troubleshooting wireless network connections in Windows XP

I find that I am losing patience in trying to assist customers with their wifi connection issues. I just wished that they had the gumption to read THE F**KING MANUAL!!! Or at least do a Google search! <sigh> Sorry. It's just PMS. But anyways, if you're having trouble connecting to wireless internet, try to do the following:

1. Check if you're wireless antenna is ON. (On some computers, it's a switch or a button. It shouldn't be hard to find since it has the wifi icon on it.)
2. Check if your wireless network adapter is set to enabled in Device Manager. Just go to Start>Right-click My Computer>Left-click Manage>Device Manager. (Note: If you see a bubble saying "Wireless Networks Available. Not Connected.", you can skip this step.)
3. Right-click on Wireless Network Connection icon, left-click on View Available Wireless Networks. It should list all available wifi networks in your area.
4. Click on your wireless network and click on the Connect button at the bottom. (For unsecured wifi networks, you can connect to it. Pwede kang maki-squat sa wifi ng neighbor mo. Security-enabled networks require a network key.)
5. For error "Windows cannot configure your wireless network settings", make sure that Windows' Wireless Zero Configuration service is started. (Start>Run>type services.msc>look for Wireless Zero Configuration. Restart the service if it is stopped.) If started, go to Change the order of preferred networks (still under View Available Wireless Networks window). Under Wireless Networks tab, make sure that box is checked for "Use windows to configure my wireless network settings". You should be able to pick up wifi networks now.
6. If you're still unable to pick-up wireless networks in your area, try to uninstall and reinstall the wireless network driver. It will reset any settings you have for the wireless network adapter. You can uninstall and reinstall it in two ways.
• To uninstall, go to Device Manager>Click on (+) next to Network Adapters, right-click on wifi network adapter and left-click on Uninstall. To reinstall, just restart the notebook.
• Another way would be to remove the driver completely from the notebook. You have to download wireless network drivers to reinstall it. Save the driver to your desktop for easy access. To uninstall, go to Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs>Click on your wireless network driver/utility>Click on Uninstall. To reinstall it, open up wireless network driver file.
7. If all else fails, reinstall Windows. Really. Last resort na yan.

Note:

If you have any questions/clarifications and/or violent reactions, you can reach me at my email.  

How to Downgrade to Windows XP

This post is all for you people out there whose computers came preinstalled with Windows Vista, at sa mga nababanas na din na gumamit ng Vista because it's too slow or para sa mga hindi marunong gumamit ng Vista. WHAHAHA! (I'm running on XP Pro. Woohoo!!!) Kidding..

Anyways, before you do a downgrade, kindly considering the following:

(1) Downgrading to a different operating system aside from the ones preinstalled will usually result in getting limited tech support for software issues so don't go calling your manufacturer after doing this. Downgrading your OS will be at your own risk!

(2) Before doing a downgrade, make sure that XP drivers are available from your manufacturer's website. If it's not available, I'm sorry. You'll not be able to do a downgrade.  If they're not available, try calling your computer manufacturer to check if they'll be posting some soon or what.  (Baka pa lang magkaroon ng himala..)

(3) Make sure that you have the recovery CDs or installation CDs that came with the notebook. There are also computers that would allow you to make your own recovery/installation discs so make sure that you create them first before proceeding. 

(4) Download all pertinent drivers from your manufacturer's support site. If your computer came with a SATA hard drive, check if they have any SATA drivers. You may need to use a USB floppy disk drive in order for you to install the SATA drivers.

(5) Make sure that you have a Windows XP CD. (Syempre, magda-downgrade ka tapos wala kang XP CD?!)

STEPS

1. Boot to the XP CD. Press F12 for the boot menu at the manufacturer's logo.

2. It will start to load. If it prompts you that you are unable to continue because your HDD is not detected, you would need to install SATA drivers. Follow this to install SATA drivers.

3. If you're a newbie at this, click HERE for a step-by-step guide on how to install it. If you're a bit technically inclined, click HERE .

4. Once you're done installing Windows XP, you'd need to load the drivers in this order:

   • Chipset driver/utility

   • Graphic/Display drivers

   • Audio/Sound drivers

   • LAN drivers

   • WLAN drivers

   • Modem drivers

5. Once these are installed, notebook should function properly. If there are any utilities from manufacturer that you'd need to install, you can install it.

