Wi-Fi (off) and can't be enabled

Anonymous
2013-03-04T07:16:41+00:00

I have had my laptop for 3 months, and wi-fi just stopped working today.  I cannot turn it back on.  The laptop came pre-installed with Windows 8.  It is a Gateway NV52L15u. 

The wi-fi icon in the tray has a red "x" and says "no connections are available."  In PC Settings, it says "Wi-Fi (Off)" and the option to turn it on is greyed out and cannot be selected.  If  I run the Troubleshooting wizard for the network adapter it tells me to "use the switch on the front or the side of the computer, or the function keys... to enable wireless capability."  The laptop does not have a physical switch, and pressing the wi-fi function key on the keyboard only toggles Airplane Mode on or off.

Laptop re-starts have not fixed the issue.  I have run the laptop with battery and with AC power, but this has made no difference either.  When I open Device Manager, there are no issues.  All the network adapters are "working properly."  I have tried un-installing and re-installing the wireless adapter driver, but this has not changed anything.  I even tried replacing the wi-fi network card with a known-good card from another laptop - the wi-fi issue on the Windows 8 laptop was not fixed and the software behavior did not change (with the minor exception that the network adapter changed to a different make and model). 

I am out of things to try.  I have ruled out faulty hardware being the issue, therefore, it appears to be Windows 8 software related.  Any suggestions would be welcome.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2013-03-05T00:21:49+00:00

Hi Nathan,

Welcome to Microsoft Community Forums.

Based on the description, it appears that you are facing issues while connecting to Wi-Fi as you are getting an error message "no connections are available". I will definitely help you in fixing this issue.

  1. Have you made any changes on the computer prior to this issue?

Method 1: I would suggest you to follow the steps from the and check if it helps.

Why am I unable to see Wi-Fi networks on my Windows 8 notebook?

When you setup your Windows 8 system for the first time, you may notice that Wi-Fi is off when you view Available Networks. If no wireless networks are listed under Wi-Fi, press the F3 key to attempt to turn the wireless on. If you are still unable to see any wireless networks, use the following steps to resolve this issue.

  1. Completely shut down your computer.
  2. Power on the system. As soon as the first logo screen appears, immediately press the F2 key, or the DEL key if you have a desktop, to enter the BIOS.
  3. Press F9 to load Setup Defaults and press Enter.
  4. Press the F10 key to save changes and restart the system. When Windows loads, your wireless networks should now be available.

For reference:

http://gateway-us.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/27057/kw/no%20connections%20are%20available/session/L3RpbWUvMTM2MjQ0MjQ1MC9zaWQvWHFCUlZsa2w%3D

Method 2: Once the Wireless network is available, I would suggest you to make the connection automatic and check if it helps.

How to Connect to a Network in Windows 8

http://gateway-us.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/26602/kw/connections

Give this a go; I’m confident you will find what you need here. But if you face any further issue please reply to this post and we'll be happy to assist you further.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-05-05T16:29:57+00:00

    I tried many methods for months and this worked for me except i did it while pressing the wifi button repeatedly while shutting down and rebooting.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-05-01T23:42:29+00:00

    Okay, Lets start from the top!

    Was there any changes to the machine that you can remember? Any thing odd acting?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-05-01T23:24:06+00:00

    Yow! nathan you're such a big help. I was thinking for the past few days wat wud be the problem. But wen i read your solution i was like. wow amazing. thank you so much.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-05-01T06:13:38+00:00

    I called in to Gateway and they gave me this information. I tried going into the Bios pressing F2, F9, Then F10 and that didn't work. I downloaded this Bios update and it worked. I hope this helps.http://global-download.gateway.com/GDFiles/BIOS/BIOS/BIOS_Gateway_2.14_A_A.zip?acerid=635176684263966269&Step1=NOTEBOOK&Step2=NVSERIES&Step3=NV52L&OS=8P1&LC=en&BC=GATEWAY&SC=PA_6G

    Thanks for the link as trying to find this on Gateways site is impossible. I tried everything that everyone else had suggested without any luck what so ever. Device manager said this device was working the stupid wifi button only enabled airplane mode but the wifi slider was always grayed out and could not be moved. I hate crappy support. This seems to be a huge issue with the push to win 8.1 so gateway should have a solution right on their website. Thanks again for the link as it worked perfectly.

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