Reformatted HD now my laptop wont detect wireless hardware.

I have a Gateway P172S FX. I reformatted my HD, and now my laptop wont detect the wireless network adapter. Gateway Recovery is gone as well.

I get this when I diagnose...

"This computer does not have a wireless network adapter installed and configured."

I've tried almost everything. I entered my serial # at Gateway, and went to the drivers for my PC, they don't work. I've tried getting them from Realtek those don't work either.

I opened the casing, and it's RTL8187B.

Am I missing a step? I know it's not dead. It was working right up until the last seconds before I reformatted.

 

Have you tried the applet used to discover new hardware? Gateway Recovery probably went when you formatted the entire physical drive instead of just the C: partition; you'll most likely have to see if you can buy a set of recovery CDs from Gateway.

 

Does the laptop have a physical wireless on/off switch on the outside of the laptop. If so, make sure it's switched on when trying to install the wireless drivers. Also, how are you installing the drivers?

 

If your recovery partition is history you can usually get a recovery disk set for your particular system from your vendor (Gateway). They'll need your serial# off your system.

All 3rd party vendor systems are customized with specific software that allows OEM components to run on their systems. When you remove that, generic drivers won't work - you need the specific original drivers and other software for your system. Once you have those installed, you can screw around with other drivers (I never recommend it because it's a minefield of problems) but you need to get back to your system's baseline configuration. Since you've already reformatted your drive, data obviously isn't an issue.

Recovery disk sets don't cost that much, and will save you a lot of headbanging trying to fix something in the end you can't without them.