6. Before going online, make sure that you have an AV (anti-virus) software installed first. Recommended would be either AVG or ZoneAlarm Internet Security (already includeds Kaspersky AV) or McAfee.

SURVEY FOR THE DAY:

system slow performance

Say your laptop/desktop computer is running Über slow.. yung parang after 10,000 years pa bago magboot.. Aba, if that's the issue, matulog ka muna. Pag gising mo, nakapasok ka na ng Windows! Just kidding..

I'm afraid that the following troubleshooting steps would only be applicable to some operating systems i.e. Windows Vista and Windows XP. (Sorry, di na kaya ng brain ko na magstore ng unimportant t/s steps for older OS)

WINDOWS VISTA

1. Boot to safe mode (You can do this by pressing F8 at the manufacturer's logo. BTW, if there's no mouse, use the arrow keys and ENTER to make your selection)

2. Check if you're having the same problem there and do the following: 

   • if you are, it's a possible HW issue. Have your memory and HD checked. No need to proceed to Step 3 obviously.

   • if you aren't, then go to Start>Start/Search>type MSCONFIG>under General, click on Selective Startup, uncheck Load Startup Items>Apply>OK

3. Restart the computer.

WINDOWS XP

1. Boot to safe mode (You can do this by pressing F8 at the manufacturer's logo. BTW, if there's no mouse, use the arrow keys and ENTER to make your selection)

2. Check if you're having the same problem there and do the following: 

   •  if you are, it's a possible HW issue. Have your memory and HD checked. No need to proceed to Step 3 obviously.

   • if you aren't, then go to Start>Run>MSCONFIG>under General, set it to Selective Startup, uncheck first two (2) boxes and uncheck Load Startup Items.>Apply>Close

3.  Restart the computer.

Easy?

the sd card is not formatted.

I never thought that this would happen to me, EVER! But it DID!!! My iPaq has a 1GB SD card and it was nearly full. I think I had about 100MB of free space left on it. It was full of files: my ebooks, my wares (short for softwares), my cab files, mp3s, games.. everything! I used to think of my iPaq as my mini-entertainment system. But Murphy's Law di ba?

Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way - Murphy's Law

So, it did!!! I use a POPCOM SD card reader and it has been with me eversince I got my phone which is what - a year ago. Mikee and I were trying to install Windows XP Pro on my laptop and I've downloaded the drivers on my SD card. I had to leave my laptop with Mikee because I had work at that time. I got to work and then I received a text message from Mikee saying that my SD card is not being detected by my laptop anymore! HUHUHU!!! Sabi ko kay Mikee, just plug it to your computer and see if it will be detected. If it can be detected, just copy and paste everything to a single folder in Mikee's so that I can reformat the damn card later. But even Mikee's computer was not able to detect it!

Now, you may want to try this. It worked for me. I was only able to recover some of my files though. Not all of them. It's not able to recover .LIT files (MS Reader files) and other ebook formats. It's called POWER DATA RECOVERY.  

Power Data Recovery is a risk-free Data Recovery utility that helps you in recovering all your important data lost  after accidental format, virus problems, software malfunction, file/directory deletion, or even a sabotage! It is an easy to use data recovery utility that examines your inaccessible hard drives for damages and corruptions and recovers the data back.

mic problems?

I just bought myself a pair of cheap headset/mic from CD-R King Gateway yesterday. They cost around PhP100. At the store, the sales girl tested it first to make sure it wasn't a dud. She plugged it into this mini-MP3 player and it was indeed working fine. They told me that they're unable to test the mic since their computer's down. So, I said, "Ok.. This has warranty naman.." 1 week replacement daw. So I got home and plugged everything into my laptop.

To test the mic, here's what you do:

1. Open up Volume Controls. (You can reach this by double-clicking on the little speaker icon on the lower-right corner of your screen. Or you can go to Start>Control Panel>Sounds and Audio Devices>Volume Tab>Click on Advanced button)

2. Make sure that the Mic In section is not set to mute!

3. Then next, open up Sound Recorder (from Start>All Programs>Accessories>Entertainment>Sound Recorder)

4. Click on the Record button and start saying something.. hehehe.. (I played a song using my mobile by placing it near the mouthpiece)

5. Click on Stop and then Play. If you're able to hear what you said/played, the the mic is working! You're good to go!