Wireless card disappeared from device manager

[jlmwrite]

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kersplash wrote:

There is a class action suit against NVIDIA which involves my computer and many other HP products.

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Be careful mentioning the class ac***n su*t.  Last time I brought this up, a helful HP moderator censored my post! 

At this point, who the heck knows what the problem is.  HP sure doesn't! 

Is it another sudden batch of cards failing?  (I was caught up in the orignal batch of bad Broadcom cards that was replaced under warranty.)  Is it a MS update?  Uninstalling NET Framework worked for someone else but not for me.  I had mentioned in an earlier post that I'd ordered a relplacement card.  It worked immediately -- but after putting my laptop to sleep and waking it back up, the new card had disappeared as well.

It's some combination of software and hardware, but the fault probably lies in software somewhere.  I'm about to kick my laptop out the window, but before I buy another one (and it WON'T be an HP) I'm gonna restore it to factory software and see if that fixes the problem.

[fadylebbos]

Having a problem with the wireless switch. Suddenly, i cannot get wireless network, and the LED don't change color after changing the position of the switch.

[EAGLE58]

I have Impresario R3306us that has lost wireless function. Indicates RTL8139 PCI Fast Ethernet NIC is disconnected. At end of an XP UPDATE  a blue screen appeared and would not load. I safe mode reinstalled XP and can now turn on but have the wireless loss I indicated. I am somewhat challenged with computers so here are my questions. 

I did the XP reinstall, but have another disc APPLICATION AND DRIVER RECOVERY DVD. Do I need to do that also?

Also, if I cannot get the blue light to ever come on, do I understand that I can buy a USB plug in that will talk to my other computer that is connected to the telephone/modem/Belkin802.11g unit?

Finally, this computer is 5 years old. Am I wasting time trying to fix it?

Any comments would really be appreciated.

[t6452]

I found a page with instructions for remedy

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370032,00.asp.. Work Fast!

[jlmwrite]

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t6452 wrote:

I found a page with instructions for remedy

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370032,00.asp.. Work Fast!

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Not exactly new news, and certainly isn't going to help anyone right now.  The suit will be decided in late December, and IF it is approved, then it will still be a while before anyone gets anything.

[shigbee523]

So, fellas....it's not working quite well for me.  I have the same problem, but perhaps my possible solution may help you.  For those that didn't know Device Manager has a feature under the View menu.  This would be "Show hidden devices".  Select this, go down to Network Adapters and expand that.  You should be able to see your Broadcom listed there.  See if you are not able to Uninstall  Broadcom.  If it allows you to do this then follow by restarting the computer allowing it to automatically reinstall the driver.  If it doesn't allow you to do this, try doing this same thing in Safe Mode.  Let me know if this helps anyone out.  For some reason, it will not allow me to uninstall.  I'm going to look further into it.  Any support from others would be great.

[jodi5549]

I have the same problem with a pavillion dv6258se running vista. I did purchased a netgear usb wireless adapter and it works fine. I did what you suggested shigbee523 and I'm more confused than ever. Why do I have so many? See below and what are all these?

[capm1]

I have the "orange light of death" too.  I spent hours this weekend trying different solutions I have read on this board.  I am not encouraged when a tech savvy corporate IT guys say they can't figure it out.

If I get a USB wireless adapter for $59 from best buy, will this allow me to connect??  Thanks.

P.S.  I'm going to post this on my own thread too.

[kittyp]

This simple solution worked great  for me . Once found in the hidden devices I just loaded new drivers and then restarted my computer. My wireless card had disappeared and not reappeared even after a full restore from discs. So THANK YOU for this! I was ready to buy a new laptop over this whole thing.    I hope this solution will help someone else!

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Re: Wireless card disappeared from device manager 

REhigbee523

10-25-2010 06:11 PM

So, fellas....it's not working quite well for me.  I have the same problem, but perhaps my possible solution may help you.  For those that didn't know Device Manager has a feature under the View menu.  This would be "Show hidden devices".  Select this, go down to Network Adapters and expand that.  You should be able to see your Broadcom listed there.  See if you are not able to Uninstall  Broadcom.  If it allows you to do this then follow by restarting the computer allowing it to automatically reinstall the driver.  If it doesn't allow you to do this, try doing this same thing in Safe Mode.  Let me know if this helps anyone out.  For some reason, it will not allow me to uninstall.  I'm going to look further into it.  Any support from others would be great.

[jlmwrite]

Original poster here.

There aren't any solutions that have helped me (including showing hidden devices in the Device Manager; Broadcom simply isn't there).  Installing a brand new internal Broadcom card helped for approximately 24 hours, then it disappeared as well.

This reminds me of the original problem with the Broadcom cards about 5 years ago, when either the card or the motherboard or both were replaced, and the BIOS updated so it wouldn't run as hot and overheat components.

HP -- in their usual fashion -- doesn't even acknowledge this is a widespread probiem this time.  Whether or not it's tied to the nVidia problem or not doesn't really matter, because those of us whose laptops are long out of warranty have only one cost-effective choice. That's an external USB wireless adaptor.

Never, EVER again will I buy or let my kids buy HP computers.  From the older laptops with the self-destructing power adaptors (cheap and weak connection on the motherboard) to the battery recall to the dead pixels to incompatible drivers between HP computers and HP printers, and of course the infamous disappearing Broadcom adaptors all combined with HP's famous "We've never heard of that being an issue before" -- I'm done with them.  Owning 5 HP and Compaq laptops (purchased between 4 and 6 years ago because of CostCo's aggressive pricing, and only 2 of them still alive) and 2 HP wireless AIO printers give me the right to gripe since I've had every single major issue I listed (and a few others).  Our Dell is 4 years old and has never had a hiccup.  The Sony laptop lasted over 6 years and died only when my then pre-teens jumped off a table and landed square on it!

(Wonder if this post will be censored by a mod?)