Wireless connection gone from Network Connections, but still works. Sort of.

Hi! (And sorry for a looong post.)

So I just bought some new parts and put together a new computer. I got the Asus P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP @n edition motherboard. Once I'd got all the parts plugged in and checked that they seemed to work allright, I installed Windows XP Pro. Things went fine, I installed all necessary drivers, got the wifi up and running so I could connect to my AP and get on the internet and start downloading updates. Things went fine for about a week.

Tjat was when I opened the Network Connections (I forget why), and noticed that my two cabled (disabled) connections were there, but the wireless was just plain gone. Since I could still connect to the internet, and the ASUS WiFi-AP @n Utility told me I was connected at such and such channel and everything was fine, I didn't bother with it at the time. I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't see my TCP/IP settings, but thought I'd get back to it later.

A couple of days later I decided to install SP3. I'd waited it out a bit cause I'd read mixed reviews and wasn't sure if I really wanted it or not. But I thought what the heck, I can just uninstall it if it does something I don't want. So I downloaded and installed it. I booted up and everything seemed normal...except that I appeared to have lost my internet connection. I checked teh ASUS Utility and it said something about no device present. So I checked Network Connections, nope not there. I opened Device Manager, and...it wasn't there either. What the hell? Since the last thing I'd done was install SP3, I tried uninstalling it. That went fine, but the card was still missing. I tried everything I could think of. Uninstalling drivers, restarting, reinstalling...but there just was no device to install drivers for. At one of these restarts I suddenly noticed that the Express Gate startup screen that is supposed to show when I boot up/restart was gone, replaced by a black screen with grey letters at the bottom saying "Hit Del to enter bios, esc/f8 to boot OS".

At this point I thought my mobo was breaking down on me, so I went on my other PC and scoured the internet for info on what was going on. Finally I found someone who had had the same problem with Express Gate, and had fixed it by turning off PC and physically unplugging the power cord for a couple of minutes. I tried this as well, and when I turned the power back on the boot screen was back. I continued on into XP, and checked Device Manager. The card was back! So I installed the drivers, rebooted...and I was back on the internet! But Network Connections still had no wireless connection...

Now, pardon my rather long explanation, but this is where it gets interesting. Shortly after getting back on, the windows shield with white cross on red background popped up, telling me I didn't have a firewall turned on. I clicked the icon, clicked recommendations, and clicked "Enable Now". And got the following error: "We're sorry. The Security Center could not turn on Windows Firewall. To try turning on the firewall yourself, go to Windows Firewall in Control Panel. In the Windows Firewall dialog General tab, select On (recommended), and then click OK." So I did...but it was allready set to on. So I checked the Advanced tab, and under Network Connection Settings both Local Area Connection and Local Area Connection 2 (two built-in cabled nets, disabled) were ticked off, but of course the damn wireless was missing from the list, so it couldn't be ticked off to work with Windows Firewall.

Now, basically everything works, but it would seem I'm without a firewall. That just won't do. And I can't change any settings on my wireless net either. And short of reinstalling windows yet again (sic), I'm not sure where the heck I should begin. Anyone ever had anything like this happen/have any suggestions? :banghead

 

I would suggest to install Comodo firewall.But first,do a system restore to bring the icons back again.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Comodo_Personal_Firewall_d5033.html

 

I forgot to mention that I did run a system restore in the "reinstall drivers etc" phase. However I didn't choose the earliest point. I tried that now, but...my wireless connection is still not showing up in Network Connections. I installed the firewall though, so at least that bit has been taken care of.