I know this is going to make me sound like a complete jerk, but it drives me out of my gourd when people ask for help with something specific and are given alternatives to a different problem.
Q: My car has a flat tire; can someone help me change it?
A: Check Amtrak.com; I prefer the train, anyway.
The question is "how do I attempt to diagnose what's wrong with what I've got", not "how do i replace and hope that works".
The issue is, when I plug in an antenna that I already own, it powers up to the computer sporadically. It has nothing to do with the strength of the actual accompanying networks - if I use the internal laptop antenna, I can see some of the stronger networks, albeit lightly. It's just sometimes when I plug in my antenna, it behaves as it should, and at other times, it acts as if it's not plugged in at all.
I may have not been clear in my original description of the problem - it's not that the computer is asking the antenna for networks and it's not finding them, it's that the computer isn't recognizing it has an antenna plugged in.
- It doesn't matter where I am physically in the world; sometimes it powers up in Salt Lake City, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it powers up in Philadelphia, sometimes it doesn't. It could be only in one location, like my office, but it's not. It's in all locations.
- It doesn't matter which of four USB ports I use on my machine. It could be limited to just one USB port, but it's not.
- It doesn't matter which of two different cables I use. It could be one or the other, but it's both. (And both work to connect other devices).
- This has started in the last few weeks. It could have started the day I first used the antenna, but it didn't.
- It happens only occasionally, and I can't detect a pattern. It could be all the time, or only in the evening, but it doesn't appear to be.
- I can't tell you if it happens more frequently if the computer has been "up" longer or shorter, or if it's more likely when I come out of standby vs. powering up, or anything like that. I just haven't seen any patterns.[/i]
More analagous to if you plug your iPod in and it shows on the iPod "Do not disconnect", then powered off, but it never appears in iTunes or as a device in Windows... You wouldn't suggest someone get out their boombox (I hope)!
One thing I did try was going into my Device Manager, right-clicking on all of my USB roots and hubs and removed them, then rebooted.
I purchased a USB Wi-Fi antenna...
It's a Sinmax Model "SI-5000UGL".
Like I said, I don't mean to be a richard, I just need on-topic help diagnosing an issue, not options to replace something, when I don't even know what's broken.
Thanks!