New/old laptop problem

[CADDYBILL]

:scratch:I am hopping someone can point me in the right direction. I have a gateway laptop that is 3 years old but had only been taken out of the box and turned on 4 days ago. My Aunt had bought from HSN got sick and then died. We did not find it unopened till recently. It came with a wireless router that I have set up already. Hears my problem, I have been able to find the wireless signal and it says I am connected. The google toolbar has current news updates. But I get an error message That “the toolbar broker is registered and exists, but is not responding to requests.” If I try to open Internet Explorer it tries to connect and eventually says there is an error. So it looks like I am connected but I can’t open a browser window. the only thing I can access is a Gatway/goolge page but it comes up with a lot of errors and the links don’t work. Thaks for any help

 

[sjr033]

I would un hook the router and connect directly to the internet. To make sure that there is no problems with the computer, also to get any updates. Then try to set up the router.

 

[CADDYBILL]

I just got off the phone with my ISP and they think the problem is that I have an old version of IE. Since my last post I have been able to get online limited with the wirless connection but none of the links work. I am going to try hard wired and see what happens..

 

[BrooklynBay]

Which version of Windows and Internet Explorer does it have?

 

[CADDYBILL]

Vista and not sure about IE, how do I find it?

 

[CADDYBILL]

I have not direct wired the laptop yet, I would have to disconect from my home computer. But the wireless conection is working but realy slowly. I try to open the IE 7 download page. I read some stuff in this forum about IE 8 not working so well.

 

[CADDYBILL]

I just tried to open windows update in IE and I got the message that I don't have appropriate permissions. I'm set up as an administrator.

 

[Forder]

IE 7 or higher should work fine. I would still hook it up directly to the modem just to make sure that it's not a problem with the laptop. Wireless should be just as fast for browsing as a wired Ethernet connection (such as what your desktop has), unless your wireless connection is a 802.11b (11 mbit/sec). I would assume if it's only 3 years old, it's a 802.11g (54 mbit/sec), which should be fast for just web browsing. Is your signal good?

The ultimate test though would still be to just hook the laptop directly to the modem and see how it works.

 

[BrooklynBay]

There might be a firewall setting that is blocking it.

 

[Forder]

I just tried to open windows update in IE and I got the message that I don't have appropriate permissions. I'm set up as an administrator.

If you're using Vista, it should pop up with a User Access Control window that asks if you want to elevate permissions to install the updates. Does it do this at least? This is if the UAC is enabled anyway (by default it's enabled).

 

[heathmo]

Ok, I've been on the forum for a while, & I should probably lend my expertise, since this is my job anyways. I would try uninstalling the toolbar. If it's the Google Toolbar, IE and that toolbar seem to have a ton of issues. Then ASAP get at least version 7 of IE. That way you can do your Windows Updates, which I would certainly upgrade to Microsoft Update. And I always do the Custom and get the software and hardware updates, except nVidia video drivers, Windows always screws those up.

Also if it has any AntiVirus preinstalled, Uninstall that junk, it's usually only a 60 day trial anyways and free software works better. On every computer I fix I install AntiVir Personal, ThreatFire and Sunbelt Personal Firewall. And a couple really good pieces of software are Mozilla Firefox and for that I would get the Add-Ons WOT and Adblock Plus. Honestly some of the best software out there and it's all free. Now of course there are other alternatives as well, but some just seem a little more complicated for the average user, but check out http://www.techsupportalert.com/ if you want to find other freeware that you might like.

 

[CADDYBILL]

Will try in a bit to direct wire it. To find out if UAC is enabled do I go to internet options?n I will also uninstal McAfee. Thanks everyone for the quick replies, will update everyone later

 

[heathmo]

UAC in Vista is in the Security Center, under the Control Panel. Windows will bug you about it after you turn it off. Oh, if you have Vista, you've already got IE7 so you should be ok there.

 

[Howard]

In vista you do not update via ie at all. There is a seperate update program under all programs (Windows Update).

 

[heathmo]

Yep, true. In which case to get all the updates you have to click the little links below the install button.

 

[CADDYBILL]

In vista you do not update via ie at all. There is a seperate update program under all programs (Windows Update).

Just tried this and I get an unknown error code 80080005.

Also tried a direct conection, no faster than the wireless. It takes minutes to load the default gateway google page.
another problem is that even thou I am set up as an administrator I do not have access to remove delet programs and some other things. How can I make sure I am loged in as am admin?

 

[Blee1099]

:scratch:I am hopping someone can point me in the right direction. I have a gateway laptop that is 3 years old but had only been taken out of the box and turned on 4 days ago. My Aunt had bought from HSN got sick and then died. We did not find it unopened till recently. It came with a wireless router that I have set up already. Hears my problem, I have been able to find the wireless signal and it says I am connected. The google toolbar has current news updates. But I get an error message That “the toolbar broker is registered and exists, but is not responding to requests.” If I try to open Internet Explorer it tries to connect and eventually says there is an error. So it looks like I am connected but I can’t open a browser window. the only thing I can access is a Gatway/goolge page but it comes up with a lot of errors and the links don’t work. Thaks for any help

In the tab where it says "Start Search" type in CMD and hit enter
once you get another pop up screen type in IPCONFIG and paste the results. You can also do things like ping google.com or ping yahoo.com If any of those two show unreachable then there is an issue with your TCP/IP stack or you have some sort of firewall preventing the ICMP command. Since you just opened it up, it wouldn't hurt to do a complete system nuke & pave (re-install Vista) just in case it was a bad installation.

 

[heathmo]

Does any AntiVirus/Internet Security Software start with the PC? If so it could still be a firewall issue. Next thing I can think to try is boot into Safe Mode with Networking by pressing the F8 key before Windows starts to boot and then selecting it. If you can get online ok that way , then it's definitely a software issue. Also in Safe Mode with Networking you can go to Start -> Search Panel -> type "msconfig" and then shut off all the McAfee components under Startup and Services. That will stop McAfee from starting. And then you can focus on more issues. Gateway has also sold out to MPC so the BigFix may not be available any more, which will be a pain because a lot of Gateways have software issues. I had an eMachine that could not take XP SP2 because it would Blue Screen, it required a BigFix update first. So keep that in mind, you may need to contact MPC about getting those fixes.

 

[sjr033]

Which version of Vista is it?
My work PC is a Vista Home Premium Pentium(R) 3.0GHz w/ 1.5GB Ram and it runs faster than my co-workers Vista Home Basic Pentium(R) 3.47GHz w/ 2GB Ram.

And how much ram do you have?
They say that 512 is min but you need at least 1gb if not more.

 

[CADDYBILL]

:biggthump

Guys thank you, it's fixed. Everyone gave me some good ideas. What I had to do was login to vista as an admin and delete mcaffee. Once I did that it seams to work fine. I would never have been able to do this without your sugestions thank you.