Wireless Capabilities Off after Windows 8 Clean install

[DonQuixoteMC]

Okay, so... After wrestling with my computer for a bit, I have a fully functioning yet unactivated clean installation of Windows 8. My computer is a Lenovo U410, my wireless adapter is an Intel Centrino Wireless-n 2230.

My Problem:
I cannot connect to anything via WiFi. I am "Not Connected-No connections are available." I can connect with ethernet (but it's a laptop... so that's not much of a solution).
I ran some tests:
Windows 8 says I need to "Turn on Wireless Capability."
Intel Manual Diagnostics says my problem is "Hardware radio is OFF"
My device is recognized, functioning and has all the latest drivers (So unless you have any suggestions related to drivers other than a) Trying Lenovo's drivers from their website, b) Trying the correct Intel drivers. or c) Uninstalling the drivers and trying both again, please don't mention drivers). Every test has also shown that my device is not faulty, and is enabled (It has functioned before as well).

I tried some other various tests from around the internet... (Unplugging battery for 5 minutes, running various powershell commands, trying in Safemode) nothing worked. There is no external wireless on-off switch (I WISH it was that simple), and I can't turn it on through the Windows 8 settings (Slider is greyed out).

Outstanding Issues:
"Hardware Radio" is off
Windows 8 has not yet been activated (I am trying to fix this Wireless issue first)
Besides those two items, nothing else seems wrong. Please let me know if you need more information.

So if anyone has any experience with this problem, or just has suggestions in general, please give some input. I am willing to try anything!

Thanks,

DonQuixoteMC

 

[dodger46]

Last try...
I still have two "Unknown Devices" listed in the Device manager

I tried looking them up on PCI Database, but I found no results. The Hardware ID looks different than the other IDs I have seen, so I'm at a bit of a loss. See what you can make of them:

Unknown Device 1: ACPI\VEN_VPC&DEV_2004
Unknown Device 2: ACPI\VEN_AOA&DEV_2011

Sorry for bothering you guys for this long. If this attempt falls through, I'm going to some sort of IT support.

Thanks,

DonQuixoteMC

Power Management Software/drivers?
http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles/em8.0.2.3.exe

 

[DonQuixoteMC]

I tried that as well, but it did not affect my WiFi.
This seems like it should be a simple fix! Turning on "Hardware Radio" shouldn't be this complicated...

Thanks for sticking with me
Best,

DonQuixoteMC

 

[dodger46]

Another option is to download drivers from the Chinese site, mooted to be more complete..
http://support1.lenovo.com.cn/lenovo/wsi/Modules/Driverdownload.aspx?SearchType=1&LogicType=0&MachineId=10205&IsSeachOne=true&IsBackPage=false&ptype=2&typename=IdeaPad+U410&from=select

 

[DonQuixoteMC]

2 tries left... upgrade BIOS and get drivers for all "unknown devices"

 

[DonQuixoteMC]

I give up.

 

[dodger46]

Just had to do the same on an HP laptop, reckon it's a mobo failure. Edimax Nano a lot cheaper than replacing Mobo,... and it's fairly unobtrusive...though I still believe there's a software answer to your problem out there somewhere!

 

[cwk9852]

I know this thread is kind of old, but have you tried seeing if you can flip the so called hardware switch from inside windows 8.

Go to the start screen type wireless, click apps , select the first result on the upper left "wireless" ..toggle the switch for airplane mode and/or wifi.. this solution worked for me once before. (alternatively access this menu via charms bar, settings, change pc settings, wireless) Another time the option was greyed out.

The solution then was to clear cmos. You have to disconnect the ac, disconnect the battery and disconnect the cmos battery, wait 10 minutes, reconnect everything and reboot.

I have found that it happens after you hit fn+f5 or simply f5 depending on the hotkey setting in bios, after you trip that key it turns the wireless off but it wont turn it back on.

 

[DonQuixoteMC]

I know this thread is kind of old, but have you tried seeing if you can flip the so called hardware switch from inside windows 8.

