[ustabefast]

My son's  Gateway Windows 7 machine will no longer log onto the internet and does not even recognize any internet connections. The wireless router seems fine as our other computer works.

Under 'device manager' I clicked on the icon for the 802.11n LAN card and got the error message 'windows cannot load the drivers required for this device'. I also found  error code 31.

I could not uninstall the device because the menu options were all inoperable.

Should I buy a new upgraded wifi device and see if that solves the problem? A friend says I need a whole new Windows 7 install.

 

 

 

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Is the account you login as a Administrator level account?

 

 

[Ztruker]

Is the account you login as a Administrator level account?

 

 

[Aura]

Hello ustabefast

If you can give me your son's exact laptop model number (you can find it via dxdiag or under the laptop's battery) and your version of Windows (32 or 64-bits, you can find it in System properties), I'll be able to find the exact Network Controller (WiFi) drivers for the laptop and link them to you.

[ustabefast]

Ztruker, I log in as administrator level. No, none of the drop down items are usable. They look faded and do nothing when I click on them.

Oh, Aura, it's a desktop computer with an added wireless adapter. I recall this computer had both 64 bit and 32 bit Windows on the menu but I think he  used the 32 bit. I'll double check later as I don't have access to the computer until afternoon.

[Ztruker]

When you can, do the following:

 

Open a Elevated Command Prompt:

Click on the Start button and type cmd.
DO NOT press Enter or click Go.
Look at the upper part of the window and you will see cmd.exe.
Right click on it and select Run as Administrator.

 

Type net user administrator /active:yes and press Enter to enable the hidden Administrator account.

Restart the computer and tap F8 every second or so to bring up the Advanced Boot Options menu.

Select Safe Mode.

Login as Administrator, should be no password.

Try to uninstall the network device from Device Manager.

 

If it works, reboot and Windows will detect the network device and reload the drivers, see if that fixes the problem.

[ustabefast]

My son got onto safe mode and finally succeeded in removing the device. When it rebooted it showed up finally, but still did not work, perhaps because  the signal strength to this computer was just too low for the cheap LAN card to handle.

But we were happy to see it was not a malware issue. We bought a better  usb adapter and the computer now gets online, albeit with a weak signal.

Thanks for the help!

[Ztruker]

Try moving the location of the router/modem. Sometimes just a few feet makes a big difference.

[Aura]

Try moving the location of the router/modem. Sometimes just a few feet makes a big difference.

Along with this, make sure that there's no home devices in the way of the computer and the router that could cause interferences. For exemple, if your router is on the 2.4GHz bandwitdh but you also have cordless phones that are on that same bandwitdh, it will disturb the signal.

[Ztruker]

AN one last possibility: Wireless Signal Amplifier

[Aura]

AN one last possibility: Wireless Signal Amplifier

You can do one of these homemade if you wish, I had to do one for a Networking class homework
The most popular is the Windsurfer Antenna, but there's many more designs !

https://www.google.c...dsurfer antenna

[Ztruker]

Won't work if the router doesn't have an external antenna, like the newer Netgears.