HELP....Wireless adapter disappeared!

Hi,

I received my m9750 today and was really pleased with it.....however i am encountering a bit of a problem with my wireless network adapter as it seems to have disappeared!!!

It was working fine for about 2hrs and then after installing the windows security updates the machine restarted and since then it no longer shows the wireless adapter in the device manager. I have tried installing the drivers again for the device but it keeps saying that the 'device may not work properly' and it doesn't.

Has anyone had this same problem or know how to fix it? I have been pulling my hair out for the last couple of hours trying to fix it but to no avail! Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have the Internal Intel® PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card by the way.

 

Try uninstalling the drivers, reboot, and let Vista search for new hardware (configuration manager > hardware tab if Vista doesn't start it automatically after rebooting).

edit: just read the post below, the key combo Chaz is referring to is Fn+F10. No harm in trying that first

 

I know on many notebooks the wireless adapter can be enabled/disable by pressing the [Fn] key and one of the [F] keys. Try that perhaps? There should be descriptions in the manual. Also check to see if your notebook has a wireless on/off switch.

 

I did try reinstalling the drivers but it doesn't automatically detect any new hardware - i had to pick it manually from the list in windows and then try installing the drivers which just gave me the error that the device is not working properly. I just can't get it to recognise the fact that i have wireless card built in.....even if the card was disabled it should still show up in the device manager shouldn't it?

 

I found a picture of the M9750 keyboard - try Fn + F2 and see if that does anything.

 

I have the same wireless card in my 9750. The device manager shows the wireless card is working properly regardless of whether the device is enabled or not(Fn+F2). The driver is an Intel version 10.6.0.29. You should verify this just to make sure you have the correct driver installed. Also you might try uninstalling and reinstalling the driver in safe mode. If the driver is the right one then I tend to think that this may be a hardware problem.

 

i did try this but it doesn't work

when it did work for the 2hrs that i mentioned this is how i enabled it. However now vista refuses to even acknowledge that i have a wireless adapter.

i think Loggie may be write in thinking this is a hardware problem......the thing is if this is indeed the case i don't really want to send it back to alienware as i had waited over a month to receive it and apart from this it is working nicely.

Is it worth me opening up the laptop myself and trying to resit the wireless adapter? or will this void my warranty?

 

Opening the laptop doesn't void your warranty but before you open up the laptop give Alienware support a call.

So let me get this straight - you can't even see the wireless adapter in the Device Manager? Bizarre.

 

Yep, thats right. It has completely disappeared....even if i try to install it again by manually selecting it in the 'add new hardware' application it still won't recognise it

I will give them a call and see what they say.......i am quite gutted that everything isn't working perfectly

 

Hello,

Could you please update this site on the result of your issue. The same disappearance has happened with my HP notebook.

Thank You!
Shawne

 

i have the same problem...somebody help pls

 

Well when the audio on my desktop completely stopped working I used RadarSync which Is a good driver detector program. + its free

You can get it here:

http://www.radarsync.com/

Let us know if this works or not =)

 

i formated the hard and reinstalled windows xp...nothing...reinstaled the driver...nothing...