Go to the start screen type wireless, click apps , select the first result on the upper left "wireless" ..toggle the switch for airplane mode and/or wifi.. this solution worked for me once before. (alternatively access this menu via charms bar, settings, change pc settings, wireless) Another time the option was greyed out.

The solution then was to clear cmos. You have to disconnect the ac, disconnect the battery and disconnect the cmos battery, wait 10 minutes, reconnect everything and reboot.

I have found that it happens after you hit fn+f5 or simply f5 depending on the hotkey setting in bios, after you trip that key it turns the wireless off but it wont turn it back on.

The only thing that you mentioned that I didn't do was keep everything disconnected for 10 minutes. When I cleared cmos I only disconnected the AC, DC and cmos battery power sources for 5 minutes. I'm kind of doubtful that waiting another 5 would fix it.

Though if you think it's worth a shot, I'll go for it.
At this point I'm not too broken up about it. The USB wireless adapter performs better than my mini pci-e adapter (Lenovo U410's notorious wifi issues). The only thing that bugs me is that this is the first computer problem that I haven't been able to fix. 😛

Thanks for the follow-up post. It's always nice to get input about a possible solution!

DonQuixoteMC

 

[DonQuixoteMC]

Well... Sorry for reviving a rather old thread, but something interesting just happened. My Wireless issue was fixed, as of a few days ago. Although, I'm not too sure what happened...

Recently, my SSD Panic Locked, so I removed that sucker and reinstalled Windows onto my HDD. Once the installation was finished, I booted up my laptop and Voila! I had wireless.

I have NO idea why this fixed my issue, as a reinstall didn't fix it when I first had this problem. My only guess, is that in an attempt to use my SSD, I turned off "Secure Boot." Then I reinstalled Windows without re-enabling it. This might have allowed for the wireless driver to fully install/boot with the computer. That's my only guess, because it wasn't my SSD that caused the issue, and if you've read through the thread we couldn't find any other reason for the problem.

If anyone else has this problem and wants to try this, just make sure your system is clean from malicious software that may try to take advantage of a disabled secure boot.

I am curious to see what Dodger has to say about this!

DonQuixoteMC

 

[dodger46]

Well... Sorry for reviving a rather old thread, but something interesting just happened. My Wireless issue was fixed, as of a few days ago. Although, I'm not too sure what happened...

Recently, my SSD Panic Locked, so I removed that sucker and reinstalled Windows onto my HDD. Once the installation was finished, I booted up my laptop and Voila! I had wireless.

I have NO idea why this fixed my issue, as a reinstall didn't fix it when I first had this problem. My only guess, is that in an attempt to use my SSD, I turned off "Secure Boot." Then I reinstalled Windows without re-enabling it. This might have allowed for the wireless driver to fully install/boot with the computer. That's my only guess, because it wasn't my SSD that caused the issue, and if you've read through the thread we couldn't find any other reason for the problem.

If anyone else has this problem and wants to try this, just make sure your system is clean from malicious software that may try to take advantage of a disabled secure boot.

I am curious to see what Dodger has to say about this!

DonQuixoteMC

Speechless!

 

[DonQuixoteMC]

Speechless!

Me too! I don't see how the "Secure Boot" thing could possibly have helped, but I see no other logical explanation. It is quite a mystery.

 

[bebbed]

Old thread but just as a comment for others: I have a Lenovo U510 on Windows 8 with the same Intel Centrio-N 2230 Wifi chipset. Every time that the battery level on the laptop goes down under around 10%, WiFi turns off and there is nowehere to turn it on (Windows 8 Energy manager, Wifi manager and device manager all have the switch greyed out and the keybord quickbutton does not work.) Only charging the computer and rebooting it lets me turn on the WiFi again. I have searched for solutions on internet since I got the computer but nothing found has helped. The Lenowo / Windows power management settings does not help, this problem continues also if selected that the computer is not allowed to turn of wifi in powes save modes. I have re-installed all drivers / power management software but does not help. Lenovo Support does not show any interest in the issue which is quite bad as many owners of the u410 / u510 series have reported the same problem on different forums.

Ben