Can't enable wireless on Acer laptop

[stevew]

I recently updated the Atheros Wireless LAN driver on my Acer Aspire 5570Z notebook (Vista Home Premium).

Now, the "Turn Wireless On" button in Windows Mobility Center is grayed out and unavailable (the wireless button on the front of the notebook broke long ago and isn't an option).

Device Manager reports that the Atheros network adapter is working fine.

How can I re-enable the "Turn Wireless On" button?

[Alboguy]

Which OS are you using? And how did you update it: using a third party tool or via Windows Update? Try re-enabling it in the Network Connections menu in Control Panel, find the connection right click and then click Enable.

[stevew]

As indicated, I am using Vista Home Premium.
I updated the driver using a driver download from one of the many sites out there. When I noticed the problem I rolled back to the previous version using Device Manager.
I'll try your suggestion and report back.

[Alboguy]

Ah ok I didn't notice. If you haven't downloaded the driver form the official acer site you have probably downloaded the wrong one.

[Raymond]

Try installing this driver that is downloaded from Acer.
http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/Driver/Wireless%20LAN/Wireless%20LAN_Atheros_7.1.0.90_VistaX86.zip?acerid=633638854881114386&Step1=Notebook&Step2=Aspire&Step3=Aspire%205570Z&OS=V10&LC=en&BC=Acer&SC=AAP_6

[stevew]

Try re-enabling it in the Network Connections menu in Control Panel, find the connection right click and then click Enable.

Well, I tried, however in Network Connections it was already listed as enabled. The option available was Disable. I clicked it and then re-enabled but it didn't help. I am still unable to turn the adapter on.

Try installing this driver that is downloaded from Acer.
http://global-download.acer.com/GDFi...=Acer&SC=AAP_6

I've already gone to the Acer website and downloaded/installed the correct driver for my device. It didn't help. I assume that it's the same one that you're pointing to but it can't hurt to try it anyway.

Here's the result of the Atheros Diagnostic I ran last night:

Driver installation test

This test is to check the radio driver installation.

The radio's registry keys are OK.

Nic name. . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5007EG Wireless Network Adapter

Driver name . . . . . . . : ATHR

Driver path . . . . . . . : C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\athr.sys

Driver version. . . . . . : 7.1.0.90

Active Profile Name   . . : Not Found



The radio driver has been installed.



Card insertion test

This test is to check the card insertion.



The card has been inserted.



Card enable test

This test is to check if the radio/driver is enabled.



The card is not enabled

Enable the card.



Association test

This test is to check your client adapter's association to an access point.

Link Status . . . . . . . : Not Associated



Your client adapter is not associated to an access point.

Configure the radio card and set SSID and other properties.



Authentication test

This test is to check authentication.



Authentication test bypassed, because authentication is not in use.



Network test

This test is to check your network settings.



You have not configured your computer to use the client adapter.

Use the Network icon in the System Preferences application

to set the network configuration for your client adapter.

[Raymond]

I just found out that the "Turn wireless off" in Windows Mobility Center disables the wireless in a different way.
At first I thought it simply disable the device from device manager but I was wrong.
Let me unpack my test computer, connect and boot it up. Then I'll attempt to sniff and see what goes on when I click on that button.
I am hoping to find a way to force the device to turn on without going through Windows Mobility Center.

---------- Post added at 10:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:09 AM ----------

After a few tries, I managed to find the registry key that allows you to force turn on/off wireless network from Windows Mobility Center.

Before trying the fix, can you make a screenshot of your Windows Mobility Center?
If you don't know how to do that, you can press the PrtScreen button, open Wordpad or Microsoft Word, and press Ctrl+V.
Save the file and attach it here or to rapidshare.com

As for the fix, go to the following path at your registry.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0011
Look for the name RadioEnable and double click to edit.
Change the registry value to 0 and restart your computer.

"IF" there is no {4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}, on the left pane of the Registry Editor, click once on the Class and press Ctrl+F.
Find for radioenable and if you find it, set it to 0.

Remember to take the screenshot before performing the suggested fix.

[stevew]

Here's the screenshot you requested:

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/24744855@N07/5454132175/]
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/24744855@N07/5454132175/]Wireless Off by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/24744855@N07/]stevew, on Flickr


I tried doing as you suggested but it didn't work.
First off, there was no RadioEnable in the 0011 key or anywhere under the class key. So I created a new DWORD and named it RadioEnable with a value of 0. I rebooted and the wireless on button was still disabled.
I then noticed that the 0011 key was for WAN Miniport. So I deleted my registry entry and instead placed it in the 007 key which was for Atheros wireless adapter.
I rebooted again, but the button is still disabled.

[Raymond]

I noticed one more thing during testing. If I disable the Wireless using the hardware switch, the RadioEnable value will be ignored.
However the faulty switch shouldn't affect if the Wireless should be enabled/disabled because on my laptop, if I disable Wireless from the switch and reboot, it will be turned on again.
So the switch settings are not remembered.

What I can suggest as a final step is to try uninstalling the driver.
Then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
Export the Wireless Adapter to back it up (in your case it's 007), and delete the 007 key.
Restart and reinstall the latest driver downloaded from your Acer.
Also try looking if there is a duplicate key which also belongs to Atheros.
Probably you can even try exporting the whole {4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}, and upload it here/rapidshare for me to take a look.

[stevew]

Well, it's finally fixed!
Here's what happened.
I backed up the 007 key. Then I used ZSoft Uninstaller to uninstall both Atheros programs on my machine, Atheros Driver Installation Program and Atheros for Acer MyAllm Driver v7.1.0.90 Installation Program. I also did the post-uninstall and removed everything that ZSoft found.
That deleted the 007 key from the registry and removed the Atheros adapter from Device Manager.
I then rebooted, however during startuo the computer detected the adapter and automatically installed drivers for it. The version it installed was not the one available on the Acer website, but rather a l newer one which I had updated to at some point. When I opened Mobility Center the button was still disabled.
I then ran the Launch Manager program which I usually don't. Still the button was disabled.
Then I tried to use Device Manager to install a version of the drivers which I had backed up at some point in the past, but Device Manager said that "The best driver for your device is already installed" and stayed with the version it had installed during startup.
At That point the button started working again!
I'm including here a link to my old 007 wireless registry keys and to my new 007 wireless registry keys so you could see if there are any major differences.

Thanks Raymond for all your help!