VAIO VPCW111XX with Windows XP Home SP3. WiFi adapter is Atheros AR9285 with driver version 7.7.0.267 downloaded from Sony site. WiFi AP is Linksys WRT54G with WPA2-AES encryption enabled.ProblemNetbook can only connect to WiFi AP when I log on as user Admin (I created this user and it's a member of local Administrators group). If I log on as myself (a regular user with NO administrative NOR power user permissions), it never connects to the WiFi AP.When it doesn't connect, there's an Event ID 4202 with the following description:The system detected that <network adapter> was disconnected from the network, and the adapter's network configuration has been released. If the network adapter was not disconnected, this may indicate that it has malfunctioned. Please contact your vendor for updated drivers.I've verified the WiFi switch on my netbook is NOT set to OFF position so that can't be the culprit.WorkaroundCurrently, after booting up my netbook, I must login as user Admin to get WiFi connected. I can then log Admin off and re-login as myself (a regular user). The wireless connection remains intact if I follow these steps.I have reset winsock (netsh winsock reset) and restarted my netbook. That doesn't do anything. What I have not done is power cycle my router/AP.Does anyone know why this is happening? Thanks in advance.UPDATEI played around with it a little more. When I disable Windows Firewall, limited user can connect to WiFi AP. When Windows Firewall is enabled, only Admin can connect to WiFi AP. Limited user can't connect.So the culprit is Windows Firewall. I reset Windows Firewall to default state and re-enable it, restart. Log in as limited user, I can't connect to WiFi AP. What's going on here? I'm out of ideas.1 person needs an answerI do too

Hi morph2-7, Since the issue does not exist after disabling Windows Firewall, check to see if the following helps. Method 1: You may want to refer to the following article and check if it helps.Troubleshooting Windows Firewall settings in Windows XP Service Pack 2 for advanced users It could also be a User account problem. You may try creating a new user account and check for the issue. Method 2: Create a new user profile by following this article. If the issue does not exist you may continue to copy files to the new user profile by following the same article.How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile in Windows XP Regards,Syed N – Microsoft Support--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.

Thanks Syed.I will have to wait until I get home to test it. In the meantime let me give a little more information about this netbook. This is a newly installed machine. I did a factory restore (pressing F10 during boot up) to do a full factory recovery during which I created user Morph. By default it becomes the only user and the administrator of the machine. After recovery completes, I create another user Admin and grant it Administrators permission. At the same time I drop user Morph permission to limited user.The machine comes preloaded with Windows XP Home with SP3. When recovery completes, I immediately uninstall NIS (Norton Internet Security) trialware that comes with the netbook. I also useNorton Removal Tool after uninstalling NIS.Do you think NIS has something to do with this problem? If you or someone else has gone through a similar situation, please let me know. Thank you.

By the way I should mention that when problem occurs to limited user, not only can it not connect to my preferred SSID (my own), Windows WZC doesn't even show any available WiFi network around me (there should be 5 SSIDs or more that belong to my neighbors). It looks as if my wireless NIC isn't functioning. Device manager doesn't show any problem on my Atheros AR9285 NIC.

I created a new user with limited access permission and got the same result. The new user can't connect to any wireless network. I then disabled Windows firewall and installed Zonealarm firewall. Guess what.. same result. There's something weird with this netbook. Only Administrator can have wifi access. No one else can unless Admin has logged in to connect to WiFi AP.I didn't do Method 1 troubleshooting because it's too long and complicated. I thought a newly installed machine should work right out of the box without having to go thru such complicated troubleshooting.I give up. I just removed the limited user. I'll use Admin account only.

Hi morph2-7, You may want to try some of the basic troubleshooting steps from the following article and check if it helps.How to troubleshoot wireless network connections in Windows XP Service Pack 2 Regards,Syed N – Microsoft Support--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think.