elitebook 8470p WiFi problem

Hello all!

Recently, I acquired this 3 1/2 year old computer in great condition with a full complement of WiFi/Bluetooth/Ethernet capabilities. After ironing out some kinks (thermal issues, software, etc.,) I proceeded to use its WLAN.

Problem: I can get to google but nothing else, not even sites such as AVG, Microsoft, Cisco and other staple techs. Google will search and come up with results, but i cannot get any further. Clicking on the search results will invariably come up with http://securelogin.arubanetworks.com, a secured Hewlett Packard database site.

Is this happening because the HP driver for the WLAN card (Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 #4) may be programmed to redirect the site query to this HP site? If so, short of buying a USB WLAN thumb card, does anyone know of a remedy to this problem? Did anyone else experience this issue?

 

Come now, really, no one knows anything about this problem or have some input?

Thanks, J.

 

That seems like it's all screwed up. How about a clean windows install?


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You're equipped with a pretty advanced array of computers, he he
You may have a point in recommending a clean install of Win7. I had the same idea, but wanted to get the opinions of others before taking such drastic step.
The main issue for me here is that I bought the computer used without its installation disk. I bought it mainly because of its powerful processor (the i7-3720), since in my case it's mainly about processing large chunks of data.
One of the reasons I did not proceed with reinstalling the OS is that I searched the register for the above mentioned URL and found nothing. What's more, if the browsers are not searching for the HP security site, they promptly go to a security AVG site. I searched the register for it, but found nothing. Therefore, these sites are not built into the OS or browsers' search engines, which I installed clean. Nor did I import any profiles into them from IE.
There's no separate HP System partition on the boot SSD either, which is odd, meaning that the presently installed Win7 is not the initial OS the computer came with. Of course, HP has every driver and program downloadable on its technical sites, so I have everything. Should the reinstallation occur, I will create the separate partition for System recovery.
Anyway, thanks for your input. J.

 

The extra hp partition may be a recovery partition - it doesn't indicate that the installed OS differs from what the machine shipped with.

The fact that your web browsing is being redirected points to bad configuration or malware somewhere. Since it's only wifi and not LAN, it's likely the wifi adapter settings (maybe the ip settings are still using dhcp but a weird dns server?). If the configuration there is messed up, it won't matter what browser you use.

Rather than digging around to find the problem, just reinstall Windows. Is there a sticker with the license key on the bottom of the laptop or under the battery? You can download the drivers and win 7 installer over the lab so you have everything you need to install on top of vanilla windows rather than using an HP-specific image.


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Alex, a big thanks for both of your replies.
Yeah, DHCP is on for all of the network devices in the computer. However, I turned it on only when, the computer being wire-connected to a broadband router, there was a complaint by the network that it couldn't reach any site because DHCP was not turned on. However, this happened AFTER I tried connecting (and getting hopelessly redirected to the HP site) via the apartment complex's WiFi hotpoint. You're right about Win7's reinstallation. Getting to the bottom of the cause in this case may take quite a long time. Anyway, thanks again, John.

 

Oh, forgot. No, no such sticker anywhere, but I have a few Win7 disks lying around, so that's not a problem. And, searching through parasites won't also be a problem, since I strictly reserve the SSD for the OS (absolutely NO data on there), the HP utility programs, and some programs that I don't want on the 1T data disk (reserved strictly for data). S.