Wifi Card On Laptop Not Recognized

Hi guys, my laptop wifi is not working.
The laptop is Asus F555LA-AH51 with Windows 8.1 with Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 wireless card.

It started by dropping off a couple times, but rebooting would fix it. Then it dropped off for a day, where rebooting didn't help. I took it to work, so that IT could look at it, cause I didn't have the time. They said nothing was wrong with it; when they turned it on, it was working fine.

Then a couple days ago, it stop working all together. Rebooting or waiting, or shutting off for a while didn't work. I figured it has to be either the drivers or the physical card so I went to Asus's site and downloaded the current drivers for the card and installed it. That still didn't work. It is not showing up in Device Manager or anything.

My next step... when time allows... is to open up the laptop and check if the antenna cables got loose. If not, then probably replace it.

In the meantime, is there any way to check if it physically failed or anything through the software?

Please Help.

PS
I also posted this thread in Software, because I'm not sure if it is a software or hardware failure.

 

Maybe you should do the uninstall/reinstall again, this time in the manner suggested here using the 'scan for hardware changes' option:
http://www.wikihow.com/Reinstall-Wireless-Drivers

There are more guides to this problem here:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/s/reinstall+atheros+wireless+adapter/

 

Thanks, but to reinstall the drivers, I would have to uninstall the old ones via Device Manager, and as I said above, the device isn't showing up in Device Manager.

 

Did you try this answer - to reinstall the adapter itself from the link I gave you earlier??
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/46544-43-reinstall-atheros-wireless-adapter

 

You should re-read the question. I said, the device is NOT showing up in the Device Manager. Also, Scan for hardware changes doesn't show anything. So right from the start, your solution has no value.

But thanks again anyway.
And please do not reply with the same solution again!

 

Thanks David, I totally forgot about trying Safe Mode!

No it does not show up in Network and Sharing. In fact under Airplane Mode, it says in red, "We couldn't find wireless devices on this PC."

But I highly doubt a virus, because I can use internet via the ethernet/cat5; and everything else works fine... so yeah, was now about to open her up and dive in!

 

If the title 'Network Adapter' does not appear (even if when opened it shows no device and it does NOT only list wifi adapters) you can still click 'Action' at the top title bar and choose 'scan for hardware changes'.
Of course, if there is no 'Network Adapters' item appearing in the list at all, then of course it wont work. But since I don't have access to an image of your Device Manager, and you didn't say that menu item didn't exist, I couldn't know. I read every post very carefully.

By the way, your system is listed as having BLUETOOTH, so 'Network Adapter' will show as an item in the DM. Meaning you can open it, then in the top bar menu click on 'Action' > Scan for hardware changes'.

But good luck anyway.

 

Thanks Max. But the Bluetooth is part of the same wifi card, and hence is also disappearing together with the wifi icon etc. and also not showing up in device manager.

 

Thanks David. I showed the hidden devices and saw the network card greyed out. So I was able to uninstall it and now reinstalling.

 

OK so you are saying that 'Network Adapters' simply never did show in the left-side menu of device manager, before you click on anythng?
And when you say 'bluetooth' was disappearing was that from the right side task bar notification area only, or from device manager as well?
So lots of information there that would have changed anyone's advice.

 

Since the wifi has been not showing up, so has the bluetooth.

 

So it was showing there all the time.
Opening it and then clicking on 'Action' at the top DM menu, then 'scan for hardware changes' would have shown what went wrong, and started resolving your problem, as clearly described in the link I posted yesterday.
Resolving it had nothing to do with the wifi card showing, it was whether 'Network Adapters' was showing in the first menu, as that is what enables a user to 'scan for hardware changes'. But I do appreciate that unless the process in that link is read carefully, it is easy to get confused.

 

It was showing up previously and Scan for hardware changes still does nothing.

 

Hi David, I booted to Safe Mode and nothing, so I opened her up and discovered that there was only one antenna wire... a black one. I know usually there are two, a black and a white. So I swapped the black wire to the Aux input where the white wire usually goes, booted up and discovered that now the OS was seeing the card and seeing wireless networks, however I couldn't connect to them. So I shut down and swapped it back, expecting nothing much, and now it works fine!

... go figure!
For a machine that is supposed to follow logic... it was totally illogical Mr. Spock!

Thanks Guys...
I think if it drops out again soon, I may have to buy a card.

 

Yes David, that is why I posted it. Hopefully it will help someone else.

Happy New Year to you too!
And to everyone else here!

 

Hi David

This link helped me with opening the shell. The rest was experience.

Here's a pic of my now working WiFi!

 

Just to clarify; the Safe mode I used was Safe mode with networking. And I also unseated and reseated the wifi card before swapping the first time.