I was using an old laptop last year. There were problems. Several keys came loose, the battery died. I read that both together would probably cost more than a new cheap one. And about all I was doing with it was using it in front of the TV to visit other cat blogs.
So I bought a new cheap (simple) one. And I couldn't get it to connect to my Wi-Fi. OK, it decades past, I was a techie. But tech slipped past me. I have trouble with my smartphone (I can't figure out how to navigate to where I want). So I couldn't get the new laptop to connect to my Wi-Fi account.
One suggestion I read was to bring the laptop closer to the router. Yesterday, I did that. It didn't help a bit! But at least I had both my desktop and the laptop in the same room and could look up stuff on the desktop about the laptop.
What I found by desktop computer internet queries suggested I was failing getting the laptop connected because I didn't have a WPA2 password. I had no idea what that was.
Searches described WPA2 but didn't help much. I'm sure what that is, is obvious to many of you, but it sure wasn't to me.
Most sites said that if you lost your Wi-Fi password (and I didn't even know I needed or had one), you had to either connect your laptop to the router with a Ethernet cable or completely re-establish your router. My laptop does have any such port and I definitely didn't want to mess with my router settings!
So. on my desktop, I kept querying about WPA2 in various ways. For a couple hours (I am persistent) I tried various fixes. None worked or suggested the "reset router" option.
And then I found a reference on a Mac discussion forum that said that the router comes with a model number and password usually located on the bottom. OK, I'm not all that agile these days, and the cables are pretty tight. So it was difficult get at the bottom of the router and I needed a flashlight to read it.
But there was a model number of the router and there was an original password. I thought I had changed that for general security. But when I typed in the original router password to the laptop Wi-Fi query, it WORKED! Wi-Fi was working. I don't care why it worked.
I danced around the room, I went out and gave The Mews treats (real ones, not just kibble). I danced around the living room!
And then I went back to the computer room. There were browsers to download. There were some bookmarks to add. I use Duck Duck Go on most (they don't track queries of send ads). I got Feedly on the Chrome browser (it seems to work best for me there).
Some things were complicated. My laptop doesn't even have a port for a flashdrive, so I couldn't even copy bookmarks from the desktop to the laptop. It just has a power port and 2 very small ports. I think they are Micro HDMI type D or Mini Display Port. I can't tell by just looking at the images of them.
I have to laugh. I have a bucketful of various cables and adaptors, but never the right ones.
But the laptop reaches the internet now, and that's all I care about. I'll explain why that's all I care about on the laptop next post...
