WLan Adapter, should I replace or is it software problem?

Hello everyone,

A client brings in his laptop to me and tells me the Wireless Adapter (WLAN) stopped working. I thought to myself, "cool, an easy $30 to $50 bucks", but so far it has been 3 hours and I still don't have a solution.

The laptop is a Compaq Presario F553US Notebook PC. The wireless adapter is made by Broadcom. The computer's OS is Vista Basic. Here's what I have done so far.

1.) Made sure the on/off button worked. When the adapter is on, the on/off panel is suppose to be green...its red now.
2.) I checked the Device Manager, the adapter doesn't even appear in the Network Adapters list. (I used all techniques, like "Scan of hardware changes").
3.) I downloaded and installed the drivers from the compaq.com website for the adapter, still isn't recognized by Windows.
4.) Normally, modern laptops/notebooks have shortcuts (like Fn + F2) to enable and disable the adapter, this computer doesn't have the shortcut for that (cheap computer they guy purchased at walmart).
5.) Updated the BIOS (checked the BIOS to see if I could enable/disable the adapter, no luck.)
6.) Updated the chipset drivers, no luck.
7.) The Ethernet adapter works, I was able to plug in a cable and access the internet.

The HP Network Setup software has shown that the adapter is DISABLED but no options to enable it. I'm a pretty great PC Technician (I wouldn't be doing PC repair for a living if I wasn't) but I must admit I or no one knows EVERYTHING, but I'm honestly at a brickwall with this case.

I thank you all for your help in advance,

Frank aka Twinkiez

 

Not a vista user at all, but check to see if it's in the hardware profile. There is a way to add it but I do not know how.

 

Device Manager should see the wireless chip, drivers or no drivers. This could be a hardware fault, just tell the customer it'll cost $250 to repair. The time you've spent so far is worth more than the cost of a USB wireless adapter.

 

Since you are professional technician, you know that fault isolation starting at the lowest layer of the OSI model and working up the proper technique.

it doesn't sound like you've done any fault isolation at all?

have you taken the card out and tried it in another computer? have you tried another known-working card in the "faulty" computer?

 

Hey, I thought I'd share a similar experience. I bought my HP Compaq Presario V6000 back in August, and I first noticed the problem with the Broadcom WLAN adapter in October. At start up, the WLAN is disabled, and as you described, there is no way to enable it.

I like to panic and screw around with settings when my computer acts up, so I came across this solution by sheer dumb luck.

I go into the Device Manager and head into the advanced settings for the Broadcom adapter. The first thing on the list is the Afterburner (which I am aware should have absolutely no bearing on whether my WLAN adapter works or not), and whatever the setting is, I change it. That is, if the Afterburner is set to Disabled I switch it to Enabled, and vice versa. Also, this appears to be the only setting that has any effect on the WLAN.

I took my laptop to so many different computer technicians hoping they would be able to permanently fix this, because I still fear that one day my Afterburner trick isn't going to work and I'm going to be screwed. Anyway, the results were always the same: they had no idea what was wrong, and they were amazed that switching the Afterburner to Enabled or Disabled actually causes the WLAN to be immediately enabled.

In any case, if you or your client are still wondering about this, try switching the Afterburner setting and let me know if it works. Or, if any one else has any idea why this problem occurred and how it can be fixed, again, let me know.

~liz