Problem description:
The laptop cannot detect the internal wireless card. The wireless card used to work fine but now it disappeared from the device manager. It looks like there is no wireless card installed even though the card is installed.
Possible cause:
1. Poor connection between the wireless card and slot.
2. Software problem.
3. Wireless card failure.
4. Wireless slot failure.
Possible troubleshooting steps and repair solution:
Here are some troubleshooting steps in case if your laptop stopped detecting the wireless card:
1. Try reconnecting the wireless card. It’s possible that connectors on the wireless card or inside the slot got oxidized and the card doesn’t make good contact with the slot anymore. Reconnecting the wireless card might fix the problem.
2. Try reinstalling the operating system from scratch. It could be software related problem.
3. If reconnecting the card and reinstalling the operating system doesn’t help, most likely you have a faulty wireless card. Try replacing it with a new one.
4. If replacing the wireless card doesn’t help, most likely it’s faulty slot on the motherboard. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
Alternatively, you can use an external PCMCIA wireless card instead of internal card. You plug this card into the available PC slot in your laptop, install the driver and use it same way you used the internal wireless card.
