Notebooks & Netbooks

[PilotDave]

Status as of this morning: I loaded the Broadcom Wireless LAN driver - no impact on the mysterious Network Controller error. Also, pressing Fn-F3 does not turn on the wireless. According to the Acer Quickstart Guide this combination is supposed to bring up a screen that gives me options to turn on/off Wireless or Bluetooth. No screen comes up. Also, I don't see any wireless device listed under Device Manager. Would have thought that it would be listed and show up as having a problem if there's such a device. Should I try loading the Atheros or Realtek Wireless LAN driver? How about one of the Bluetooth drivers?

Thanks!

Dave

[Acer-Cory]

Dave,

Yes, I might suggest installing the other drivers. This unit shipped with one of them, unfortunately I don't have a way to tell you specifically which one is was.

Also you can go to:

Start -> Control Panel -> View Network status and tasks -> Change adapter settings

Here you should devides if they're installed and recognized by Windows.

[PilotDave]

Good morning, Cory.

Control Panel>Network and Internet>Change Adaptor Settings lists only "Local Area Connection" - this is the hardwired connection. No wireless conenctions are listed.

Would loading a different driver add a wireless connection or is there something else I need to do?

If I've already loaded a driver for Wireless LAN, do I have to unload it before loading another one?

Thanks!

Dave

[Acer-Cory]

It should...

So assuming that the wireless card is functional, the drivers are what help Windows recognize and interact with it.

[JackE]

Hi Dave:

If you want to uninstall the broadcom driver, just go to control panel. Click programs to uninstall. A list will come up showing the broadcom program. Click it and uninstall. That's it. Then install the Atheros drivers. Report back.

Jack E/NJ

PS Are you have fun yet?

[PilotDave]

Wahoo! It liked the Atheros Wireless LAN driver - once I loaded it and restarted the system, the wireless connection is now functioning. AND more good news: the mysterious "Net Controller" (listed under Other Devices in Device Manager) has now vanished and both LAN (wired and wireless) devices now are listed under Network Adaptors.

Cory and Jack - thanks a ton for all your help with this (lengthy) saga! It's great to be able to get this sort of help through this Forum. I'm going to try to give you both kudos........I surely have a lot of posts to pick from!

Jack - NOW I'm having fun.

Dave

[Acer-Cory]

Awesome Dave!

I'm glad you got everything working. Thanks for the kind words and if I can speak for Jack, I know it's appreciated when someone asking questions is willing to put in the work, be as patient as you've been and receive the suggestions and comments as well as you have. Your input/output is just as important as any suggestion we could provide in getting this solved and it makes it worth helping others.

[JackE]

Congrats, Dave. I think you're friend owes you at least a case of india ale! For this occasion, I recommend Sierra Nevada's Celebration as appropriate. Torpedo would be good too.

Jack E/NJ

[PilotDave]

Thanks, Cory. I realize that I failed to include finlux in my previous post - all three of you were very helpful.

Jack - I like your thinking!!

In the interests of not forcing other readers to slog through 8 pages of posts to see how we solved this, I tried to edit my original post to provide a quick summary of what we did. Unfortunately, the Forum didn't offer me an edit post option for the OP. So for those who DO make it to page 8, here's what did and didn't work. Keep in mind that this computer was badly infected with several viruses by the time my friend asked for help, and even after running malware and virus scans the computer seemed very unstable.

1. Running the built-in Acer eRecovery system hung repeatedly part-way through. Further, once running it "owned the screen" - anything else (e.g.: Task Manager) running was hidden "behind" eRecovery and thus could not be used.

2. Minimizing eRecovery required pressing the Fn-Alt-Home keys. This allowed access to and use of other programs.

3. A set of eRecovery CDs ordered from Acer gave the same results as in 1.

4. Another friend downloaded a version of Win 7 (64 bit) and made it a bootable DVD - this would then work with the Windows Key this machine.

5. Loading Win 7 from within Windows encountered an installation error - several times.

6. I made the DVD drive the primary boot source and then installed Win 7 successfully.

7. All the drivers except those for the LAN adaptors were loaded during (or as a result of) 6.

8. I downloaded the complete set of Latest Drivers from the Acer website; wired LAN was straightforward as there was only one choice (Atheros). Wireless offered three choices - had to try a couple of choices before finding the right one, Atheros in this case. The Atheros wireless lan driver load needed a restart before it took effect even though the install process didn't say so.

[JackE]

PilotDave>>>the Forum didn't offer me an edit post option>>>

Go to the upper right hand corner of your OP -- or any post for that matter --- click on the Option. And behold the option, Edit.

Thanks for the kind words Dave and Cory. A pleasure to work with you guys and Finlux

Jack E/NJ