Toshiba Laptop Win7 wireless adapter not being recognized; sometimes

[kingleojames]

I have a Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4056 which has an internal wireless adapter and no physical swicth to turn it on/off. only by pressing fn key and F8. So the only way the laptop recognizes the wireless adapter is if I plug in the power cord, turn it off while power cord is plugged in. Before turning it on I have to unplug to power cord and then power the laptop on. That seems to be the only way the wireless adapter gets even recognized by system. Its not even in device manager. Only when I do the above procedure (which doesn't always work) is when i can connect to the internet (wifi). After wifi is connected I can connect the power cord and it functions good. ethernet port works fine. need some help
(oh and i did a system restore to a previous time when it was working properly but that didnt help) Thanks in advance

 

[shelly7200]

I have the same model and exactly the same problem. I thought it was a hardware problem at first (and it may be...) but once the laptop ran out of batteries, suddenly the WiFi started working again. I can't get it to turn on anymore with the FN+F8 keys, so there's no way to activate the wifi (a real design flaw if you ask me). I have tried all the things you did, and nothing works. Did you find a solution? I'm about to switch to a Mac since the last few Toshiba's I've had have had such hardware problems. I used to really like Toshiba, but now I think I'd only be willing to get a Sony, and as long as I'm going to spend that much money, it may be time to upgrade to a mac.