wireless doesn't seem to exist anymore on laptop

- S
- smk888
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Oct 17, 2007 2:20 PM

I am working on an HP dv6171cl and somewhere in the last 2 weeks, the wireless has malfuctioned. The orange light never turns blue and the wireless is gone from my device manager and just simply doesn't seem to exist anymore. I connected to a new home wireless network about two weeks ago and since then have been working off my school's ethernet network so I never noticed when the problem began. I updated the HP wireless assistant and when I click it on the control panel, nothing happens. I've been to three different tech supports. The BIOS seems to have minimal options. The only thing turned off is the 'internal network adapter' when I look through it.

My computer store wants me to reset the laptop to factory settings. I want to know if this is hardware or software problem and how to figure out if it was somehow internally disabled. I am a fulltime law student and the last thing I want to do right now is completely start over with this laptop.

Any suggestions?

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- Larry Finger
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Oct 17, 2007 2:45 PM

I know of at least two cases of this problem in high-end HP (dv6000, dv9000) laptops. In both instances, HP repaired them but never said what had to be replaced/repaired. I think the motherboard had a faulty bridge to the PCIe buss. To verify the problem, obtain a Linux live CD, boot it, open a terminal, and issue the command 'lspci' (without the quotes). You should see a line that shows your wireless device. Mine is the following:

01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI (rev 01)

On your computer, the line will be different, but you should look for "wlan" or "wireless". If this line doesn't show, your computer needs to be repaired. Do _NOT_ let them reset your laptop. If they refuse to believe that it is hardware, have them remove your hard drive, and do a fresh install on a different drive. Wireless will still not work.

I get the feeling that you have not backed up your machine. I know you don't have much time to spare, but I suggest you rectify that situation.

Good luck,

Larry

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- Peter Pan
  
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posted
16 years ago

Wed, Oct 17, 2007 5:21 PM

Two, one simple and one a bit harder...

One, does your computer have a wireless switch? (or maybe use something like function -f2 to turn it on and off my HP ((different model)) and gateway both use function-f2, hit the keys when typing sometimes, the toshiba has a switch - changed when putting in and out of the carrying bag)

Two, got a friend with/or one in your junk box, a USB wifi dongle? (or a walmart nearby? get it, try it, and return it)...