Llaptop - Win7HP re-install ate my wireless network adapter

[ChrisGreaves]

(I'm out of my depth just typing the subject line).
Here I am limping along,slowly, on my little 1GB |Acer Netbook at the library.

Yesterday in a fit of enthusiasm I reinstalled Win7 on the real laptop, the one I've been using three+ times a week to Eileen's Lounge. So I know it has the hardware inside it. Somewhere.

This morning, there is no little icon, looks like a vertical-bar chart at the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
I have paddled through Control Panel and waded around in Device Manager, but am basically scared of upsetting something.

I searched Eileen's Lounge and came up with a few posts This one and That one but they don't seem to help me at all.

I read somewhere about disabling the firewall; done that; rebooted and all.

I think this has happened to me before, but strangely I have no record of it in my (now massive) "rebuild.doc" which is a step-by-step log of everything I should do, based on past experience, to reinstall a system, and the log goes back to the days when I was upgrading through versions of Eudora.

I feel bad asking for help, because tomorrow I'm driving out of town for the day and won't be around to read replies.
But I'll be back late evening, and will jump right back in here.
This RAM-deprived netbook is the pits ...
(signed) "driving fearfully" of Toronto

[HansV]

I assume that the laptop has a slider to turn WiFi on/off (usually on the front edge); have you checked that it's in the "on" position?

[HansV]

By the way: a llaptop, is that a Welsh laptop?

[John Gray]

By the way: a llaptop, is that a Welsh laptop?

You were ahead of me there...!

[John Gray]

I assume that the laptop has a slider to turn WiFi on/off (usually on the front edge); have you checked that it's in the "on" position?

That's what I'd check first. Does the Real Llaptop have a light to indicate "wireless on"?
Do you need to determine the make/model of the wireless adapter and download the correct driver from the manufacturer?

[Rudi]

Is there no icon at all or is there a little column chart, but its grey (deactivated)?
If its grey - you have not connected to a router. If your router does not display, you might need to reboot it or forget the SSID and log onto it again
If there is no icon - you might need to check in the Device Manager to see if you have any network adapters listed, or update the existing drivers if there are.

[StuartR]

Many laptops also have a BIOS option to enable / disable the wireless adapter. It can't do any harm to check all the BIOS settings in case.

[DaveA]

I have see several laptops when the OS has been reinstalled the WiFi drivers have not been installed.

Is there a Wireless device listed in the Control Panel, System, Device Manager?

Also is the WiFi icon turned on within the navigation area?

Did you do a System recover to Factory settings or a clean install from the DVD?

[ChrisGreaves]

I assume that the laptop has a slider to turn WiFi on/off (usually on the front edge); have you checked that it's in the "on" position?

No; no switch or slider. One of the exo-threads mentioned a switch but (a) I had previously done a walk-around and seen nothing and (b) to do the reinstall I didn't move the laptop at all, just opened the DVD tray, dropped the coin in the slot, pushed the tray in and executed Setup.exe.

I think if there was any sort of switch that could accidentally be jiggered I'd have set it off sometime in the past two years, lugging the laptop up and down Bay Street and Church Street in all weathers ...

No. I think this will turn out to be just another one of the World's mean tricks it likes to play upon me.
Like today's rental car.
But let's not start on that this late at night ...

[ChrisGreaves]

By the way: a llaptop, is that a Welsh laptop?

Not even close, let alone closed.
Think "beast", then think "burden"; then think "beast of burden", then think "Now what South American country speaks Spanish?", and you'll be well on your way

[ChrisGreaves]

Does the Real Llaptop have a light to indicate "wireless on"?

Hi John, and thanks for the reallity check.
No, not that I can see; no little light for Wireless.

I have run through several trouble-shooting hurdles, one of which assured me that correct drivers were installed (for whatever I checked)

Do you need to determine the make/model of the wireless adapter and download the correct driver from the manufacturer?

Possibly.
Although here's the puzzling thing:- If I'd had to do this before I'd have fer-sure made an entry somewhere in my Rebuild.doc, because not having WiFi access means, in general, that I can't register Office, can't download the latest updates to Windows, and in several applications, can't download and install the application.

[ChrisGreaves]

Is there no icon at all or is there a little column chart, but its grey (deactivated)?

No, there is no bar-chart icon at all.
Normally, even here at home, the icon shows up with several private networks whose selfish owners won't let me tap into the internet for free but I don't see that icon at all.
I think there's a piece of my machine missing, and I think its software.

If its grey - you have not connected to a router. If your router does not display, you might need to reboot it or forget the SSID and log onto it again

I don't have a router; I walk to the library and tap into their (wireless) router.
Normally.

