No Wi-Fi Networks found. Could it be a hardware problem?

[Understandout]

My desktop that's about one month old has a wi-fi adapter (Qualcomm Atheros AR9287). I never had to use it because I had a wired connection, though I did test it 3 weeks ago or so. I moved yesterday to a place with no wired options and only wi-fi. However, my desktop is not detecting any wi-fi networks nearby, while my phone and laptop detect 10+ of them.

I guess it's plausible that the wi-fi component was damaged in transit somehow, even though the trip was very mild and it was packed with lots of protective materials. Yet what irks me so much is that Windows does not detect any problems with the component. It is considered to be working just fine. I would think that if anything got damaged or displaced, Windows would stop detecting it or give some sort of error message. Is it possible that it is damaged while Windows thinks it is working normally?

Of course I have tried all the solutions on a software end: uninstalling drivers, disabling/enabling device, upgrading drivers, installing older drivers and a bunch of other suggestions I found through Google.

 

[piechockidocent9]

My desktop that's about one month old has a wi-fi adapter (Qualcomm Atheros AR9287). I never had to use it because I had a wired connection, though I did test it 3 weeks ago or so. I moved yesterday to a place with no wired options and only wi-fi. However, my desktop is not detecting any wi-fi networks nearby, while my phone and laptop detect 10+ of them.

I guess it's plausible that the wi-fi component was damaged in transit somehow, even though the trip was very mild and it was packed with lots of protective materials. Yet what irks me so much is that Windows does not detect any problems with the component. It is considered to be working just fine. I would think that if anything got damaged or displaced, Windows would stop detecting it or give some sort of error message. Is it possible that it is damaged while Windows thinks it is working normally?

Of course I have tried all the solutions on a software end: uninstalling drivers, disabling/enabling device, upgrading drivers, installing older drivers and a bunch of other suggestions I found through Google.

You're probably correct about the damage, you already tried most of things I would suggest but you can still try physicly re-plugging the adapter and antennas to see if more direct approach has any effect. If not unfortunately you mighthave to just buy a new adapter/wi-fi card, they're quite cheap and I wouldn't be surprised you could get usb one that will perform better.

 

[Understandout]

My desktop that's about one month old has a wi-fi adapter (Qualcomm Atheros AR9287). I never had to use it because I had a wired connection, though I did test it 3 weeks ago or so. I moved yesterday to a place with no wired options and only wi-fi. However, my desktop is not detecting any wi-fi networks nearby, while my phone and laptop detect 10+ of them.

I guess it's plausible that the wi-fi component was damaged in transit somehow, even though the trip was very mild and it was packed with lots of protective materials. Yet what irks me so much is that Windows does not detect any problems with the component. It is considered to be working just fine. I would think that if anything got damaged or displaced, Windows would stop detecting it or give some sort of error message. Is it possible that it is damaged while Windows thinks it is working normally?

Of course I have tried all the solutions on a software end: uninstalling drivers, disabling/enabling device, upgrading drivers, installing older drivers and a bunch of other suggestions I found through Google.

You're probably correct about the damage, you already tried most of things I would suggest but you can still try physicly re-plugging the adapter and antennas to see if more direct approach has any effect. If not unfortunately you mighthave to just buy a new adapter/wi-fi card, they're quite cheap and I wouldn't be surprised you could get usb one that will perform better.

Oh god... Thanks for getting me to investigate it physically. The truth is that I know very little about network cards, so little that I didn't even know what it looked like inside of the desktop. Once I found it, I noticed those golden screwy thingies at the back. After stupidly trying to see if I can twist them, I suddenly had a flashback to some unused parts that came in the box, namely two black antennas that connect to those golden thingies (I never realized they were antennas). As soon as I connected them, my computer picked up loads of wi-fi signals. I guess that without those antennas, the signal becomes very weak. In my previous location there were several signals strong enough to fill up all three bars, but here I required those antennas to even get a single network to show up.