READ VERY CAREFULLY AND SLOWLY
these instructions are generic being that i dont know what OS or what brand and model computer your using and if your dads computer has a wireless . but i am going to describe the process in vista if your using a different Operating system let me know. and if your dads computer doesnt have wireless DISregard the part of this post that says DO THIS ON YOUR DADS COMPUTER.
you could try setting up a new connection something might have gotten screwed on the settings of the old network which i assume was adhoc
first on your laptop: check that your wireless is turned on most laptops have a button that you can turn off your wireless look for a light that has a dot in the middle and two half circles around it on each side or a light with the words WiFi or a light with a little antenna with half circles on each side if you have a light your good its turned on skip down to the next paragraph. if not dont panic yet look for a symbol on a key that looks like on of the lights i described above if it does it will most likely be in blue if you have a button like that then find a button with FN on it again most likely in blue and if so push the FN and the one that has a symbol that looks like one of the lights together then your light should come on. if not, some laptops have a phisical switch on the side of them that you can turn on or off usually if orange is showing it is turned off flip it in the opposite direction and look for one of the lights like described above. or if your computer is a higher scale laptop it may have a flat pannel above the keyboard where you slide your finger across to turn down the volume mute or etc again look for one of the symbols i described above and give it a push and see if it lights up.
go to start - control panel - network and internet - network and sharing center, and on the left hand side click on - manage network connections. a window pops up check that your wireless connection is not disabled
do this on your dads computer: (IF he has a wireless card in his computer) also these directions are for Vista since we dont know what OS ( operating system ) your using
go to start - control panel - network and internet - network and sharing center, and on the left hand side click on - setup connection or network, a new window pops up click on - setup a wireless adhoc..... another screen comes up make up a network name, use WPA2 security, make up a security phrase must be at least 8 letters or numbers long and press next let it setup the connection and try to connect YOUR laptop to it wirelessly finding the network you just made and using the security phrase you made and you should be good to go
if none of this worked there are some other things i can help you check just let me know
