Acer Aspire one D255E Wireless Card Not Showing in Device Manager

[bmoe872]

Hey guys,

I am at wits end here trying to figure out how to fix this pc. A friend came to me with the Acer Aspire One D255E with a wireless internet issue. The PC is Running Windows 7 Starter 32-bit.

I immediately thought "well there must be a switch that she turned off" There is no switch on the computer for the wireless card.

Next, I thought "well there must be a driver issue, Ill go to the device manager and update the driver for it". Then when I got to the device manager... Nothing shows up for a wireless lan card even existing in the laptop, but I know it does, because A) It's a "net Book" B) she was using the internet last week.

So, I thought maybe it's not showing up because thee computer needs the drivers for it first, which is unusual, but since its windows 7 starter I thought it needed a kick in the rear to get it goin. So i downloaded all the drivers for the PC using a different computer, and installed the different drivers to see which one would work...

Well none of them worked, and now im sitting here scratching my head on what to do next. I have scoured the web and seen a few other people with issues like this, but not a REAL solution to the problem.

Buying a new wireless adapter is not a REAL solution, it was just working, and the computer is hardly used as is. So there is no reason it should have crapped out. I have seen a lot of people complaining about the wireless card on this brand of computer, and there solution was to use a new wireless adapter, but I would like to actually fix whats going on.

Thanks!

 

[casper1973]

Sometimes it's better to just accept defeat and buy a usb wireless adaptor. They cost barely anything and it saves hours of time looking for the 'real' solution

But if you insist...
Have you tried the function keys rather than looking for a physical switch? Normally you will hold the Fn key and press F5 or F6 (will be a picture on the key) to turn wireless on/off.

Check the connections to the wireless card. They maybe just came loose?

Acer quite often don't use the same hardware in every machine of the same model. For example your netbook could have a Atheros or Broadcom wireless card depending on what was readily available when put together. You can use this to identify the Hardware Vendor of you wireless card (if it shows up...). http://global-download.acer.com/FilesDownload/HWID/HWVendorDetection.exe

 

[bmoe872]

I tried all 4 of the available options on that website. I have tried the function keys as well. The only thing I havent done that you suggested was actually opening it up and checking the connections. (didnt want to do that, but it looks like I may have to try)

Just a really weird issue though! Never seen a NETBOOK, of all things, lose its wireless capabilities.