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The Wireless driver isn't working on a ' Vaio.

The Ethernet and Wireless drivers showed the yellow triangle with the exclamation mark in Control Panel. My can't seem to find the original CD, so I've downloaded the drivers from the Sony website.

I've installed the Wireless driver(Intel), but now the WLAN option disappeared from the VAIO Smart Network Utility. When I try to reinstall the Intel Driver I get this message:

A newer product version is already installed

And I can't see the Wireless Adapter listed in Device Manager.

I've downloaded a driver for the Ethernet card: Marvell Yukon 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller, but I had no luck installing it :( Windows displays this message:

The best diver software for your device is already installed Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date.

How can I correctly install the drivers and connect my friends' computer back to the internet?

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Try manually deleting the drivers first before installing the correct ones. Device manager --> dropdown network adapters --> right click, uninstall, check the box for "delete the driver software for this device". Reboot (maybe unnecessary but just to be safe) then try installing the drivers again. – CreeDorofl Mar 26 '11 at 19:32
@CreeDorofl I've tried that with no luck :( Thanks for the suggestion though. Other times when I had driver issues on Windows I could simply use the "Roll Back Driver" option, but now it's disabled. Also, I've noticed a backup of the Drivers in C:\Windows\Drivers, but using the "Update Driver" doesn't work with that location for some reason. – George Profenza Mar 26 '11 at 19:58
Just a thought, I think if the wireless adapter isn't in the device manager you somehow have the wrong drive. There's a VGNNS205N and a VGNNS205NS. Maybe you need NS and got the N. This seems to be the correct page with every driver for the NS: esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNNS205NS and just take the S off at the end to get the other model. One other idea: try start --> services.msc --> and look for WLAN Autoconfig, Wired Autoconfig, and/or WWAN Autoconfig. Make sure they're all started once drivers are installed. – CreeDorofl Mar 27 '11 at 2:29
@CreeDorofl I've tried the wireless drivers from the link you provided, unfortunately with no luck. I've ran services.msc, and WLAN Autoconfig and WiredAutoconfig run, but WWAN Autoconfig is missing from the list of processes. – George Profenza Mar 28 '11 at 22:04
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If the wireless is suddenly missing from the device manager after a driver installation, then the only option possible is that you have installed the wrong driver.

I suggest to rollback Windows to a system restore point dating from before the change, if you still can.

We would also need to know the exact model numbers of the wired and wireless cards in order to verify the right drivers for them. If you don't know them, then you could use a free system information utility such as Everest Home or Belarc Advisor.

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Unfortunately I haven't figured out what the correct drivers were, but the system restore worked like a charm. – George Profenza Mar 28 '11 at 22:40
I am not sure how important it is to install other drivers than the ones you already have. Just to remark that accepting the answer and awarding the bounty are two distinct actions. – harrymc Mar 29 '11 at 4:21
I see, I thought it was the same thing. – George Profenza Mar 29 '11 at 8:58
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