If there is no icon - you might need to check in the Device Manager to see if you have any network adapters listed, or update the existing drivers if there are.

The only things i saw there were BlueTooth doo-dads, and I think that's not what I want,

I will take a snapshot in the morning and post it here then ...
(signed) "Tired and in need of a shower and a sleep" of Toronto.

[ChrisGreaves]

Many laptops also have a BIOS option to enable / disable the wireless adapter. It can't do any harm to check all the BIOS settings in case.

Hi Stuart, and thanks for the reply.
I saw mention of BIOS settings in a thread, and have run through my BIOS a couple of times; I saw nothing that resembled WiFi or adapters.
I'll take another look first thing in the morning.
(I'm dangerous around broken systems when I'm this tired!)

[ChrisGreaves]

Hello DaveA. and thanks for the tips/questions

Is there a Wireless device listed in the Control Panel, System, Device Manager?

Not a skerrick; if I`d seen one there I`d have zeroed in on it.

Also is the WiFi icon turned on within the navigation area?

I`m not sure what you mean by the Navigation Area.
Perhaps the bottom of the screen?
I`ll hunt this down in the morning ...

Did you do a System recover to Factory settings or a clean install from the DVD?

Clean install from DVD, and I think I did that two years ago, because I recall trouble trying to make use of the hard drives which were initially in a modern format for really big disks (which this one isn't).
But that makes me think:-
(a) maybe I should try a factory reinstall and
(b) I must have a bootable DVD somewhere otherwise how could I have reset the disks back to the old-fashioned (is it MBR?) method.

Now I remember: The machine came with Win8 pre-installed, so a factory reboot probably isn`t going to be useful at all

[ChrisGreaves]

Thanks to all who`ve read and cogitated and in many cases replied.
I do appreciate your help and your efforts.
I`m knackered but will check back in in the morning before I start doing inadvertent damage to my system.
It`s been a long day ...

[StuartR]

Please tell us the exact model number of the laptop, so we can research this for you.

[ChrisGreaves]

Please tell us the exact model number of the laptop, so we can research this for you.

Hi Stuart, and I will do this, once I get back upstairs and collect product data.

In the meantime I have to report :mea culpa: that this morning after a good night's sleep and a coffee that I remembered seeing a DELL folder on my hard drive, and waddyaknow - there's a folder with saved web pages and drivers dated October 2013, which is about the time I bought this beast of burden.

So: To all of you, spend no more time on this until you hear from me.
I will take the time today to explore what I've got and make a summary of my findings.
I rather suspect that there is a video driver in there too, that will provide "hardware acceleration"

When I think of this, it seems obvious that I must have made a collection of user manuals, web pages and odds and ends 18 months ago.
I just can't understand why I didn't follow my usual habit and log this stuff in my Rebuild.doc.

(signed) "Looking forward to enjoying System Restore" of Toronto.

[ChrisGreaves]

Please tell us the exact model number of the laptop, so we can research this for you.

Hello again, Stuart et al.

The machine is a DELL Inspiron laptop purchased new around October 2013.
Inspiron 3521; BIOS version A08; Intel Pentium CPUID 306A9; Speed 1.90 GHz

Please see also attachments.

Yesterday I made some progress.
I worked my way through files in a folder "DELL" on my system.
I have managed to install drivers for Video and Audio, so we know I am capable of that (grin).

I am, as we type, trying to download drivers for WiFi from a web site Dell Support
Specifically I am d/l three drivers "Network_Driver_GMW8T_WN_10.0.0.175_A00.EXE", "Network_Driver_VHG5F_WN32_6.30.223.228_A05.EXE" and "Network_Driver_4XPJF_WN_7.061.0612.2012_A01.EXE" from that page.
The d/l is taking forever, at least 25 minutes so far; probably the little ACER netbook's fault.

Give me ten minutes or so to transfer these three drivers across and see if they have any impact.

(signed) "How much does a Macintosh cost, anyway?" of Toronto.

[ChrisGreaves]

OK.
It was one of those three drivers did the trick.
I can now go back and (sulk) do a nice clean install and ferret through all my written-up notes and saved Prt\Scr images to streamline the process.

I'm going to treat myself to a free lunchtime concert at St Andrews first, though.

May I say in closing that I felt strengthened by knowing that there was a battery of experts waiting (I do hope!) to jump in and pull me back to shore.

All except Jezza, of course, who is swigging some vile brew on the continent ...

[DaveA]

Glad to see the good news.
As I had posted above, there was NO WiFi driver installed.
This is what I have seen on many reinstalls on laptops.