wireless network adapter gone missing

Anonymous
2010-01-26T05:41:47+00:00

Hi -

I've seen a number of similar questions but no solutions to my problem. 

My system:

Toshiba A505-S6980

Windows 7 Home Premium - 64bit

Realtek WLAN driver

Problem: 

After resuming from a sleep, the network adapter dissappeared.  This happened before and they replaced the computer, after trying a system restore and then full recovery.  Apparently, it's not the computer. 

The Wireless adapter is missing from device manager, much less the network and connections area.  In troubleshoot, the computer simply says a network cable needs to be plugged in.  There is no wireless choice under network connections.  There is no wireless adapter tab upon right click of Network Adapter in Device Manager. 

The Realtek WLAN driver DOES appear in the Programs & Features list.  I uninstalled, reinstalled, and also found/installed a patch for the driver.  This did not work.  I also started/automated the Autoconfig scripts for wireless.  Nothing works. 

Any help is appreciated. 

-Tucson56

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2015-05-07T04:30:16+00:00

Hi '

This just happened to me and I was able to get past it by doing several hard reboots. I had to fully charge the battery , and after three attempts with increasing intervals of time, the system appearently turned the wireless adapter back on.

After the card reappeared, I was able to find it in device manager again, in my case Intel(R) Centrino(R) Wireless-N 2200 under network adapters . Then a right click, to properties , within properties you chose power Management tab. There you will probably discover that by default the computer is allowed to turn off this device to save power. Uncheck the box , click ok and reboot . Hopefully this will prevent it from happening again.

Hope this helps

Art Master T

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Anonymous
2015-01-09T14:23:36+00:00

This same thing happened to me. What causes it to happen is a very low battery but found a simple solution to turn back on the wireless network adapter.

Hold down the Windows key and press x

menu should come up

click device manager

should go to a list of devices on your computer

expand network adapters from list

might be a few to choose from but look for 2 with the same name. one for wifi and one for ethernet

double click on the wifi network adapter

click on power management tab

click off the tab that allows the wifi to be turned off with low battery

click on drivers tab and enable device

should be good to go from there

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Anonymous
2010-01-27T20:25:00+00:00

Hi tucson56, A. From how long do you face this problem? I would suggest you to check for the power management settings for your wireless adaptor and see if that help. 1.Open Network and Sharing Center (click the Start button, type Network and Sharing in the Start Search box, and press Enter) 2.Click the Change adapter settings link in the upper left of the navigation pane. 3.Right click the network connection you want to enable/disable power management support on and click Properties. 4.Click Configure. 5.On the Power Management tab, check or clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box. A. When checked, power management is enabled on the network adapter. B. When cleared, power management is disabled on the network adapter. 6.You can enable Wake on LAN for all wake methods or just enable magic packet WoL: To enable Wake on LAN for all methods, check the Allow this device to wake the computer check box. To enable Wake on LAN for magic packet only, check the Allow this device to wake the computer check box and then check Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer check box. 7.Click OK. Additional information:

http://technet.microsoft.com/zh-cn/library/ee617165(WS.10).aspx

Hope this helps. Let us know the results.

Thanks & Regards,

Vijay B – Microsoft Support

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-10-18T08:27:54+00:00

    Hi, I also have the same problem as the original poster but following the instruction did not fix  my problem.   My wireless adapter just stopped working after windows did some file check on start up and i tried to go back to last good configuration but it didn't do anything, it works fine with ethernet cable but just keeps saying my wireless is not connected. PLEASE HELP!

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-03-03T21:05:40+00:00

    This has happened to two different laptops now. This one I'm using(COMPAQ) and another that has become unusable (ASUS). This one started after Windows update and Acrobat update. Note that I did not shut down but went looking for the problem. I only have 2 restore points available. The ASUS had all restore points wiped out. Both laptops had Webroot and Malwarebytes running. I uninstalled Adobe updates and Webroot, crossed my fingers and ran restore to the point 3 days ago. God only knows why it works now. WOULD REALLY BE F**K*N* NICE IF SOMEONE KNEW HOW AND WHY THIS KEEPS HAPPENING! Tuscon56 described the problem perfectly. These half-assed canned answers just suck. What the **** is going on and why? Wallace ps. Not all of us think the DVD tray is a cup holder.. :)

    OH! AND I want a NO THIS WAS NOT HELPFUL ON THIS FORUM!!!

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