Infuriating seasonal wi-fi problems... a Christmas mystery to be solved
December 23, 2014 1:12 AM Subscribe
I have an elderly Lenovo IdeaPad G770. It's due for retirement very soon but needs to last just a bit longer. It just came back from the menders for a broken hinge and is now claiming that 'No connections are available'. But...
... nothing should have changed. In the 'Network Connections' box, the Local Area Connection reads as Not Connected (Atheros AR8152/8158 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller), nor the Wireless Network Connection (Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter) say they are connected. Flicking the physical wi-fi switch does nothing, nor does various combinations of re-booting. Each device says it's 'working properly' but I can find no way of actually turning on the Wireless (I don't use a direct connection) so it finds our network (which is running perfectly and which I'm using to post this). We're running Windows 7. Is it possible a physical cable became detached when the case came apart to mend the hinge? Thank you and a happy Christmas.
... nothing should have changed. In the 'Network Connections' box, the Local Area Connection reads as Not Connected (Atheros AR8152/8158 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller), nor the Wireless Network Connection (Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter) say they are connected. Flicking the physical wi-fi switch does nothing, nor does various combinations of re-booting. Each device says it's 'working properly' but I can find no way of actually turning on the Wireless (I don't use a direct connection) so it finds our network (which is running perfectly and which I'm using to post this). We're running Windows 7. Is it possible a physical cable became detached when the case came apart to mend the hinge? Thank you and a happy Christmas.
Best answer: On preview, before you read ANY of the rest of my post download unetbootin, make a USB flash drive of ubuntu, and boot up ubuntu. It has drivers for any atheros card basically. If you do NOT get wifi or don't see any networks, keep reading. Otherwise try the stuff immediately below, before my quote of you.
If that DID work, then reboot in to windows, go in device manager, select the wifi card, and select "remove". Reboot, and let it reinstall the drivers. If it still doesn't work, download the newest drivers from the atheros site on a flash drive and install them.
Is it possible a physical cable became detached when the case came apart to mend the hinge?
Or damaged in some way when the hinge was repaired. Wifi cables in basically every non-apple laptop run through the hinge, up to antennas in the screen clamshell. they're really crappy, thin, delicate cables because they were never expected to take any torque or anything.
Not only do they pop off their connection on the wireless card somewhat easily depending on the machine, but the wires themselves and their solder connections to the actual antennas are very delicate. It may very well just be hosed.
The first thing i'd try is unscrew the door on the bottom of the laptop(the huge panel shown at the left), and look for the wifi card, which both in the appearance of the card and the antenna wires should look almost exactly like that. If one or both of the cables aren't snapped on, victory!. If they're obviously totally seated, i'd make sure they didn't looked yanked/kinked around the connectors and just assume they ate it somewhere up near the hinge.
After that, i'd order one of those mini wireless dongles, which you should really only pay $5 for. They're NOT great, but they do work. They just don't have amazing range.
If checking the physical connection, removing and reinstalling the device, and updating the drivers didn't help... recently having the hinge worked on is just too suspicious to not conclude it's hardware damage. I'd try everything else mentioned before i ordered the dongle though. Or hell, order it right now the instant you read this. It's basically 100% guaranteed to bypass the problem and get you back on the network, unless your lack of access is caused by malware/windows system file corruption(which is one of the things the ubuntu live USB is going to test for you, since it gives you an isolated/clean/brand new operating environment)
posted by emptythought at 1:53 AM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
If that DID work, then reboot in to windows, go in device manager, select the wifi card, and select "remove". Reboot, and let it reinstall the drivers. If it still doesn't work, download the newest drivers from the atheros site on a flash drive and install them.
Is it possible a physical cable became detached when the case came apart to mend the hinge?
Or damaged in some way when the hinge was repaired. Wifi cables in basically every non-apple laptop run through the hinge, up to antennas in the screen clamshell. they're really crappy, thin, delicate cables because they were never expected to take any torque or anything.
Not only do they pop off their connection on the wireless card somewhat easily depending on the machine, but the wires themselves and their solder connections to the actual antennas are very delicate. It may very well just be hosed.
The first thing i'd try is unscrew the door on the bottom of the laptop(the huge panel shown at the left), and look for the wifi card, which both in the appearance of the card and the antenna wires should look almost exactly like that. If one or both of the cables aren't snapped on, victory!. If they're obviously totally seated, i'd make sure they didn't looked yanked/kinked around the connectors and just assume they ate it somewhere up near the hinge.
After that, i'd order one of those mini wireless dongles, which you should really only pay $5 for. They're NOT great, but they do work. They just don't have amazing range.
If checking the physical connection, removing and reinstalling the device, and updating the drivers didn't help... recently having the hinge worked on is just too suspicious to not conclude it's hardware damage. I'd try everything else mentioned before i ordered the dongle though. Or hell, order it right now the instant you read this. It's basically 100% guaranteed to bypass the problem and get you back on the network, unless your lack of access is caused by malware/windows system file corruption(which is one of the things the ubuntu live USB is going to test for you, since it gives you an isolated/clean/brand new operating environment)
posted by emptythought at 1:53 AM on December 23, 2014 [3 favorites]
Best answer: The wifi antennas for that model are built into the lid. It's quite possible that whoever fixed your laptop forgot to reconnect the antenna cables, or damaged them in the process of fixing the hinge. It seems fairly simple to inspect the antenna connections, according to your hardware maintenance manual (page 41). Once you've removed the battery pack and the hdd/memory/mini-PCIe slot cover, it should be fairly obvious whether or not the cables are connected properly to the wifi card.
posted by strangecargo at 1:59 AM on December 23, 2014
posted by strangecargo at 1:59 AM on December 23, 2014
Similar problem happened with my wife's laptop (different make and model to yours) when it was serviced for an unrelated issue. I probably spent a full day of effort over several elapsed days trying various patches, drivers and general fiddling with no success. In the end I just bought a wireless USB as suggested above. Comparing the cost of both, I wish I'd just bought the wireless USB straightaway.
posted by crocomancer at 2:26 AM on December 23, 2014
posted by crocomancer at 2:26 AM on December 23, 2014
Response by poster: You are all brilliant and Christmas is saved. The little jumper cables had indeed become detached from the top of the card. It was a simple (albeit fiddly) job to reconnect them and hey presto, everything works once more. Thank you all!
posted by jonathanbell at 2:39 AM on December 23, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by jonathanbell at 2:39 AM on December 23, 2014 [4 favorites]
« Older Creative ideas for turning time into money | What should I learn next about computer networking... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
Or simply rough handling between the repair depot and you. Or something. (Not hardware-ist.)
I've got a 4yo lenovo with flakey wireless hardware, and if I weren't using a backup machine I'd consider getting a wireless usb widget to connect it to my network.
for example. CAD$10 dollars before shipping, and less of a headache than shipping your machine back to the menders. If your usb port still works under testing with an old mouse it should work for a new wireless adapter.
posted by sebastienbailard at 1:30 AM on December 23, 2014