"Not connected. Connections are available."

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Good to know. Too bad the f@#$ing connection menu won't open when I click on it.

Oy. Start at the beginning, I suppose.

Bought a new laptop last month. Sony Vaio E Series SVE14132CXW 14-Inch, in case that's important.

Got wireless broadband installed in the apartment. Works fine. No matter what problems I have with the computer, iPhones can always connect to the wifi, so I've ruled it out as a possible problem.

The wifi on the laptop cuts out. Constantly. I'm lucky if I can run AIM and Y! Messenger for ten minutes without them notifying me that I'm no longer connected to the internet. It would be nice if the computer itself would tell me this, but I digress.

This problem is typically solved in an odd way: clicking on the connection icon in the lower right of the screen, bringing up the available wifi connections, and clicking on my wifi service. Even though it's already listed as "Connected," clicking on it seems to jolt the modem awake, reminding it that it is, in fact, connected to the internet.

This is a problem in itself, but as told above, it's one I can fix easily. (At least temporarily.) There's another issue that's far more annoying.

On three occasions so far, I've fired up the laptop to find myself disconnected from the net. When I hover the mouse over the connection icon in the lower right of the screen, it says, "Not connected. Connections are available." Okay, fine. I'll just click on it and connect to my wifi, right? Wrong. The menu doesn't come up when I click on it like it usually does.

I can right click on it and bring up two options: "Troubleshoot problems" and "Open Network and Sharing Center." The options in these menus have been useless at best and hilariously stupid and incompetent at worst. Running a diagnosis detects nothing, and one of the troubleshooting options required me to be connected to the net. Go back and read that again, and try not to laugh yourself to death.

Shutting down the laptop and restarting does nothing. Removing the battery from the laptop, turning it off suddenly and forcibly, does. When I turn it back on, everything's working fine again. But you can imagine why I don't want to keep relying on such a solution.

Thanks in advance to anyone who (A) actually reads through all this crap and (B) has any possible solution.

P.S. I also have the "Unidentified Network" problem when I try to plug in an Ethernet cable while visiting at my parents' house, but that's further down on the priority list.

Is that the only device on the wi-fi network (as in, no wireless printers or other computers)? If your network isn't password protected or if there are other people/devices using it, it could be an IP conflict (usually windows will notify you though). I could also be a matter of the router needing to be unplugged and plugged back in.

Lastly, do you use the windows wireless connection program, or does Sony have one that came pre-installed on the computer that you are working with? I've worked with some Sony and Dell laptops that have a wireless connection manager that just doesn't seem to work properly and had to uninstall it and use the basic windows wireless connection manager. If this is the case, you want to be careful uninstalling because sometimes the driver is tied to the program and can cause the wireless card not to function at all (so you'll want a back-up beforehand, usually Sony/Dell have updated drivers on their tech support websites).

The router is password protected, so nobody can be leeching off it. There are three other devices in the apartment that use the net: a PlayStation 3 (which is plugged into an Ethernet cable) and two iPhones. One of the iPhones is my sister's current phone, and the other is her old phone, which I guess has now become mine. iPhone 1 has 4G service but my sister also has it connect to the wifi when she's in the apartment. iPhone 2 doesn't have phone service but can still use wifi, and I use it when I'm not on the laptop. So there are only three devices using the wifi: the Vaio laptop, and the two iPhones. No wireless printers, no other computers.

I've tried unplugging the router, plugging it back in, and letting it boot up again, but the same problem persists.

I thought maybe it was an interference problem, since there are so many wifi networks in the area (not to mention countless cell phones and other wireless devices), but the two iPhones always have stable connections to the wifi, even when the laptop fails to connect. And even if it were an interference problem, it wouldn't explain why the laptop won't let me open the connection menu when it says, "Not connected. Connections are available." It's recognizing the wifi networks but won't let me choose any, and even when it is connected, it keeps dropping and requiring me to click on my network, like I said, to "wake it up" again.



I'm afraid my computer knowledge runs out here. I'm not computer illiterate but I'm not exactly a tech whiz either. I'm not even sure how to open a wireless connection manager to see what's there, especially on Windows 8 where finding anything is a huge pain in the ass. I'm basically shaking a stick around in the dark, typing words like "wireless" and "internet" and "connection" into the search bars, opening whatever programs come up, and looking around the settings for anything that seems relevant.

Is this third party Wireless connectivity software that shipped with the VAIO, or is this the native Windows Wireless Network Client?

I have no idea. See my last paragraph.

I'm not even sure how to check.

Simple diagnostics test.

Do you have this problem with all WiFi services (go to places with free WiFi and see how well it works on the laptop)?

If it works fine elsewhere, something is wrong with your router or your configuration settings. If it buggers everywhere, something's wrong with your laptop software or hardware.