unable to turn on wifi radio antenna

I am running Windows 7 home premium. It’s a Toshiba laptop but almost all the components in it are made by Intel. Everything was great and all of a sudden I couldn’t connect wirelessly. It tells me the radio antenna is disconnected. But it won’t allow me to turn it on. I opened the laptop hoping the antenna wires were just loose but no such luck. While I had it open I also took out the wifi card and reseated it. Whenever I reboot I always receive the message that this pc supports wireless connectivity. All my drivers are up to date. And I can connect to the internet with a cable.

I’ve been told this is caused by a virus. I am smart-phone illiterate but have a doctorate degree from the University of Hard Knocks in computer science. I don’t download or click on any links I don’t know about – stay off of sites that are questionable and my anti-virus runs its scan daily.

HELP! I work online so it’s a real problem. I’ve run Malware, Antivirus and any other program I can think of to fix this. I can’t find anything online referring to a virus that would disable your wife. Thanks for any help you can give.

Kadie]

 

It could well be that the antenna has become disconnected from opening and closing the laptop. On my Dell laptop, the antenna connection sits in a recess along side of the right hinge. The antenna itself is behind the display panel. The antenna connection is two semi-circular parts that "snap" together — the one in the back goes to the antenna. The one in the front goes down to the system board connection.

There should be a hinge cover just above the keyboard that you can lift out with the laptop fully opened and laying flat. After you've removed the hinge cover, see if you can identify the antenna connection and make both parts are connected snugly.

If the connection is solid, on the other hand, it could be that the wi-fi card has failed and needs to be replaced.

 

Thanks for your attempt to help. Sadly the antenna is tightly connected. Toshiba has tried to tell me that it is a virus and will fix it for me over the phone for a ridiculous cost. And in researching the problem I can't find where there are any posts about a virus causing this

 

If malware (virus, trojan, rootkit, etc.) is suspected as being the cause of the problem, head over to the Malware Removal Forum and go through Read and Run Me First. Follow the directions and one of the volunteers there will be able to assist you in removing whatever may be found.