Internal WiFi Disappeared From Device Mgr

Hello friends,

I have an Acer 4530 I have had for a few years (since new) with W7-64 running on it from the start (I installed it when I got the laptop).

Everything was fine, then the other day in mid-afternoon after being online all day, I suddenly lost wifi. Even the wifi on/off button on the Acer, when pressed, did not flash orange like it usually does to let me know it has just toggled.

Checking Device Mgr, the Wifi card is totally missing. (Not present with an exclamation mark.) I used View -> Hidden devices and it's not there either. It is the stock EM303 card.

Turned off computer, removed AC plug and battery pack, and pressed power button for approx 30 seconds - didn't help.

Opened laptop and removed, then re-seated wifi card, careful to reattach antennas. No change.

Ordered a used-but-tested wifi of same exact type from eBay from a trusted seller, and I have the same exact results. Doesn't show up in Device Mgr and wifi on/off button still dead.

EDIT: Knew it wasn't a driver problem but tried reinstalling the driver anyway, but it said the device isn't present and to install it then press OK. I pressed OK and it went ahead and installed the driver but of course that made no difference.

Does this sound like a mb problem? Or... any other ideas? Thanks much!

Hello 2xg,

There are no BIOS settings relating to wifi. As for a USB Wifi adapter, I already ordered one but would prefer the on-board wifi card work, if possible.

Thanks for your suggestions.

remm said:

Hello 2xg,

There are no BIOS settings relating to wifi. As for a USB Wifi adapter, I already ordered one but would prefer the on-board wifi card work, if possible.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Clearing the cmos by shutting down and removing the cmos battery may help.
How to Clear the CMOS on an Acer Laptop | eHow

If this is an Op system problem then using system restore might be a good option.

Thanks chev65 but nothing worked. I restored a backup from 2 weeks ago to C:\ and as soon as it booted the wifi icon appeared with the spinning circle, then almost immediately switched to the Ethernet icon.

So def a mb problem with either wifi-port-related soldering cracking from heat over time, or chip failure.

To this end I did discover the laptop was running really hot. It has always run hot since new so didn't notice as it got worse so slowly. But CPU & GPU (Athlon X2 QL-62 and NVidia GeForce 9100M G) were mostly staying up around 165-175F, even going up to 187F and this was just doing normal things like sitting on desktop or surfing.

Decided it was time for new thermal compound as the insides were not dusty (I keep it clean). Had to tear the machine completely apart and remove the mb to get to the fan and heatsink, thanks to the poor Acer design. (Really like the Acer except for having to service it.) Replaced the compound and temps dropped 20C to 135-145F.

So I am assuming the wifi port electronics fried and cracked. Oh well... I can live with a miniUSB wifi adapter.