Windows 8 Recognizes wireless but won't connect

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skyline4727

skyline4727

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I have Win 8 premium 64 bit and I can't really use it because it doesn't connect to the internet. I took my computer to a friend's house and used an ethernet cable to get the updates and necessary drivers and it recognizes my wireless card and I can see the networks but when I try to connect to mine, I always get limited connectivity. I know it's not the wifi or the wireless card because I'm dual booting with win 7 and that works fine. I want to switch over to Win 8, especially with Windows 8.1 coming out in a month but I can't really do anything with no internet access. I don't think it's really necessary but my system is a Dell XPS 410 with a C2D E6600 @ 2.4 Ghz and a GeForce 8600 GTS.
 
Solution
inzone
It's kind of annoying that a major manufacturer would not have drivers for a new OS. What I have done in the past is to look for a similar new device that has the new drivers and try them to see if they would work. May be a brand new wireless card that has similar features to the card you have and has the drivers. An email to their tech support may also yield something helpful.
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skyline4727

skyline4727

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As I mentioned, I connected to the internet with an ethernet cable and downloaded drivers and updates for Win 8. I'm pretty sure they're they correct drivers too since it recognizes the card and I can find networks. I'm assuming that if the drivers weren't correct, I couldn't even find the wireless networks.
 
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inzone

inzone

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Mar 12, 2011
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Since your computer is a desktop you can have separate network cards or a combo card. Do you know which it is ? How old is the computer?
In order to help you I need to know a lot more about your computer.

In looking up your model number I found that your computer is 6 years old and came with Windows XP is this correct?
Chances are that it didn't come with wireless network card and you installed one yourself is this correct?

If as you say you were using the computer with Windows 7 and the wireless was working fine, when you loaded Windows 8 you would have had to specificly find and load the drivers for the wireless card for it to work. Yes you can see other wireless networks but the card is not working because you cannot connect to them. Plugging in a network cable is not the same as connecting by wireless. If you can post the brand of card that you have it would nelp because in the specs of the computer that I found online all I see is a lan port for a Ethernet cable and no mention of wireless capability.
 
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skyline4727

skyline4727

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It's a separate wireless card that I installed. It's a Realtek 8185 Extensible 802.11b/g Wireless Device. I think the computer shipped with XP but I got as a a gift a couple years ago and the person I got it from put Vista on it. I know that plugging in a network cable isn't the same as wireless, but I was saying that I used an ehternet cable to get online with Win 8 to download the drivers.
 
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inzone

inzone

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After doing a search for drivers for that card I cannot find any for Windows 8, even on the Realtek site itself they only have drivers for up to Windows 7.
So the reason your having problems with that card is because there are no drivers loaded for it.

Go to Device Manager, network adaptors and right click on the wireless card and select properties. In the window that pops up there is a box in the lower half of the window that will say Device Status. If the wireless card is working it will say device is working properly, if there are no drivers loaded it will say that the drivers for this device have not been loaded.
 
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skyline4727

skyline4727

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Yeah, I noticed they didn't have anything for Windows 8 but I got the most up to date drivers I could find. I read somewhere that the XP drivers partially work with Win 8 so I'm going to try loading those and see if it helps.
 
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inzone

inzone

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Mar 12, 2011
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51,960
It's kind of annoying that a major manufacturer would not have drivers for a new OS. What I have done in the past is to look for a similar new device that has the new drivers and try them to see if they would work. May be a brand new wireless card that has similar features to the card you have and has the drivers. An email to their tech support may also yield something helpful.
 
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Solution
skyline4727

skyline4727

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Jan 21, 2013
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I'll try both of those options. Thanks a lot for all your help.
 
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