Acer Aspire 5749 Series WiFi Connection Dropping  

I went to the Network and Sharing Center

There are 3 icons on there:

1. One is the Local Area Connection with our Network name and driver Broadcom Netlink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet.

2. Next is Wireless Network Connection and that says Not connected underneath with Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter under the Not Connected words. There is a red X and a green graph too.

3. The last is Wireless Network Connection 2 that says Not connected underneath with Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter under the Not Connected words. There is a red X and a green graph too.

When I click on #2, there is no "status" option. There is an option "Change settings of this connection" and I clicked that, so that opens the Wireless Network Connection Properties which has 2 tabs Networking and Sharing.

I don't see where I can change the status.

Hi Maxie,

My mom has been sick so sometimes I can't get back to my computer for a while.

I do have Launch Manager installed.
I followed everything on the link you sent me except for Connecting to other access points, which I will do this evening when I go out:

Here is what was on the list of to do's:
• Make sure the wireless on your device is Enabled
• Make sure your wireless is turned on:
• Determine if the wireless hardware on your computer is working
• Check connections and reset your modem and router
• Check your router settings
• Make sure your wireless drivers are up to date
• Disable Antivirus or other programs that may be interfering
o Try connecting to other access points – Trying this today.
• Check for viruses, spyware, and malware
• Use a antivirus program to scan your computer for viruses, spyware, and malware.


After all the above it would not connect. Then last night, my son came and disconnected ALL of our computers, turned everything off, turned off the router, modem and even our cable boxes (?), everything. He restarted everything and lo and behold my Acer was connected to wifi! Hooray!
Oh, but don't celebrate with me just yet.

I went to bed, and now this afternoon I come to my desk and happily open the Acer laptop, it turns on, and...
"Unable to connect to the Internet." appears AGAIN!

So, I am headed out the door to pick up some things for my Mom and I am going to find a place to try using wifi and see if the Acer works there.

Can this just be a hardware problem?

Thank you!

Maxie,
I forgot to mention that I also did a System Restore, but the earliest restore point was only about 2 weeks ago.

I don't know why it didn't save any earlier restore points, I checked for early dates and there's nothing.

It is set to keep track of restore points when changes are made, so I had not changed anything on the computer for quite a while.

It did say the restore was inclomplete because the virus program was blocking it, so then I redid it.

It suggests to do some other process, but that was something that sounded critical. I can't rememer if it was called advanced recovery, it also suggested to restore the computer to its original settings.

Thank you again for trying to help!

Hi Maxie,

Thank you for your well wishes for my Mom.

I followed what you asked:

Device Manager
then clicked Network Adapters
then right clicked Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter
then Update Driver Software
then Browse My Computer
then Let me pick from a list of device drivers...
then what comes up is a window with

Network Adapter:
Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter

That's it,
it doesn't show 2 like you mentioned.
Just that one in the window to choose from

btw the previous window was set to search "My Documents" folder so I set that to search C:

I couldn't try to use it anywhere else yesterday because it turned out that they needed someone to stay the whole 5 hourse with my Mom while they did this lab test on her. I thought I would be able to sneak away and find a cafe or other public wifi to try it.

I will try it later tonight.

At this very moment I turned on the Acer and it is connected, just so WEIRD!

I called our cable company to get someone to come check our wifi and internet service but they are booked up until next week.

Thank you!

Hi Maxie,

Life took over for a bit, and I had to change the tech appointment from our ISP until just yesterday.

Here's my update:

After my last communication this is what happened. One day and just suddenly all of our devices started dropping their connection, for several days, much to the chagrine of my soon-to-leave-for-college son who was given a PS4 from a cousin for his graduation and he now has no other life but playing.

Then one day out of the blue but before the person from our ISP Time Warner Cable came out, the Acer connected to Wi-Fi and stayed connected. Of course it still left me worried that it would suddenly fail again, but it has stayed connected.

Our ISP tech came and I told him all the goings on and he replaced all of our equipment. He also added a second network that has a faster speed, but my "bad luck" and the Acer will not recognize that faster network! It figures!

Since then, no problem staying connected.

Thank you for your advice and help, I learned quite a bit doing all the checks and troubleshooting.

My Mom is much better too! It's 3 am here and I have to drive her to an appointment (1 hour away) in the a.m., so good night and you have my gratitude for your patience and help.

P.S. I want to start another question, do I just start a new thread? I want to enable Bluetooth for the same Acer laptop.