Acer Aspire 5044 WiFi problem with Windows 7 RC

Hey guys,

Before I start I know exactly what a RC version of the OS is and that it is expected to have bugs and other annoyance, as well as no official driver support etc.

But wondering if anybody has a fix to this problem:

The laptop is an Acer Aspire 5044 WLMi, 1.8ghz Turion, 1.5GB Ram, 80GB HDD. Windows 7 has installed correctly and is running. Drivers for all the hardware have been successfully installed and the laptop is running just as well as a Windows XP fresh install.

Only problem is that although the Wireless Card (Atheros AR5005G) is showing as functioning correctly in Device manager, the laptop is not picking up the wireless network in our house even, no matter where I take the laptop to.

The Acer isn't my own laptop and i'm trying to get the family used to Windows 7 as I want all the desktop and Laptops in the house to be running it after it's officially released.

It just reports "No Connections Available". When I manage the network connections it shows the wireless is all working fine it just hasn't picked up any wireless networks.

It was working fine in Windows XP so it's not likely to be a hardware fault. I would say it is a driver problem but as windows is reporting the driver is installed correctly, and it is a driver downloaded from Windows update with a date of 8/4/2009, it should work.

I got the updated driver by connecting via Ethernet to the router, which worls flawlessly.

I'm impressed at how well it runs Win7, just as good as XP would run on this after a fresh install, and the X200M integrated graphics handle Aero easily.

Anyway anybody else had this problem? Win7 works fine on other computers i've tested it on including a friends laptop. I haven't installed it on my main laptop (dell xps), i'll wait until final release.

 

Unless there is a driver that would work (maybe try a vista driver?), you're out of luck. W7 also said my sound card was working but no sound until i installed the vista driver for it.

 

Try the drivers on this page, there's no setup file, just the drivers, you'll have to update the driver in device manager and point it towards this.

http://www.atheros.cz/

Not sure if it will work, but worth a shot.

 

I have a similar problem with my ACER 5630. I have W7 installed and upgraded my wireless card to an Intel 5300. The install went well and the card is installed OK but like you a get the no connection message. Apparently the hardware radio switch is off. I cant switch it on. If I put the old card back in it is fine.

The card is OK as I have tried it in another Dell (XP) laptop. One thing I haven't tried is a different OS on my ACER 5630. I might install XP to see if that makes a difference. I will report back to see if it works because if it does then it looks like we have similar driver issues.

 

Installed Xp and the hardware switch still wouldn't work. Looks as if the Intel 5300 just doesn't work with an Acer 5630

 

I followed the thread below to fix my problem. I had to tape out a pin on the card.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4832834