Wireless Button no longer works - Acer Aspire 5920

[CluelessAcer]

I apologise in advance if i irritate you but i litterally have no clue what is what when it comes to laptops.

Ive had my Acer Aspire 5920 for a good few years now, it ran perfectly fine on vista for a good 3 years, not a hitch or care in the system. Then out of no where it goes missing for a week, and my mums ex boyfriend had upgraded it to 'windows 7 extreme edition' and none of the buttons of the sides worked, including the most important one- the wireless.

now i understand that a driver synaptics or something fixed the others, and it did. but still the wireless and all the buttons to the left refuse to work.

i cant ask the ex for help because he left on very bad terms and i have none of my original discs left. My friend has now got me running windows 7 professional 32 bit and i have the glowy buttons working, but not the wireless.

the reason i need wireless is soon im going to uni where i cant plug it into the wall to get the internet-that and the socket for the internet cable has started to melt and warped out of shape.

i cant seem to find ANY advice on this matter, that or i just simply dont understand the jargon. I dont care if it means going back to vista as that was fine to work with anyway - but how would i go about doing that if so?

Sorry to be a pain in the dariair.
- Aridan

 

[xxxdannyxxx]

Hello CluelessAcer

Have a look here Acer Support: Downloads & Support Documents - Notebook / Aspire / Aspire 5920 I have a few models up from you and those buttons are controlled by the Launch Manager Application at the bottom of the page. You should also be able to find any missing drivers/applications here.

Regards Danny

 

[CluelessAcer]

Thanks Danny, but ive already been their and downloaded the wireless drivers with no luck still. ive even had a friend whos alittle more computer savvy check the drivers ive re installed and we're still baffled at why it isnt working.

Its amazing how such a small button can be such a problem :<

-Aridan

 

[oxymoron02]

Just to throw in a quick piece of advice; you don't need that button so even if you don't get it working in the end, there is an alternative.

If you open up Control Panel (in the Start menu) and ensure that it is set to View by: Small Icons (you'll find this option in the upper right of the Control Panel window), then you will be able to find an icon called Network and Sharing Centre. Clicking on this will bring up a whole load of gumph you won't need, and one bit of gumph you will need.
On the left hand side you should see, in order from top to bottom:

- Control Panel Home
- Manage Wireless Networks
- Change Adapter Settings
- Change advanced Sharing Settings.

It is the third one we're interested in so go ahead and click that now.

It will bring you to a new screen with probably two icons; now I can't say for sure what they'll be called for you, but one will most likely be "Local Area Connection" and may have a number, while the second will say "Wireless Network Connection". If this says 'Disabled' then all you need to do is right-click on it and press 'Enable' again. Voila! You have just turned on your wireless adapter without using the laptop's inbuilt button.

 

[xxxdannyxxx]

Have you installed the launch manager application as that's what controls the side buttons but that wouldn't effect the wireless card itself. Look in device manager and check to see if there are any missing drivers (post a screenshot if you like). You could also try uninstalling your current wireless driver and rebooting see if windows update will locate you a suitable one

Danny

 

[derekimo]

Have you installed the launch manager application as that's what controls the side buttons but that wouldn't effect the wireless card itself. Look in device manager and check to see if there are any missing drivers (post a screenshot if you like). You could also try uninstalling your current wireless driver and rebooting see if windows update will locate you a suitable one

Danny

Launch Manager Application

 

[CluelessAcer]

It will bring you to a new screen with probably two icons; now I can't say for sure what they'll be called for you, but one will most likely be "Local Area Connection" and may have a number, while the second will say "Wireless Network Connection". If this says 'Disabled' then all you need to do is right-click on it and press 'Enable' again. Voila! You have just turned on your wireless adapter without using the laptop's inbuilt button.

My Acer seems to not want to co-operate, OxyMoron, and ive got the window up now, and it's apparently already enabled - but still nada. The wireless works on everything else but this is seems :C

Have you installed the launch manager application as that's what controls the side buttons but that wouldn't effect the wireless card itself. Look in device manager and check to see if there are any missing drivers (post a screenshot if you like). You could also try uninstalling your current wireless driver and rebooting see if windows update will locate you a suitable one

I have tried uninstalling and re-installing the driver with no luck, and i wouldnt have the foggiest idea if something were to be missing
here are the screenshots-hope they help

 

[xxxdannyxxx]

The 2 caution symbols are missing drivers but I'm not sure what they are for but the wireless ones look okay. Can you actually connect to any wireless networks/are there any available when you click the icon in the system tray. If you have one available try to connect anyway. It has been known for the icon to display wrong but the wireless to be functional, lets rule that out first.

