Alienware m9700 wireless network problem

Just got a alienware m9700 laptop, everything working fine but can't connect to wifi! I can see my service in connection and It has connect three times in the last week and worked fine until I switch it off and on then it won't connect again. I think it maybe be the antenna I've try everything else. If anyone has any advice i would be very grateful. Thanks Chris

 

Are the drivers up to date?
Have you tried deleting wireless settings for your network and typing them in again? As strange as it may seem it does work sometimes.
Also make sure your SSID is not hidden. that MAC filtering is not enabled (or if it is- that your MAC is added to the exclusion list.
Any other devices on the network that have trouble connecting?

 

Yeah tried all the above with no luck, it's funny how it has worked before, if it was a configuration problem it shouldn't have ever worked should it?

 

Not necessarily- hidden SSID tends to act like this with certain Intel cards- it works fine until restart then sees the network but doesn't connect.
Also IP lease time (this setting is on the router) sometimes causes problems- you may want to test if making it as long as possible (i.e. a week) helps.

What about other devices on the network?

Use inSSIDer to check signal quality and neighboring networks.
If the signal is good you can pretty much exclude any antenna problems at that point.

 

No problems with any other devices. I'm not great when it comes to tech things if you don't mind me asking how could I find if the ssid is hidden? I'm running xp pro. Cheers

 

Log in to the router/AP and see if it set to hidden- although you would have probably known about it if it was.
Give an inSSIDer a try- you may run it on more than one computer and compare the signal strength (measured from the same place)
While it can't be directly compared due to different Wi-Fi cards and antennas if your Alienware reports significantly lower signal quality than to your other computer it's a hint what to look for.

On another note- you've never mentioned your Wi-Fi card model and router.
Also make sure that power management settings are set to "no powersaving" or "max performance" for the Wi-Fi card.

 

Sorted had to change the routers security code thanks for the help