Wi-Fi is disconnected and I can't correct the issue.

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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
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Hello,

I'm using an HP 15-r264dx running Windows 7.

My Wi-Fi is not working and shows up as disconnected in my notification area.

However, under control panel device manager, it appears to be enabled and shows no issues with its driver.

My Ethernet connection, though, is fine.

Any idea of how to solve this problem?

Also, I have no drivers installed for my PCI Data Acquisition and Signal Processing controller or SM Bus Controller.

I don't know if that's pertinent.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
522
3
81
bruceb said:
All the drivers HP has for that model are on this page (they only show win 7 64 bit, no 32 bit)

http://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-15-Notebook-PC-series/7486453/model/7791824

They have a diagnostics download as well, which you might try.
Did the WiFi ever work ? If it did, did it stop after changing something or a windows update ?
Did you try to reboot your modem / router ? ?
Click to expand...

Actually, now that I check more closely, the notification area and ipconfig/all both say that my Wi-Fi is enabled but disconnected.

So, the notification area and device manager are not in contradiction after all.

My Wi-Fi is, in fact, enabled, just not connected to anything.

In fact, my Wi-Fi is not picking up any signals from any routers anywhere.
 
bruceb

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
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Be sure you are trying to connect to the proper name (SSID) of your router and the computer WiFi has the correct type of encryption, password and is set to the same band that your WiFi router is sending on. Most are on 2.4Ghz .. some newer ones are at 5Ghz but not all WiFi cards can handle that yet.
Note: Just saw you are seeing any signals. I would install any missing drivers, reboot and then see how it is. Maybe the WiFi card went bad.
 
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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
522
3
81
bruceb said:
Be sure you are trying to connect to the proper name (SSID) of your router and the computer WiFi has the correct type of encryption, password and is set to the same band that your WiFi router is sending on. Most are on 2.4Ghz .. some newer ones are at 5Ghz but not all WiFi cards can handle that yet.
Note: Just saw you are seeing any signals. I would install any missing drivers, reboot and then see how it is. Maybe the WiFi card went bad.
Click to expand...

Doesn't Microsoft push missing drivers out to users in updates?
 
bruceb

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
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They do with Win 10 ... not sure about Win 7 ... and sometimes they push out the wrong driver and things go wacky.
 
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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
522
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81
OK, I fixed it.

I uninstalled the driver for the wifi, then went to your link to the HP driver page and downloaded the pertinent driver for my wifi unit (realtek is the manufacturer).

I installed it and everything is now working fine.

I wonder what happened.
 
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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
522
3
81
Obviously, the driver became corrupted somehow.

But where?

On the HD where it's permanently stored, or in RAM where it was brought after boot?

The problem first arose last night.

There have been a couple of restarts and hibernations between now and then but no full shut down/start up.

I wonder if maybe the RAM image of the driver became corrupted somehow.

Some quantum mechanical random bit flipping perhaps?
 
JackMDS

JackMDS

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 25, 1999
29,552
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In the Local Area Properties Menu click on Config. Last tab have the setting for Power saving. Uncheck the Save Power Box.

At time the Power Saving might destabilizes the Network card.




:cool:
 
bruceb

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
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Good idea, but he had to reinstall the driver for some odd reason.
 
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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
522
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81
Unfortunately, the problem never went away.

I've been super busy, so I couldn't post an update until now.

What happens is that after restart or cold start, the wifi remains disconnected the way it was in my original post.

I then have to reinstall the driver and replace the one already installed.

Everything remains fine until the next restart, cold start, or hibernation, and then the problem begins all over again.

But, something else is happening.

My anti-virus software, Panda Protection free version, continually catches a trojan right after restart or cold start.

The virus is always in the Windows/temp folder and takes on different names for each iteration.

Panda considers each iteration to be of type Trj/Agent.OMX and the names that the virus has taken on the past five iterations are:

g750.tmp.exe
g8F72.tmp.exe
gD328.tmp.exe
gD6BE.tmp.exe
gDFA8.tmp.exe

I don't know that much about malware, but I don't think that it's too difficult to engineer a virus that takes on different names each iteration.

As this keeps happening when I boot, I can only assume that the boot process is compromised.

That is, either my MBR, boot sector, or, God forbid, my firmware have been infected.

