Acer Aspire ONE 10 S1002 - Wifi hardware disappears

My wife got a new S1002 tablet for christmas (Win10 preloaded); she used it for a few days with no issues but the wifi suddenly stopped working. She didn't install any updates, and it's not showing as a driver issue- the WLAN network adapter is simply missing entirely from Device Manager and appears to not even be recognized as existing. I sat online for 2 hours with Acer support trying everything we could think of (drivers, firmware, even a full factory reset) but support eventually gave up and said it required repair so I returned it and got a new one.

2 days later, and the same thing has happened to this one. Neither of these were dropped or wet or subject to any abuse- wifi just plain stopped working for no apparent reason. I suspect it's a hardware failure, but I'm surprised to find no other mentions online. Did I just have bad luck with two defective units, should I return it for #3 or is there more to this? Regardless, it's frustrating!

Accepted answers

superspsingh

I also encountered the same problem twice in my Acer s1002.

I tried restoring and resetting the tablet but nothing worked.

As this is a hardware problem so it can only be rectified with resetting them.

Hence, as a solution in spite of shutting down or restarting windows, I long press the power button till the tablet turned off and then restarted the tablet again.

It worked for me twice a time.

Hope next time if the same problem occurred, this might be helpful.

All comments

ASopp

Try MS techie Winston M's solution:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_devices/this-device-is-not-working-properly-because/6042dcf4-68a5-4f e2-878a-253d3c614c0b

You'll find the installation files in the OEM section, under \CaringCenter.. The OEM section is not visible by default.

PS This also works after the win 10 update Smiley Very Happy

sfehr

Thanks, Asopp. I tried that, but it still didn't work- all indications are that of a WLan hardware failure, but I'm surprised to find nobody else complaining online about it. So I took this one back to the store, and now have S1002 #3. I went into device manager and took screen shots this time so that I have a record of what used to be there in case the failure happens again.

superspsingh

I also encountered the same problem twice in my Acer s1002.

I tried restoring and resetting the tablet but nothing worked.

As this is a hardware problem so it can only be rectified with resetting them.

Hence, as a solution in spite of shutting down or restarting windows, I long press the power button till the tablet turned off and then restarted the tablet again.

It worked for me twice a time.

Hope next time if the same problem occurred, this might be helpful.

sfehr

Tablet #3 failed, same symptom. I'd disabled updates, taken screen shots of existing drivers, and basically everything I could do to inhibit a reoccurance, but it happened again. Hard reboot using the power button worked!! Thanks!!! I'm actually amazed it's such a simple workaround. Still a real pain that it's occuring, but if this is the worst foible of such a cheap tablet, I suppose my wife and I can live with it a hard reboot every few days. Kinda like Win95, huh?

Thanks, superspsingh!

pengrin

I had tried everything I could think of to get Wi-Fi back on my daughter's 2-in-1. I will admit I was skeptical of this fix, because of the simplicity, but it worked. Thank you for taking the time to post on here. I (and my daughter) really appreciate it!!

coreylpesq

I have the same problem. I reset the computer and that seems to be a temporary solution. I see the responses on here from the customers, but what has ACER said, if anything?

sfehr

Corey, I chatted with Acer tech support for 2 hours with no resolution; they didn't even suggest the "hold the power button down until it reboots" fix. If I find a more permanent solution, I'll post it. So far this thread is the only documentation I've seen anywhere regarding this problem, though, official or not.

padgett

What has worked for me before is a right click on the "Network" icon in the tray and select "troubleshoot problems" that wil start an analysis of you system and often fixes things.

superspsingh

I am writing, as I encountered the wifi hardware disappeared problem and got it fixed today itself.

I repeated the same procedure as per the solution I have posted in the month of January when I found a solution to this problem. It worked for me as it uses to do every time.

I hope this solution worked for all of you.

filmmaker1999

Hi,

I wanted to let everyone know I too have had this problem with the One. Picked one up for my wife back before Chistmas and was so fond of it I got myself one a few weeks later when a major retailer, Rest Ruy, had them priced about $120. It started having problems at random times when coming back awake after hibernating, unable to find a wifi connection, and when I went in to the settings it said it could not detect a wifi adapter at all. The first few times a "troubleshoot this problem" fix did the trick and away I went. Today that wouldn't even do it. I did the hard reboot as suggested and it took this time. Not sure of if its a hardware or a software failure (I did upgrade to Win10) but this is apparently an issue with the One. Hope it doesn't affect it long term!

Thanks for the fix!

dewebmeester

Same problem here and none of the mentioned solutions worked for me. The device manager does not find any network adapter. Tried to manually install the driver but even this did not solve the problem. The adapter is just not recognized as being installed. Reboot did not work. I even restored to factory settings (losing all installed programs) but no help. No adapter.....

hgmartin9

Try going to All Settings>Power & Sleep. Under Wi-Fi: tick box “On battery power, stay connected to Wi-Fi while asleep.

abouffard

My wife bought me one of these tablets last Christmas. It too worked for a few weeks and then in January it stopped seeing Wi-Fi networks. It just says "No WiFi networks found".

Reinstalling the drivers didn't help, a factory reset didn't help, a hard reboot hasn'y helped.

Any other solutions?

Thanks

dewebmeester

I found a solution a few days ago. I also tried the factory reset and the reinstall of windows. But finally got it working by going into the BIOS - there I could not change anything regarding WIFI but I tried the "default" settings and "saved and exit" and the WIFI was back. Hope this will help you too.

Kind regards,

Meindert

abouffard

Thanks.

How do you get into the BIOS?

jaderae

Thank you so much for this solution, superspsingh! I had restarted a couple times, but not a hard reboot, and I was not able to find any other solution. I followed your advice for a hard reboot and that seems to have solved it!

Its a shame there isnt a fix for this otherwise, but personally this is just a minor inconvenience as the acer is not primary computer. Still, I'm thankful for the advice!!!