Wireless problem on my MSI Wind u230 Light

[ctcsoft]

So I bought a BRAND NEW MSI Wind u230 Light 12" Netbook from Office Depot
on 9/21/2010.

Already the crappy wifi card has crapped out on me.

In device manager it says the card is working fine but it doesn't detect any networks. Even if sitting right next to the router.

Other wifi devices are working fine.

I've uninstalled the card from device manager and did a reboot. It detected the card and installed but still not seeing the wireless networks. Mine or any other ones.

Now my problem is this Wifi adapter isn't easily accessible - I cannot find any documentation on where it is located even.

MSI warranty is good through 6/2011, but I didn't register my laptop within 30days of purchase. So I may be screwed out of my warranty now!! Even though I've owned the laptop less than 60days and have receipts and box!!

Any suggestions or has anyone dealt with MSI on warranty claims before??

 

[erikistired]

i had a dell doing the same thing. i reset the bios and it fixed the wifi problem (had to do a bios flash first). might be worth a try.

 

[corkyg]

My laptops automatically switch the wi-fi power OFF if not in use. Then I can turn it on with a combo keystroke - Fn+F5. Also, there is a tiny slide switch on the edge of the case. That has to be ON. You should see a tiny antenna i con in your keyboard control panel area.

Every OEM does this a little differently. Check your manual for Wi-Fi on and off.

 

[ctcsoft]

tried the keystroke fn+f10 - nothing working there

Also there is no slide button on the msi wind u230


So I might try to flash the bios and see if that will take care of it? Not even sure there is a BIOS update out for it though.

*** Further reading and google searches show other people having wifi problems on the msi wind u230 as well. ***

 

[erikistired]

tried the keystroke fn+f10 - nothing working there

Also there is no slide button on the msi wind u230


So I might try to flash the bios and see if that will take care of it? Not even sure there is a BIOS update out for it though.

*** Further reading and google searches show other people having wifi problems on the msi wind u230 as well. ***

the bios flash was a dell thing. i would simply go in and reset it to default, that is what actually fixed the problem. i mentioned the flash as an aside. sorry about that.

 

[corkyg]

Try Fn+F11 as well.

 

[maniac5999]

there's a light that shows if the wireless card is on or not, it's a bar with a bunch of circles around it (it doesn't look much like the standard wireless signal icon, I know) I think that it's something like the third one from the left in the row of lights on the bottom right. Make sure it's lit up when trying to connect, it likes to randomly default to 'off' once every few reboots of the laptop. I'll give you the actual Fn + FX key combo for it when I get home.

Also, why would you get one of those now? It was a great little laptop when it came out almost a year ago, but today you can get more powerful laptops with better battery life that are built with 45nm Athlon IIs

 

[PingSpike]

I have one of these, I recall there is actually a picture on the appropriate key to turn wifi on and off of what looks like a small sat dish shooting a beam and you have to hit it along with FN to turn wifi on and off. Although I suspect you've already tried that.

There are different power profiles as well that I think control whether certain options are on and off. Might be another place to look.