It would be too much of a coincidence for the two issues to be unrelated; they both started at the same time after all.

So, any advice, guys?

I have become too paranoid to use that HD, so I swapped it out for Win 8.1.

P.S.
I scanned the entire drive both when placed internally and externally as a USB peripheral and Panda finds no problems.

Also, I've posted something about this in a new thread in the security forum if you want to post there.

That might be a better place for this posting as now it appears to be a viral / security issue more than a network one.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
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Yu need to boot from a clean cd or something and clear out the virus first.
 
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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
522
3
81
sdifox said:
Yu need to boot from a clean cd or something and clear out the virus first.
Click to expand...

Well, I already scanned twice, once with the HD installed internally, and the other externally as a peripheral USB device.

What else should I do?

Where do you think the virus is?

How do I scan the MBR and boot sector specifically?

How do I scan my firmware?
 
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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
522
3
81
sdifox said:
Key is to boot from a known clean boot disk.
Click to expand...

Yes, well, I pulled the infected drive out and have placed an entirely different HD in.

That new HD is clean and I've been treating the infected one as an external USB device.

Are you saying that I should keep the infected HD internal and boot from USB or optical?

But, isn't that the same thing as what I'm doing?

In both cases, the infected HD is treated as en external drive, yes?

bruceb said:
To clear out a virus, you need to boot into Safe Mode .. Then run a program called Malwarebytes (free version) and see what it finds. You can get it here: https://www.malwarebytes.com
Click to expand...

So, just safe mode?

Not safe mode with networking?

Is Malwarebytes better than Panda protection?

What if Malwarebytes doesn't find anything?

If this virus is new, then anti-malware vendors won't know about it and it won't be in any database that Malwarebytes references.

What then?
 
bruceb

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
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You should not need networking. Malwarebytes can be run just to try and clear the infection. It need not be running all the time, unless that is what you like. As to which AV is best, that is a matter of choice. Personally I run Avast Free and it is doing a good job. I also run and update weekly SpybotSD & Spyware Blaster. They both immunize the system against bad things. The also do not need to be running all the time. And if Malwarebytes does not find anything, then can you do a System Restore or replace a Backup Image from when it was working correctly ?
 
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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
522
3
81
bruceb said:
You should not need networking. Malwarebytes can be run just to try and clear the infection. It need not be running all the time, unless that is what you like. As to which AV is best, that is a matter of choice. Personally I run Avast Free and it is doing a good job. I also run and update weekly SpybotSD & Spyware Blaster. They both immunize the system against bad things. The also do not need to be running all the time. And if Malwarebytes does not find anything, then can you do a System Restore or replace a Backup Image from when it was working correctly ?
Click to expand...

I disabled the volume shadow copy service and deleted any saved backup images some time ago.

I think I may have screwed with the partitions and deleted system restore partition, so I can't reinstall from the HD itself.

But, I do have a Win 7 .iso and installation software on a bootable USB, so I can reinstall that way I guess.

Also, why can't I have malwarebytes just scan my infected HD externally through a USB cable?

Why does the infected HD have to be internally installed?

I downloaded malwarebytes and installed it on a clean HD and am scanning my infected HD treating it as an external drive.

Why won't that work?
 
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chrstrbrts

Senior member
Aug 12, 2014
522
3
81
Also, the first thing that malwarebytes did upon running for the first time was to check for database updates.

So, if I were to place my infected HD back into my machine and start in safe mode and install malwarebytes on my infected HD, I would need to enable networking apparently to allow the program to access the fresh databases on remote servers.
 
bruceb

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
8,874
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106
You should be able to run Malwarebytes from a USB or CD drive. I do know it cleared up a problem for me on a coworker's laptop after he clicked on something he should not have and it locked up everything. Safe mode found it and it was fixed.
 
bruceb

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
8,874
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No difference, you should be able to tell it where to do it's scan.
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
100,259
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Problem with booting from a hdd is that hdd can also become infected. That is why I use a cd boot, not even usb boot.
 
Iron Woode

Iron Woode

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 10, 1999
31,295
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run malwarebytes with your infected drive attached via USB.

at the top click Scan

click Custom Scan

click Configure Scan

choose the drive to be scanned

click Scan Now

wait and see what it finds.
 
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