WiFi Disabled - looking for advice

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I have AT&T as my internet provider, providing DSL service. They also provide my lan-line. The services were bundled in a package. I recently cancelled my lan-line and choose to keep the DSL at a lower price. So they shut it all down for a day and the I had to re-hookup the DSL. After doing that, my WiFi seems to be hosed up. I have the Netgear 3400 v2. It was working fine until the change. Now, when I click on the Net Genie icon to see how everything is running, the WiFi connection shows as "Status Not Enabled". Going further, it tells me that it "Cannot scan the wireless networks. Make sure your wireless network adapter is turned on and not disabled." So we are unable to use internet with our Kindle Fire and I cannot update my Blu-ray player(unless I do a manual update with a jump drive...) unitl this is resolved. I ahve another Kindle Fire which we bought for a Xmas present for my in-laws. I cannot set it up until my WiFi is up and running. AARGH!

Here's the thing... I am not sure what my wireless network adapter is... when I go into Device Manager (I have Win 7...) I see an icon for "Network Adapter", but not "Wireless Network Adapter". Are they the one and the same? If so, it is showing as "Enabled". I even Disabled it and then Re-Enabled it. To no avail. The internet is working.

Netgear support I am finding is less than desired. After 90 days from registration, no tech support or live chat. Only e-mail correspondence which seems to be automated, not with a person.

Any suggestions?

 

It's the device your computer uses to establish a wireless connection to your router.

For PC's it can be a PCI card plugged into the motherboard, just like a sound card, sometimes with a little antenna sticking out on the front or back of the computer. Or it can be something that looks like a USB stick, plugged into one of the PC's external USB slots. Or sometimes a bigger device, usually with some sort of antenna, connected via a cable to one of the USB slots.

In laptops and tablets, it is a small built-in device that can't be seen from the outside, nor disconnected.
Many laptops have a special switch or button for enabling/disabling it though (above the keyboard, or on one of the the sides/front/back of the laptop, etc. example 1, example 2).

I don't have a working Windows 7 right now, so I can't check... but I don't think so, I think the WLAN adapter should show up as a separate device from the LAN adapter.

PS:
Although seeing as how WLAN stopped working after the DSL switch, and on all devices at once (if I understood that right?), it seems likely that that error message is wrong (i.e. it is not actually your computer's WLAN adapter that has a problem), and instead the Netgear router doesn't have working WLAN set up.

Did you maybe reset the router in the process of switching to the new DSL, and not set it up for wireless networking again?
If you can connect to it from your PC via an Ethernet cable, you should be able to open up the router's configuration page by going to http://192.168.1.1 in your browser. It's different for every router, so I can't give you specific instructions, but just click around and see if you find something about it's WLAN status. Or refer to the router's instruction manual. If you're stuck, feel free to post screenshots.

 

In Device Manager, under Network adapters it only list "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller". Is that the LAN or WLAN? I think it is the LAN. But in the Device Manager under Network Infrastructure Devices it list "Microsoft Wireless Router Module".

I "might" of unknowingly reset the Router when loading the new DSL. How do you start the re-setup of the WLAN? I unplugged the router and modem, waited several minutes, then plugged them back in. Then restarted my system. I don't see any changes. What do I need to re-install. A driver?

 

Yeah, that's LAN.

It should be possible through the router's configuration page, which you can access with your browser as I explained above (when the computer and router are connected to each other with a LAN cable). It shouldn't be necessary to (re-)install anything on your computer.

Also, look at the little light on your router that says "WLAN" (or a little icon showing a radio antenna), whether it is green. Some routers have a separate on/off button for WLAN, if so make sure it's on.

---------- Added 0 hours, 19 minutes and 45 seconds later... ----------

Update:

OK, so I googled this "Netgear Genie" thing, and it seems that this actually controls your router, not your PC. (Or possibly both.)

It basically gives you a more user-friendly, lite version of the router control panel that you can access through the http://192.168.1.1 web interface. I.e. the web interface shows all the router's settings, whereas the "Netgear Genie" app allows you to access the most important ones more easily.

So, if it says that the "wireless network adapter" might be disabled, it probably talks about the WLAN adapter inside the router, not the one on your PC.

 

Ineth,

1st off, thanks for the input and trying to help, it's greatly appreciated.

I have been looking around in the NetGenie Basic and Advanced tabs, which I got to via the IP address, which is not the same thing as the Net Genie access I have on my taskbar. I went to the wireless tab and it shows as Enabled, I believe. I am really confused here as I don't know what is needed. This should be simple, I would think.

