listing your laptops wireless card
WEP/WPA/WPA2 key being entered incorrectly

It could also be dodgy hardware.

Do you have any red or orange events showing up when you open event veiwer?

[squee]

way past late

but Thinkpads do have an on/off manual switch for wireless that overrides the bios/software