Onboard network adapter suddenly missing

harenzo · 17 Mar 2012 at 17:47

Hi all,

I booted up my pc today and the BIOS reset to default settings. Now somehow the onboard (atheros l1e) network adapter is missing from the network connections. I've tried reinstalling latest drivers from the asus site and checking that onboard LAN was enabled in the BIOS.

In the device manager, the adapter reports windows cannot load drivers required for this device. I suspect it might be a hardware fault. My pc specs are in my sig.

Does anyone have suggestions I could try before I buy a pci network card replacement?

Thanks.

ChrisD. · 17 Mar 2012 at 17:52

Go to properties of the device, then delete the drivers in there, reboot and see if that helps.

harenzo · 17 Mar 2012 at 18:20

Hi milanochris,

Did that, now the adapter is not showing up at all in the device manager. There is no network tab.

ChrisD. · 17 Mar 2012 at 18:25

Reboot the computer, then install the drivers again.

Windows should find it I'd have thought.

harenzo · 17 Mar 2012 at 18:37

Windows does not detect the adapter automatically. I installed the driver manually, restarted pc but it still doesn't show up in device manager. Is there a way to see if the adapter itself is faulty?

ChrisD. · 17 Mar 2012 at 18:52

If it's definitely enabled in device manager, and Windows still doesn't see it, then try a Linux boot disc and see if Linux see's it at all. That'll eliminate a hardware or OS issue.

Kotu · 17 Mar 2012 at 21:37

i had this issue with a different motherboard, only fix i could find was to actually unplug the pc for a short while rather than just shutdown/restart.

harenzo · 18 Mar 2012 at 11:51

I'll give that a go.

Frosty81 · 18 Mar 2012 at 12:04

I have had exactly the same problem within the last month with a work computer.

The bios has lost its settings, so I set it all up again, but booting in to windows there was no on-board network card it had vanished, as you did I installed the drivers manually but to no avail.

In the end replacing the bios battery fixed it, I knew it was flat as that's why the computer had lost its time-date and bios settings, but I didn't expect it to cause the nic to disappear.

harenzo · 18 Mar 2012 at 12:37

Kotu said:
i had this issue with a different motherboard, only fix i could find was to actually unplug the pc for a short while rather than just shutdown/restart.

This actually seems to have worked

thanks (also to the others for their suggestions).