[searchingforhelp]

Hi. I have a Sony VAIO laptop (VGN-S480) and the WLAN wireless switch utility has not been working properly. The switch is turned on, but the light flashes off and on, and so the wireless connection only works intermittently. The computer is a slightly older model, and therefore does not seem to work with the Smart Network. I have searched many sites, and can't seem to find a solution, although it does appear to be a software problem (not the switch itself) as I have been able to do some temporary fixes in the past. Running on Windows XP professional. Please help if you can.

[JohnWill]

Sounds like a hardware issue to me. What makes you think this is software?

[searchingforhelp]

I'm definitely not sure that it's software, but this issue has been going on for several months and all of the research I've done point to software glitches. Lots of issues have been reported on various sites that point to the "Smart Network utililty" as the fix for this problem (which doesn't seem to be compatible with my older model). And when I've reinstalled some of the wireless drivers for this computer, it seems to temporarily fix the problem.

[JohnWill]

What does Sony have to say? It would seem that there would be a version of their utility that would function properly with your machine.

[searchingforhelp]

Hi John. I have not contacted Sony directly - I have scoured their web support site, but haven't found any relevant solutions (I think there was something that said "we're working on it." I will contact them directly and will update this post once I have a response. Thanks!

[JohnWill]

Yet another reason I avoid Sony products.

[itskj]

Did the problems start right after running Windows Update? There are several reports (but no solutions yet that I've seen) popping up on the web about suddenly broken wireless.