Problems getting wireless on an Acer Aspire 5610 to work

[jccrcomputers]

...

 

[red12049]

Just reinstalled Windows from scratch, everything works except probably the most vital part...the internal wireless adapter. Its running XP Pro SP3 and has an Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 ABG wireless card.

In Device Manager it says 'The device cannot start (Code 10)'.
The Intel PRO/set software says there are no supported wireless adapters installed, even though there are.

So I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling the driver and Intel software, no change.
I've tried:
Removing and reseating the wireless card, no change.
Updating the drivers from the 2005 version that Acer provide to the latest 2011 driver for this card from Intel's website, no change.
The wireless switch on the outside of the laptop is ON, and the wireless light is amber/orange.
The Acer ePower Management software is NOT disabling the WLAN, I've checked it.
There is no option in the BIOS for turning the WLAN on/off.

I've googled the issue and it seems quite widespread, but I didn't come across anything useful unfortunately.

So I'm stuck now...Anyone got any ideas? I would really appreciate it.

Is the wireless card any good?

Rick

 

[red12049]

I'm going to ask the customer if it worked before,
I dont have any way of testing it unfortunately.

If your customers are like mine, you probably wont get an accurate answer.

Further, I would posit that you would find that answer unprofessional, were it you having an item repaired by an "expert."

Rick

 

[Martyn]

You can get one of those Edimax USB adapters for under £10 if it is too expensive to replace it.

 

[red12049]

So what would you do, if you couldn't test it?
I'm leaning towards just recommending a replacement card, they're cheap enough to get.

Hmmm.... Are you sure it's an Intel card? Have you physically looked at the card to verify that? I did a quick Google to check prices, and found references to Intel and Broadcom. I also found prices ranging from USD 5.00 to USD 69.00 at different sites, used and new. Or, you could do as Martyn indicated: declare the card bad, and replace it with a USB wireless.

If you choose to do the last, I would also recommend physically removing the original card, to prevent it from making a liar out of you at a later date.

Rick

 

[Martyn]

The Edimax are good little cards, i've sold a few and people comeback for more I keep stock two of them. Routers get updated to wireless but clients still run old desktops.

 

[Martyn]

I called the customer and he's not bothered about the wireless anyway, I should have done that before spending so much time trying to fix it. But nevermind!

Do you use the Edimax with the long antenna? I ordered 3 of those to keep in stock, read lots of good stuff about them and intend to use them on old desktop machines that have no wireless.

I have got one but the small ones and they have worked for desktops. I bought them from Amazon for £8.99 but they have gone up to £10.99 with free postage.

 

[DCGPX]

Have you updated all the chipset drivers as well?

I've had many Acers personally and most problems are solved by making sure the chipsets are ok using Acer drivers, not any that come with XP.

Even if Device Manager says its happy I always install Acer Chipset Drivers.

Worth a try.