Also check here for any updates - http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect?iid=dc_iduu

Danny

 

[oxymoron02]

Judging by that screenshot your adapter is turned on, just not connected to your wireless network

Could you do me a favour and post another screenshot, this time after clicking the icon down on the right hand side (second to the left next to the clock). This should bring up a very small window above the clock listing available nearby wireless networks. I want to check your laptop is actually seeing them, as it seems (by the little red x) that none are.

 

[CluelessAcer]

The 2 caution symbols are missing drivers but I'm not sure what they are for but the wireless ones look okay. Can you actually connect to any wireless networks/are there any available when you click the icon in the system tray. If you have one available try to connect anyway. It has been known for the icon to display wrong but the wireless to be functional, lets rule that out first.

Also check here for any updates - Intel® Driver Update Utility

Danny: I went on the website, i had two drivers that could be up to date, one was the wireless one too- i updated, restarted and still nothing :C
and this might be a screenshot for both you and Oxymoron, as i think its the same thing?

 

[oxymoron02]

Ah, well that very definitely is a problem. I take it that there is a wireless spot where you are now?

 

[CluelessAcer]

Yes there is :c

 

[oxymoron02]

Could you go to this link and install the driver, after selecting your correct options? (Windows 7 32-bit)

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...ntel®+PRO/Wireless+3945ABG+Network+Connection

Then toward the bottom of the page you'll see "Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows 7*", with a publish date of 4/8/2012.

The only reason I suggest this is because I noticed earlier that the driver for your wireless adapter is showing as being provided by Microsoft, which I think may be causing your issue.

 

[CluelessAcer]

Still nada my friend :c

 

[oxymoron02]

This is very perplexing. We have a wireless adapter which for all intents and purposes seems to be installed and enabled, but which cannot see any nearby wireless networks.
Could you take another screenshot similar to the one before showing the installed driver for your adapter?

Do you also have access to another wireless adapter (a USB one)? I would recommend a Nano n150 from Maplin Electronics, but I think that would count as being bias. Shhh!

 

[oxymoron02]

Just one other thing I want you to try. In the steps I mentioned before to Enable the adapter; disable it once, reboot, and reenable it if you haven't tried that already.

 

[oxymoron02]

And one moooooore thing to screencap; again in the Network Connections screen (where you go to enable or disable the adapter), right-click the adapter and hit up Properties for me.

While you're at that, in the Start menu go to Run and type in msconfig. You may have to press Allow or OK on a dialogue box after this, but the window which pops up will have some information for me in the 'Services' tab, if you could switch to that and arrange by reverse alphabetical order so that I can see all entries to do with 'Wireless'.

 

[alphanumeric]

I happen to have an Acer Aspire 5920 that is now running Windows 7 Ultimate. it originally shipped with Windows Vista. As far as I know you don't need the launch manger to get the Wifi button to work. Under Windows 7 the Launch manager only uses the blue E key, the key with the planet on it and the envelope key. My WIFI adapter is an Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG and the driver I used I downloaded from Intel. The one I used was Wireless 14.2.0.10 Ds64, but I see a newer version on this page. Wireless 15.2.0.Ds64
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?ProductID=2259&DwnldID=21560&lang=eng&iid=dc_rss
If that link doesn't work just go to the Intel site and look for a driver for the Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG, if thats whats in your 5920.

 

[CluelessAcer]

So sorry for the late Reply Oxymoron and thank you AlphaNumeric for the adivce!
I happend to have woken up with my laptop gine and it came back today from a dads friend, and from what it sounds like it was a huge pain in the ass. I dont know exactly what he did, but i have windows 7 ultimate and the wireless is working, huzzah!

He said it was mostly perservirence, and even he didnt know what happened- he was tweeking around with it like we were trying to do and then he left it,got a cuppa tea and when he sat back down the wireless was back on- he said it baffled him.
We're working on getting a recovery disc from Acer which is alot cheaper than just buying vista again!

But still thank you all so much for the advice and trying i very much appreciate each bit of help!
~Aridan

 

[alphanumeric]

Thats to bad you are going back to Vista. I'm guessing your Windows 7 install may not be legit anyway. My biggest pain was getting those blue media keys on the right hand side working. Once I found out they were actually part of the touch pad it was just a matter of finding the correct driver. Even then it was a little tricky because the Acer supplied driver wouldn't install. I eventually found one that worked though. At least with the recovery disk set, everything should work when you are done.