SSID hidden and WPA2 here as well. But manually configuring the MAC address.... yeah, I can do it. (Bloody well should be able to do it, computer engineering degree and way too many years in IT work.) But my roommate, not so much... I want her to be able to look for the access points, select ours and put in the PW if she has to, nothing more.

I've intentionally kept the set up on this KISS.

And yes, I made sure the silly thing was on.


Thanks guys. I'll give a couple of these ideas a try, then call Belkin.

EDIT: You know, it kinda says something when I post first here, then ZS, and then, after several hours, to technology forums. *grins*

The laptop cannot SEE any wireless signals. So it's not MAC address filtering, or WEP/WPA, or anything like that. Those things may prevent him from connecting, but not from SEEING a signal.

Sounds like a flakey laptop to me, assuming the WiFi switch is "on" and so is the router. You might try rebooting the router also. I've seen some go brain-dead and stop with the WiFi part. However, the laptop IS running Windows, and I don't find Windows all that reliable (a separate discussion topic).

For additional troubleshooting, I'd boot the laptop with a Linux LiveCD. If you can get it to detect wireless signal under Linux, then you need to look closer at OS/driver issues when trying with Windows. I would try a Ubuntu LiveCD first, as this distro is more aimed at less experienced/less knowledgable users and thus tends to have better automatic hardware detection (but not always). Knoppix or SystemRescueCD would be good to try also. I haven't used Knoppix for quite a while, but it USED to have decent hardware detection ... I don't know how it stacks up these days however. I've had very good luck recently for many different hardware configurations using SystemRescueCD (based on Gentoo).

I do it too... ;-)

Is it using windows to manage the wireless or the software from the wifi card manufactuere. Someplace there is a checkbox for that and if you let windows manage the connections it does bad things. Microsoft designed windows to be end user proof and it will hop around between multiple wifi connections looking for a better/easier one and as a lot of people have found will hop off of a perfectly working one on to a non working one if the wind blows the right way. If your in an area where there might be multiple wifi access points then windows can hop around or connect to a secure one with the stongest signal and sit there and not be able to do anything.
Whatever model wifi nic is in the laptop should have a driver and utility download. install that driver and utility and tell windows to let the manufactuers software manage the wifi rather than windows, then use the signal strength meter than came with that utility to see if there is a connection and setup your ssid and such within that utility rather than in windows.

That's a pretty wide ranging blanket statement. It shows a lack of knowledge, not an excess of it.

While MAC filtering does not do much to enhance security, it is useful for other things. For example, I use it in conjunction with "Static DHCP" so that when one of our laptops tries to connect wirelessly (using DHCP) my router recognizes it by it's MAC address and always assigns it the same IP address (keeping the same IP is not guarranteed with standard DHCP).

This is a convenience measure so that our laptops function as if they have static IP's when connected to my network, but still are using DHCP so that they can easily connect on other networks. It is not a security measure since MAC addresses can be spoofed. I use WPA for security. However, I only have the required amount of IP addresses in my DHCP pool and they obviously can't be assigned twice, so this MAC filtering does provide a (small) roadblock for inept hackers. But that is only a side effect, not my main reason for using MAC filtering.

Of course, if the OP had setup something like I'm doing, then he would know about it and could troubleshoot it if it were part of his problem. But a blanket statement saying "nobody uses MAC filtering" is just plain silly.

The laptop is fine.

The router is pooched. Came in after work, nothing attached to it was one, and every light was blinking. Much cussing. With the new one, HUZZAH! We can see the network from here.

Stupid router.

The only, and I say ONLY routers I have had last more than a year are made by apple. (for both PC and MAC)

I now have everyone I know on Time Capsule type routers so there is also the internal backup.

When cash is no longer an issue, go MAC.

Don't buy the overrated MAC garbage, there are thousands of routers in use all over the world, hundreds of brand names and models that work just fine year after year.

Apple have always been ahead of the field in innovative products;

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/apple_introduces_revolutionary

saw that one before. It is funny though like when Apple copied the 3+ year old minibox to make the mac mini and all of a sudden it was new. Or there "revolutionary" web browser that came from Konqeror.
Unfortunately it seems that any computer related thread on forums gets derailed by someone who thinks apple is the be all end all even though there are much better systems out there. I was one one forum where a couple of us suggested trying Linux and a moderator deleted our posts and sent us pm's saying we need to apologize and not turn a windows thread into a linux thread. So after that in about a half dozen other windows threads when someone would post "buy a mac" I would call out that moderator who never did respond. I should have pm'ed him and asked why he would delete "try linux" and not "buy a mac" threads.
To get back on topic if you really want nice wireless the cisco aironet or Enterasys (formerly cabletron) is the top of the line.