Need help finding a Wifi driver

Draeger · 9 Sep 2012 at 21:43

For a Packard Bell MV35-202 laptop. Downloaded all the drivers from the Packard Bell site archive but I can't find the WLAN wireless driver. I'm pretty sure I had this problem before and eventually found it but can't recall for the life of me whereabouts. :confused:

Pretty sure there is onboard Wifi on the laptop ( its a friends ) as there is a Wifi symbol on the F1 key to be used in conjunction with the Fn key but all it does is beeps once when pressed. There's nothing showing up under Network Adapters in Device Manager.

Going bonkers trying to find this, please halp!!!

Draeger · 9 Sep 2012 at 21:50

Oh and forgot to say - OS is Win XP.

Draeger · 9 Sep 2012 at 22:28

Thanks for the link, can't get that to work though as it tells me to go to Device Manager and then right click on the hardware device I want to update with it. The problem is though that there isn't a wireless device listed in my Device Manager.

Draeger · 9 Sep 2012 at 23:00

Nothing unknown in the Device Manager, nope. All it has listed under Device Manager for Network Adapters is a Realtec RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC.

I've downloaded and installed all the following drivers from the archived PB website FTP :-

The Railink_RT73USB_10004 driver installed fine but doesn't seem to do anything, at least it doesn't show up any wireless functionality in the taskbar after the laptop is restarted once its installed. What is a USB wireless driver anyway?. The WLAN card is fitted to the motherboard so why would it need a USB driver to work?.

I R Confuzzled!!!. :confused:

bledd. said:
If its not showing up. Then typically the device is off. Look for a switch on the laptop to turn the wireless on

Any ideas how to go about that?. I've tried holding the Fn key and tapping F1 as the F1 key has a small antenna symbol on it which I assume means the Wifi?.

Draeger · 10 Sep 2012 at 10:06

I'll have a look, ta. There's very little info or support available on the web for this issue, looks like I'm not the only one that has had WLAN problems with this particular laptop. Trouble is, no one really seems to have a solution!!

Draeger · 10 Sep 2012 at 10:21

Nope, nothing in the BIOS settings related to WLAN.

Draeger · 10 Sep 2012 at 12:08

I had a look and it has indeed got a WLAN card fitted. Fn + F1 gives you a 'beep' and the Wifi light comes on at the bottom left of the laptop. But nothing else happens. I'm not sure if it's either knackered or it just doesn't have the correct drivers installed to give XP a kick up the backside and make it notice there's one in there.

Draeger · 10 Sep 2012 at 16:04

I'll give that a go but I'm still thinking I'm missing something as far as getting it to work goes, driver wise perhaps.

Draeger · 10 Sep 2012 at 19:55

Will do, when I had the rear cover off earlier to confirm a network WLAN card was indeed sat in there, the silver heatshield thing was half off already so getting the numbers shouldn't be an issue. I'll post them up and any other details I can see on it.

Draeger · 11 Sep 2012 at 09:01

bledd. said:
What do you mean the shield is half off?

When you remove the cover on the underside of the laptop and look at the WLAN card there is a silver foil/sponge backed type item which I assume is a sort of heatshield which looks to have been stuck down fully at some point in time but has now came away slightly from where it is attached. Upshot is it can now be gently moved aside to access the details on the WLAN card itself.