Sony Vaio wireless connection problems

[Blind Dragon]

I decided to share some of my recent blog post that are related to computers, as I normally blog about business related content. This seemed to be a very popular topic and I experienced the same issues so decided to play around a bit.

The problem I had can occur a few different ways:

1) I experienced that if I put the computer to sleep (close the lid) that when I went to wake it up, the wireless would act as if the switch was turned off, even though it was on.


2) I experienced that sometimes the computer just wouldn't recognize the wireless unless I rebooted a few times. Even then sometimes the wireless switch would show it was off.


3) I experienced that sometimes it would work perfectly fine when I first booted the computer, but then would lose connection after a period of time.


I believe that this issue is with the pre-installed software loaded by Sony. I read many blogs, tech sites, and articles about this but none of them seemed to work. Then I remembered that when I first got the laptop, I had disabled some of the pre-loaded crap that you get when purchase a computer from a store (that's for another blog entry though).


Solution:

Go to Start -> Control Panel -> double click "Vaio Control Center" -> hit ok at the UAC prompt (if there) -> expand the folder "network connections" -> click "Vaio Smart Network" -> click Open


A box should have popped up with 3 little boxes/images in it. Here you can select LAN, WLAN, or Modem

Obviously you want to check the first box for WLAN, as the image show

Magically the wireless switch light on the front of your laptop should have came on. At this point you may have to set up your wireless connection with WEP key or whatever router you have (even if it was previously setup).

If this has helped you please Digg it HERE

 

[Ididmyc600]

Hi

Just noticed a similar thing on a Dell Inspiron, i installed Xppro and used Dells own drivers for the wireless NIC, however i prefer to use windows to manage the wifi, everytime i put the pc into standby or similar the wifi wouldnt work and i had to start the WIFI service in services.msc, it was as i found out Dells own software that was claiming control of the WIFI, once uninstalled and just the driver installed the problem stopped.

 

[Blind Dragon]

I guess that would be the other option - though I am nervous to uninstall the software after seeing how it behaved when it was disabled.

 

[LookinAround]

Problems with wireless after standby
I think this will solve standby issues: From Device Manager, open the wireless card Properties. You should see a Power Management tab. Uncheck Allow the computer to turn off device to save power


Personal opinion: i found the Intel wireless driver/manager had better performance then windows (when hooked it up for a friend) tho don't recall exactly which specific card he had

 

[Blind Dragon]

I had already set power management to not Allow the computer to turn off device to save power

That was not the problem - it was turned off, and you could not turn it on through windows because Sony's software is what disabled it (in this case) - The whole point of the post is that many people don't even remember the software that they disabled when the first got the computer. Then when it acts up you figure it is Vista's fault when in fact it is the manufacturer's own software.

The software I refer to is for easily switching between
1) WLAN
2) LAN
3) Modem

So if you have a wired connection at your office, wireless at home, and a fax hooked up you can satisfy switching connections between the 3 with one click

 

[LookinAround]

Understood.

Was only addressing the familiar sounding "wireless can't connect after standby problem" you and Ididmyc600 referred to .

Certainly other issues might be involved as well (like 3rd party software) and in your case doesn't apply (as you already checked it). Just saying if others having that problem they should check also check power management in addition to 3rd party software considerations as indicated in your post.

 

[Blind Dragon]

I think it was great to point that out, and I would actually check that first