Can't connect in new office.

Starting to get setup in my new job and the first thing to do swap their computer for my laptop on the network. Usually easy, but the setup here is strange to me.

They have an unsecured wireless network, with the normal SSID "dlink". The WinXP computer in the office sees and connects no problem, but my notebook can't even detect the signal. It's not a hidden SSID, and I'm out of ideas.

Any input? The tech here doesn't speak english, so I'd prefer to not play the translation game with something this technical.

 

I wonder if they have MAC address filtering in place...? That security measure is independent of network encryption/SSID hiding, but also prevents connecting. Unfortunately, you will need to talk to the IT guys if this is the case, though

 

Intentionally blocked or unintentionally blocked? You don't have it in the "dead zone" do you?

 

I just copied the MAC address from the computer I'm replacing, and still my notebook can't see the signal at all. It's the weirdest thing.

There is a signal in here, the tower on my desk I'm using now is through the wireless and shows five bars.

I just want to move the settings from the tower to my M15x, then put the tower in storage. In the past I've been able to do that in less than 5 minutes.

 

It's possible that the network that you can't see is running on 5GHz range while your Wi-Fi card supports only 2.4GHz range- check that before trying other sollutions.