Beyond the fail

[j4]

For testing purposes, I booted addedentry's WinXP PC from an Ubuntu live CD. Out of curiosity, I tried to see if I could get Ubuntu to talk to the wireless card (a Broadcom Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN MiniCard). I set it up with ndiswrapper, roughly according to these instructions (same wireless card, different PC) and (unsurprisingly) it didn't work. The fact that it probably requires a reboot for changes to take effect makes it kind of impossible from a live CD.

Back in WinXP, now, wireless doesn't work. That is: the PC says it's connected to our house's wireless network, no problems, all fine; but it can't get to anything else (including our router).

What have I broken? And how can I fix it? Any advice welcome, before I have to get addedentry a new wireless card. Or a new PC. Or a new girlfriend. :-(

ETA: Believe it or not, one of the first things I suggested before posting to LJ in a panic was "reinstall the driver". Which he said he'd done (and which I therefore believed hadn't worked). And which he hadn't actually done. And which seems to have fixed the problem.

Thank you all for sensible suggestions. And for trying to make me feel like less of a failure when all I seem to have done today is bugger things up in a way which manages to be irritating and stress-making without actually being very much use as a learning experience. :-/

Comments

[hsenag.livejournal.com]

Have you booted it from cold? (i.e. turned it off, possibly including removing mains power) It's possible the card has been put into some state that a warm reboot won't fix.

[brrm.livejournal.com]

(and battery)

[covertmusic.livejournal.com]

Sounded like it's a desktop, not laptop.

[brrm.livejournal.com]

The Broadcom Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini Card seems to bring up laptopish google results - and I thought I saw a PC laptop last time I was there ;-)

[covertmusic.livejournal.com]

I bow to your greater knowledge :)

Pulling the battery's probably a good idea if nothing else has worked.

[pjc50.livejournal.com]

It's just a computer failure, doesn't mean you're a failure.

Leaving the thing powered off for a while might reset it more thoroughtly, as does moving the card to a different slot (this can cause windows to reinstall the drivers).