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
    2015-09-25T23:07:56+00:00

    Method 1 just worked for me with Windows 10. Oh and by the way, I don't recommend Windows 10. My printer won't scan or copy - no resolution yet - and if you want to uninstall Win 10 you only have 30 days to do it. After that the option to uninstall is removed and you are stuck - and I mean stuck!

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-08-17T02:31:52+00:00

    Two years later and this issue exists with Windows 10 with Microsoft's self-selected drivers that will overwrite your working Windows 8 drivers!

    Same as many other people in this thread and elsewhere, Gateway laptop and the solution was to go into the BIOS, reset to defaults (which were exactly the same as current settings in my case), save the settings, and boom, wi-fi works.

    So if anyone else google's to get here and has this issue on Gateway laptop with a current day operating system, apparently they're aware of the issue: http://gateway-us.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a\_id/27057/kw/no%20connections%20are%20available/session/L3RpbWUvMTM2MjQ0MjQ1MC9zaWQvWHFCUlZsa2w%3D

    Thanks for this thread pointing me in the right direction. Cheers!

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-08-12T14:11:32+00:00

    MAKE YOUR YOU ARE CONNECTED TO LAN BEFORE DOING THIS

    I went to device manager (Just search it in the start menu), found my network adapter in the network adapter section, uninstalled it(check the box that say delete driver) and reinstalled it. My wifi is workking perfectly fine now. Hope this helps :)

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