On my router, I see the following... There is not a button to turn it on, that I can see. The following icons are lit up.... Power, there is a circle with a half a line through it, I have no idea what that is as the manual doesn't reference it, there is a 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz icon which are lit and #4 is lit up as that is where the plug is and there is an antenna icon which is NOT lit up. There is a tiny little button as well that I can push, but it does not turn on the antenna, if that is even what it is meant to do. No idea what it is for otherwise.

---------- Added 0 hours, 7 minutes and 33 seconds later... ----------

I have upgraded the firmware version, to no avail, not sure if it would. Below is from Net Genie, not sure it is helps...it also list Router Info and Port info, but they include several address including IP and Mac, so I'm not sure i should post them....

Wireless Settings (2.4GHz)
Name (SSID) NETGEAR47
Region North America
Channel Auto (6)
Mode Up to 145 Mbps
Wireless AP On
Broadcast Name On
Wireless isolation Off
Wi-Fi Protected Setup Configured

Wireless Settings (5GHz)
Name (SSID) NETGEAR47-5G
Region North America
Channel 153(P)+149(S)
Mode Up to 300 Mbps
Wireless AP On
Broadcast Name On
Wireless isolation Off
Wi-Fi Protected Setup Configured

 

I love when manufacturers do that. Like, "No one needs to know what the tiny little button does, but we'll still put it there so people can press it anyway. Likewise we'll explain some of the other lights, but not all of them. Clearly no one needs to know what each light means. Okay, send the unit to production and send the manual to the printer!"

 

Sounds like a "power on" symbol. Or maybe it's supposed to represent a globe, like in the Internet Explorer icon, in that case it stands for "connection between the router and the Internet".

Ah, yes these are for the router's WLAN adapters.

Apparently it has two of them, one for the 2.4 ghz WLAN radio frequency (which is the most common one) and the 5 ghz WLAN radio frequency (which allows more speed and connection stability, but is not yet supported by most computers/tablets/phones). But that's getting slightly OT...

If those lights are lit, it means the router's WLAN adapters are enabled...

Are you sure? Since WLAN is already covered by the 2.5 and 5 ghz icons, this is probably something else. A USB icon maybe?

Hm, according to that info the router's wireless functionality is indeed up and running.

In your first post you said you get the message "Cannot scan the wireless networks.", I assume this is what it says in the Net Genie app on your PC?

Have you checked if the normal Windows WLAN info on your PC (from the WiFi icon in the system tray) lists any networks?

If not, does your Kindle Fire list any networks? (instructions for how to check)

Look for the names "NETGEAR47" or "NETGEAR47-5G" in the wireless network list.

 

Yes, I believe that is the USB icon, so that eliminates that issue.


Yes, I rec'd the "Cannot scan the wireless networks" message from NetGenie.

You asked "Have you checked if the normal Windows WLAN info on your PC (from the WiFi icon in the system tray) lists any networks?" I don't have a WiFi icon in my systems tray. I have a Network Access icon, NVIDIA Settings, NetGenie, VIA HD Audio Deck, Mode:High Performance, Speakers, Solve PC issues and ZoneAlarm icons only.

 

Ok, an obvious question which I probably should have asked at the start: Were you actually ever able to get a wireless Internet connection on the PC (before the DSL switch), or did you always connect the PC via LAN cable and only use wireless for the Kindle and Blu-ray player?

 

I only use the wireless for the Kindle and Blu-Ray. The PC via LAN. So, now when I use the Kindle, I cannot connect to the web on that device.

 

Ok, in that case disregard my first post...

Based on all of the above, here is what I think is going on:

a) Your PC doesn't have a WLAN adapter. So the error messages "Status Not Enabled" and "Cannot scan the wireless networks" that you see on your PC make perfect sense - without a WLAN adapter, the PC can't scan for wireless networks or connect to one. Since you use a LAN cable to connect the PC to the router, that's nothing to worry about.

b) The router's WLAN functionality seems to be up and running. However, having reset the router may have also reset the WLAN settings (like the network name and password) to factory defaults, so they are now different from the ones the Kindle and Blu-ray have memorized. Unless there is another problem, the solution should be to simply tell those two devices the new WLAN network name and password.

For how to do this on the Kindle, see the link at the bottom of my previous post.

 

Success!

So... I unplugged everything..again and let it sit for 3 or so minutes. Powered down the PC. Reconnected. Restarted the PC and searched for new devices. Netgear Router was now showing as new device. I downloaded the updated driver and voila! I tried this earlier this morning to no avail, not sure what I did differently, but now the Kindle is recognizing the Netgear Wifi. Though the Net Genie is still showing the WiFi as Not Enabled.

Ineth, thank you very much for your patience. Your input certainly narrowed down the choices in my search. Cheers my friend!