Sony Vaio won't connect wirelessly to internet

[Lizard]

I have a Sony Vaio that won't connect to the internet through its wireless connection.

The setup I have is a Linksys WAG54GP2 wireless router, which services three computers, all connecting wirelessly - two desktops and the Vaio. Both desktops are connecting fine, and can browse the internet and send and receive email. However, as of this morning, the laptop won't connect to the internet, though it will still send and receive email through Windows Mail.

The laptop is a few months old, running Vista, and has all the latest Windows updates. I tried all this evening to fix the problem, and a couple of times it looked like it was fixed. I started by connecting the laptop to the router via ethernet, and that worked okay, so I presumed the settings were okay. So I tried disconnecting the wireless connection within Windows, and then restablishing the link from scratch, and at one point it worked. But when I went back 30 minutes later, the problem was back.

A google search suggested temporarily disabling the WEP security, which I did. It connected fine, and when I re-enabled security, it still worked, but again, a while later, it wouldn't connect.

I then wondered if a system update had messed things up - the last was at 7.38am, about the same time as it stopped connecting. I restored back to that point, but it didn't fix anything.

I've used ipconfig to check that that the IP address isn't in conflict with the other computers, and it has the same gateway and sub-net mask. And as I said, it can send/receive email, so I thought it might be the DNS server. But it's set to retrieve it's address and server automatically.

I'm thoroughly puzzled, and now a little tired from endless troubleshooting. Can anyone suggest a magic bullet?

[Blam]

Any proxy set in the browser? Tried another browser?

[Lizard]

Any proxy set in the browser? Tried another browser?

No proxy, and haven't tried another browser.

This morning, I decided to plug one of the wireless USB adapters I have on my other computers into the laptop, and it works fine. Take out the adapter, and it doesn't. This suggests to me that all settings on the laptop are fine, and that it's a hardware problem. Is that a fair diagnosis?

[feersumendjinn]

Yup.

[Lizard]

UPDATE

Resolved - I checked the support page of Sony NZ after I emailed their support, and saw a driver update for the Wireless LAN. Downloaded it. Installed it. Presto. Email from Sony came through hours later, suggesting the driver update, possibly needed after the latest Windows update.