Sager NP2740: Trouble with WiFi

Hi folks,

I've been at this issue for about 6 hours and am officially stumped:

I use my Sager NP2740 for work. When I came back from lunch yesterday, the WiFi wasn't working and I was getting the message "No networks available" which is odd because if my home router isn't working, it will at least see my neighbors. After resetting my router and testing my backup computer, I determined it was an issue with the Sager NP2740 WIFI.

I tried to do a system restore, but the one restore point I needed won't restore. I get the system restore error 0x80070005. None of the other restore points resolved the issue with the WiFi. I went through virtually all troubleshooting steps I could find including running the restore from safe mode, going into services and setting volume shadow copy services to automatic, removing Microsoft Security Essentials, and still could not get that one restore point to work.

So, I moved on to the drivers. I went on to the Sager website and downloaded the 02_wlan_realtek driver for Windows 7 32/64 (I have 64). I removed the driver from programs/features and rebooted. I then installed the driver by going into device manager and updating the driver. That worked for that session. Now, every single time I reboot, I am back to square one (No networks available). Then, to uninstall/reinstall I have to run the setup file from the 02_wlan_realtek file because the driver doesn't show up in programs/features. Once I do that and reboot, then I can remove it from programs/features, reboot again. Then, I go into device manager where it shows the network adapter as not working and I do an update driver and that is where it starts working again.

I am pretty stumped at this point. Any advice? I did reach out to LPC Digital, who advised to go through the steps above and if nothing else works reinstall Win7, which I obviously would like to avoid.

Thanks

 

might be a silly question but this has to be asked as a few people have had something similar.
after booting computer you are pressing the shortcut keys of Fn + F11 to turn wifi on.

 

Yep, WiFi is on. As I said, it is working when I go through the driver uninstall/install process I described in my original post.

 

What does ' Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings' give you? Also check bios settings; wlan may be disabled by default, which would explain it works on reinstall, but not after reboot.

 

Thanks t456.

Change Adapter Settings gives me Bluetooth not connected, Local Area Connection Network Cable unplugged, Wireless Network Connection Not Connected Realtek TRL8723AE Wirelann LAN. All have a red "X."

When I go into the BIOS (F2), I get the Aptio Setup Utility and don't have any options I can see to enable/disable WLAN. I have 5 tabs: Main, Advanced, Security, Boot, and Exit. Is there some way to access the more standard BIOS options?

 

Another dumb suggestion but part of troubleshooting, have you taken out the card and reseated it. Sounds silly, but this works on elevator controllers that have older card racks sometimes. I'm not gonna explain why and I doubt that is your problem but worth a shot before reinstalling OS. they will probably make you revert to factory state before RMA so that is why I suggest trying it.

 

Right clicking the WLAN connection, does it say " Disable" or " Enable"? Even when the card itself is disabled the tray icon will claim "No connections available", which, though true, is a bit of a misnomer ...

Regarding bios; setting is probably hidden in the stock bios (same thing with my W230SS). Would require a flash to Prema's modded bios, unfortunately there's no version available for your W740SU. Even though it's hidden, the default factory setting ought to be 'enabled on boot', which it probably/hopefully is, don't think that's the issue then (could try a 'reset to default', remember setting correct RAID/UEFI etc. after that).

 

Thanks t456.

I did right click on WLAN and it says "Disable."

I did try resetting the BIOS, which unfortunately has not yielded any relief from the issue. It is still exactly the same as described in the original post.

 

Right, two more possibilities to check off; Power Option settings and Clevo's " Hot Key Utility".

 

Hi t456,

I read through your post on the Power option settings. I'm not sure I completely follow what you are wanting me to do there, but I did go in and unchecked the option for allowing the computer to disable wifi to save power (Though it has been plugged in throughout this issue)

On the Clevo Hot Key Utility, are you saying I should install it?

Thanks

 

Meant checking all Power Options (including USB and PCIE suspend-modes):

Spoiler: power options - usb and pcie

The card itself is on either of those buses, so if these are somehow suspended (to conserve energy) then the wlan won't work either. Also, install the Intel LSPM driver (think it's part of Intel Management Engine Interface). Hmmm ... another obvious question; you did install the chipset drivers? And another silly question; reseat it (it's below the keyboard), like pukemon suggested, and pin down the actual part nrs. on the sticker ... may not actually be a Realtek ... the Anandtech review's featured an Intel card.

And sorry, nm about the HKU; thought this had a wifi enable/disable setting (Airplane mode), but this didn't do anything on my system ...

If none of that helped; make a new partition and dual boot Win 7 on that (to rule out OS error). And last resort; new $20 WLAN card, you can easily install it yourself (or ask LPC to send you a new card).

 

Last week was a busy week with work so I didn't have time troubleshoot but in order to use the Sager NP2740, I would go through the driver uninstall/install process each morning so I could use the computer for that day. On Thursday night, some Windows updates got pushed to my machine and amazingly, Friday morning when I booted up, the Wifi started working again (without having to uninstall/reinstall the driver). So, it appears that it was some type of Windows issue. Thanks to those that offered assistance.