Windows 7 machine doesn’t recognize WiFi signal from new router

To all who gave advice - THANKS SO MUCH!

I know that the old adapters on the laptop don't seem to recognize the 5GHz signal from my new router, and I know that the new router is capable of both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. However, when I tried to turn on the 2.4GHz signal, I still couldn't get the laptop to link to it. I think with a live Centurylink technician on the line with me, I might have succeeded, but trying to get instructions by chat where the technician can't see your screen was just too unwieldy for me. My daughter was bugging me to fix the machine or buy her another, so I took the coward's approach and bought an ASUS USB Wi-Fi adapter at Best Buy and it worked immediately.  

I hope no one is disappointed with the solution!

I would like to add a bit of advice to the very good advice you already received...

I have seen this problem occur before in a case where a router was replaced and the same SSID was used on the new one as the old one had.  General rule of thumb I follow is to always change that SSID on a new router.

Also, it is possible the wifi radio in the computer is failing.  This is not uncommon in older laptops.  That problem is easily and cheaply solved.  You can buy a USB plug in wireless device for as low as $30.  They often work better than the built-in ones and are portable and quite tiny.  If you do this, AFTER you install the new one's drivers and restart, disable the internal one to prevent conflicts.

Thanks for your reply, but the problem is that the new router is seen by all my devices except one. By that I mean that the new router does not appear in the list of available networks for just that one computer. I can’t even try to connect to a network that doesn’t appear in the list.

Hi IraCotton ,

but your pc detects the wi-fi network of the new router? What is the error message you get when you try to connect to the new wi-fi network? If you prefer, post a screenshot.

Otherwise, open Network and Sharing Center, click on Manage wireless networks, select all the network profiles present and then click on Remove. Select your new wi-fi network from the list of available networks, connect and correctly enter the wi-fi password that is set on the new router.

It's likely that your fancy new router from CenturyLink uses the newer wireless protocol 802.11ac (wireless-ac), which operates in the 5 GHz radio band.

Although some new routers often have a separate 2.4GH radio so that they can be backwards compatible with older wifi standards, if your laptop has an old 802.11g (wireless-g) adapter, which only works on the 2.4GHz band, and if your router to operates only on the 5GHz band, the behavior will be precisely what you describe.

To diagnose, first determine what wireless adapter is in the laptop.  Open Device Manager (click Start, type Device Manager in the Search box, and press Enter).  Expand the "Network adapters" category and look at the name of the wireless adapter.  You can either Google the name or provide it in your reply here to find out what it's capabilities are.

If you have, as I suspect, a wireless-g adapter in the laptop, the next thing to do is to determine if the router is using only 5GHz.  Start by either Googling the router's make and specific model or by providing that information in your reply here.