Z33a wireless not activating

I'm having an intermittent issue with my Z33a. I estimate that about 40% of the time when I boot the notebook, the wireless card does not activate. I need to restart it to get it to work (sometimes 2-3 times). Here is the chain of events:

-Hit power button: power, HD, and wireless LEDs light up. Power LED stays on, HD blinks, wireless goes out.

-if the wireless is going to work, the blue wireless LED comes back on when the Windows boot screen appears. Otherwise, the wireless LED does not come back on. Windows cannot see any wireless hardware.

I've tried both Intel Proset and Windows wireless apps. Both work when the wireless card starts. Neither solves the problem.

I'm curious about the timing. Again, if the wireless is going to work, the light comes on at the Windows boot screen. Does Windows signal the motherboard to turn on the wireless? Or is this when the motherboard would do it anyway?

Bios update?

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Dave

 

using the M5N, but hope I can help...

I uninstalled PROset early on and have been using the windows default wireless software for a while now, no problems whatsoever.

Have you tried the laptop on different wireless networks?

 

Reader,

I haven't tried uninstalling the wireless. I'll give it a go.

The problem is not with connecting to different networks. The wireless card is not turning on (or whatever it does) during the boot process. Windows doesn't even recognize that there is any wireless hardware present.

Thanks for the suggestion.

-Dave

 

I had a similar problem with my w3v althought it was more consistent. If wireless had been on, then I rebooted, went into standby, or hibernate wireless was off after logon invariably until I turned it back on. It seems that Asus wireless console (downloadable from asus and should have come with your pc) must be installed. It's silly, but the sole purpose of this program seems to be turning the wireless on on logon (unless it had been off previously). I have found no way around using this.

 

confinoj,

Interesting. I do not have it installed so maybe that is the issue. I will give it a try.

-Dave

 

Hey wxlidar..

That’s weird. I have not had any WLAN issues at all with my Z33A. I assume you have the Intel 2220B/G Mini-PCI card in yours?

You mentioned "bios update"..did you update to the V0205G bios? if not its here. It says nothing about WLAN,only some fix for "Update VBIOS to v1224 for support 915GM C1 stepping."

You mentioned that sometimes the WLAN light does not come on at bootup and therefore it does not work in windows. BIOS detects the Wireless card because its a mini-pci card and assigns it an IRQ address just like normal PCI slots.

Did your wireless card just start acting like this? If so, you might want to check and see if the card is secured properly in the mini-pci slot. You can get to half of the mini-pci slot if you unscrew the CPU/HSF panel. To access the rest of it, I assume you would have to take apart the whole underside shell. Call Asus tech support, see what they think about the issue.

 

Update:

I installed the Asus Wireless Console last night. I've restarted only once or twice but both times the wireless came up. Now this is by no means a definitive test but it is a positive sign.

Those Z33a owners who are not having a problem with the wireless, do you have the Wireless Console installed?

thephased: no, I haven't touched the Bios. I was just throwing out ideas.

Thanks,
Dave

 

FWIW, on my Z70V the wireless would always be activated on boot, but would never come back up on wakeup. With the Wireless Console it's fixed. I have a feeling that in some shape or form the WC is essentially a hack to solve all issues Asus is having with various wireless drivers.

 

Update #2:

So far, so good. I've restarted several times over the last day or so and the wireless has started without a problem.

Although I'm still not 100% certain, it appears like the Wireless Console has a purpose!

-Dave

 

Glad to hear it worked.

 

I dont think i have the wireless console installed..I have intel proset..and the default windows one of course..thats odd.

 

Hey where do i get the wireless console from? any links?

 

The wireless is still working! I may actually believe that the Wireless Console solved my problem. I've resumed windows several times over the last day and the wireless has started up correctly.

This is where I got it:

http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/Z70A/WConsole_XP_2K_050708.zip

I guess it is probably on my driver CD as well.

-Dave

 

Thank You SOOO much!

It may have solved it, pretty sure it did. Gotta test it later.

Thanks again wxlidar

 

Uh oh, I booted today and the wireless did not activate. I was on battery power and had shut down last night (so it wasn't hibernating/standby). Rebooting did not help. I shut down completely and restarted and it worked.

Not sure what to think. It does seem better overall but todays events obviously show that it isn't a complete solution.

Rixomatrx, let us know how it works for you.

-Dave

 

The problem seems to be back. About 40-50% of the times I boot the wireless does not activate. So it seems the wireless console is not a quick fix.

 

if you are using the windows program, make sure u turned on the wireless card, by going into advanced, and clicking on configure next to the name of the card. at the top make sure it says wireless on. And remember to do fn 2.

You prolly did all this already, but maybe u diidn't.

 

Rixomatrix, which windows program are you referring to?

If the wireless doesn't come up, FN-F2 doesn't do anything.

Are you using Centrino Hardware Control?

-Dave

 

naw im using power4gear

um, i dunno then. Before i installed wireless console, it didn't work, the fn f2, but after i installed it it did. im using the one that comes with xp. like u know when you double click a wireless connection

yea

 

Ok, now I know what you mean. I've tried both the intel and windows xp wireless with similar results.

FN-F2 has always worked for me but only when the wireless activates. So if the blue light doesn't come up during the windows boot screen then FN-F2 will not do anything.

-Dave