No Network Adapters Recognized

I bought the Toshiba Satellite S955-xxxx that came with win8.
I put in a new Hdd and loaded win7 ultimate. now it can't find any network ADAPTERS. I tried to load a driver from win8 but,since there is no adapter, it didn't work.
I'm convinced the problem lies in Win7 as Win8 finds them just fine.

Thanks, G

I FOUND THE STUPIDITY!(me AND Toshiba) I loaded drivers and, like magic, it started working!!

What does Windows 8 say the network devices are? Use that info to search for a Windows 7 or Vista driver.

Hello gerald0 Welcome to the Seven Forums!

One of the first things to do with any new pc laptop or desktop even tablet that comes with 8 preinstalled is to check the support site to see if 7 drivers are available showing 7 is supported for a particular model before replacing 8 with 7. Fortunately a fast check at the Toshiba support site reveals the drivers and utilities are available for both the 32bit and 64bit 7.

For the Wi-Fi driver your laptop needs to use you would download the "Intel Wireless LAN Driver Posted Date: 2013-10-01 | Version: 16.1.0.14.0.s64_wCAT | Size: 18.83M" found on the support page after clicking on the Windows 7 64bit filter to arrive at Drivers & Software Support | Toshiba

You'll notice as you scroll down you may have to hit the "more" button at the bottom of the list of updates a few times to see the entire list. Note some are older versions of the same with each showing a release date. Once at the Toshiba stie you can type in the model number or serial number from the sticker on the laptop itself and then click on the "Drivers and Software" option in the bold red block found on the upper right corner of each page to arrive at the list for that model series. The column on the left side is used to filter things including the OS.

Plug in by ethernet cable, enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3), look in System Tray to see if it loads the Ethernet LAN driver which the installer provides about 70% of the time. If so continue to install all rounds of Important and Optional Windows Updates to get more drivers and important patches.

If not go to the Toshiba Support Downloads webpage for your model PC to import the LAN drivers for Win7, install and connect to Network.

If none enter Device Manager to see if it's identified the hardware under Network Drivers. If so and it gives the make/model of device you can import it from maker's Support Downloads webpage, or google for a Win7 drivers.

Finally if nothing else works you can trace it using Device Manager - Finding Unknown Devices - Windows 7 Help Forums or Hardware Identification.

I've never seen a network driver not be found for Win7 or Win8 which also works on either of those OS's.

I went directly to the Toshiba site to look the model number the OP posted in order to find out if it saw 7 drivers to begin with since gerald0 already replaced the preinstalled 8 with the 64bit 7 install. That's where to look for Wi-Fi drivers going by the specifications.

I service enough Toshiba laptops lately including someone now wanting to see 7 put back on an Al-In-One Toshiba desktop that came with 7 until the owner bought an 8 upgrade disk and now wants 7 back on. Another laptop that came with 8 also offers 7 support as learned by looking it up.

Since the OP replaced 8 with 7 the need for 7 drivers is the one answer to get it back online again. In most cases 7 drivers have been found to work on 8 but not vice versa is what greg is trying to point out there. That would like trying to run 7 drivers on XP. Newer usually doesn't work on the older.

The thing is greg if he is unable to get online with the laptop since the 7 install he will need to look up the correct adapter driver and download to transfer from another pc by flash drive over to it in order to get it on. Another thing mentioned was a new hub or modem. That may require a usb setup key of some type.

When adding a newer model N type router recently an app called "connect" was found to be required even by the main case let alone the remote desktop(usb Wi-Fi adapter there) and a few laptops. That is due to a built in firewall and software managed network setup. That's with a Cisco E2500 model however not knowing the type of set up gerald0 is working with there.

The way they have the support site is a bit different then it was several months when I had to clean up another Toshiba model. When you use the filter options in the left column the two items to click would be Windows 64bit for the OS you are running and then just above where the versions are listed the Wi-Fi item. That will narrow the entire list down to the following 7 items I can list here for you.

Intel Wireless LAN DriverPosted Date: 2013-10-15 | Version: 16.1.4.4.1.s64_wCAT | Size: 19.54M --
Intel ProsetPosted Date: 2013-10-15 | Version: 16.1.4.0.1.s64_wCAT | Size: 90.91M --
Intel ProsetPosted Date: 2013-10-01 | Version: 16.1.0.0.0.s64_wCAT | Size: 90.37M --
Intel Wireless LAN Driver Posted Date: 2013-10-01 | Version: 16.1.0.14.0.s64_wCAT | Size: 18.83M --
Intel Wireless LAN DriverPosted Date: 2013-09-17 | Version: 16.1.1.3.2.s64_wCAT | Size: 19.53M --
Atheros Wireless Lan DriverPosted Date: 2013-09-17 | Version: 10.0.0.247.0.s3264_wCAT | Size: 34.38M --
Intel Proset Posted Date: 2013-09-17 | Version: 16.1.1.0.2.s64_wCAT | Size: 90.9M

You'll notice right off that the Intel Wireless LAN driver is listed 3 times according to when that one driver set was updated noting the difference in release dates. The Intel Proset is also listed 3 times with the Atheros Wireless Lan Driver only seen once. To avoid any confusion the two at the top should be what will work for you there.

Now to get those on you will need to download them to another laptop, desktop and then copy them to a flash drive to manually transfer them over since you are unable to connect with the Toshiba itself. Hopefully the new hub supports the 64bit OS as it should. Years back dsl as well as cable modems lacked any 64bit drivers! You would then only need to select the home network that appears once the drivers are on to connect online again. You'll have to check what you find in the Network & Sharing Center if you don't see an immediate prompt for choosing Home, Work, or Public appear to choose the type of network.

I can imagine being out in the middle of desert would see a much higher cost for anything you want to get there!