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Question

Internet Access wont work anymore on my laptop

Mar 27, 2018 5:02PM PDT

Can anyone help me??
The internet access icon on the windows taskbar on my laptop has suddenly stopped working. I can no longer select which internet i would like to use when i use my laptop at work or home. I used to be able to see the various connections available to me but now that icon no longer works.

Also my windows search bar is no longer responding.

Anyone know why this could be and if so, what can I do about rectifying it??

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
That icon usually is not called that.
Mar 27, 2018 5:05PM PDT

The icons for network connections and on Windows if no Internet the search can indeed stop.

There's no machine detail here so start by telling more as well as turning your laptop's WiFi off then back on.

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Wifi turned off and on again but still nothing
Mar 27, 2018 5:19PM PDT

Ok so I turned my Wifi off and then on again but still get the same problem.

What machine detail would be required in order for any help to be given??

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Well...
Mar 27, 2018 5:23PM PDT

did you try inputting your WiFi password?
Dafydd.

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Dont need to
Mar 27, 2018 5:27PM PDT

I dont need to input my wifi password as my laptop automatically connects to my internet at home.

Thats not the problem im having though.

My problem is that i can no longer see the available connections and i have no idea why. It just stopped working.

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maybe the wifi device is dead
Mar 27, 2018 5:33PM PDT

Insert a USB wifi device, install it's drivers, see if that works.

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Doe you have an Adroid device?
Mar 27, 2018 5:33PM PDT

On 'phone/ whatever. This will show you all connections.
Dafydd.

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Answer
If no networks show.
Mar 27, 2018 5:33PM PDT

That points to a Wifi card failure unless someone has been tinkering with the drivers.

Again, your choice to keep the machine details secret.

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Answer
get your wifi card checked
Mar 27, 2018 11:57PM PDT

here's what works for me.
change your date and time to the time when you downloaded any item for the last time.
[Suppose I downloaded a file at 7 pm last evening, take the date to the previous day and time to 6.30 pm]
go to control panel
on the search bar of control panel, type restore.
click on Create a Restore Point
CLick on Create button
give a name. enter create.
click on System Restore...
click on next
find the name.
hit Scan for Affected items.
it will take around 10-15 minutes.
you can change your time after the process is completed.
The main thought is- probably a malicious application is downloaded that gets your settings damaged.
This works for me.
This is a pseudo Time machine.

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Answer
Fixes provided...
Mar 28, 2018 12:38PM PDT

The thread here has already provided what could be the problem to address. The only other thing on the odd chance the internal wifi has gotten disconnected physically(wire or lose mount) and that's real odd. Again, you need to chk. physically or even re-attach as contacts can be slighly corrodred. the other item mention is if anyone played with drivers or installed a new update but was incorrect for what was needed. Things happen, recheck all that. Use an outside USB attached wifi link and see if that works. Again, all I did was re-affirm what others mentioned.

tada ------Willy Happy

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Answer
Wireless Icon Missing
Mar 28, 2018 10:20PM PDT

It sounds like you can connect to the internet, but you no longer have the wireless icon in your taskbar, which allows you to select the connection you want? If so, I don't think it's a hardware issue. It could simply mean that the icon has been hidden from view. How did that happen? Anyone's guess. It's Windows and stuff happens. There are ways to check to see if the icon's settings have changed to hidden and it depends on what operating system you are using, 10, 8, 7 or whatever. Just do a google search for "Wireless Icon Missing from Windows Taskbar" and you'll find a step by step process of how to check and adjust the setting for this icon.

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Wireless Icon isn't missing
Mar 28, 2018 11:49PM PDT

The wireless icon isn't missing. It's just that when I click on it to select which internet I want (virgin if I'm at home, the cloud etc when I'm out and about), absolutely nothing happens. It used to be that when I clicked on it, I got a list of available connections but now nothing. It can't be a hardware issue as it does connect to my home internet automatically. It wouldn't connect at all if it were a hardware issue.

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Try rebooting into safe mode with networking.
Mar 29, 2018 9:07AM PDT

Have you tried rebooting your machine into "Safe Mode With Networking"? If the icon works in safe mode with networking, then it must be a start-up item/process/service that is running that is interfering with it. If so, it will take some time to track down the particular service. One service another forum mentioned was Google Cloud Print service. The guy disabled that and his icon started responded again.