Need Help With Lost Wireless Connection

[ramill04]

I have an HP Pavillion dv2000 series notebook...recently my notebook stopped receiving wireless connection...the light on the front of the machine that signals wireless connectivity stays on amber (which means not connected)...i have tried downloading all the updated drivers and such but nothing has worked...under device manager i don't even see a device that i think is my wireless card...can someone please offer me a starting place or advice on what i can possibly do??? thanks

 

[JohnWill]

Sounds like the card isn't being recognized. If there's no place to enable it in the BIOS, I'd check the seating of the wireless card.

Turn off the machine, remove the battery, and open the trapdoor on the bottom that hides the wireless mini-PCI card. Make sure the card is firmly seated in the socket, and try again.

 

[ramill04]

thanks john...i will try that and let you know if that solves my problem...

 

[ramill04]

ok, i took off the battery and there appears to be no trapdoor...i checked the spec manual on the HP website and the manual was so vague (with pics included) that i couldn't really make out where the card was...i also am unsure about taking the computer apart due to all the static electricity warnings...i don't have a static safe mat so is there anything or any surface in most homes that would be appropriate to work on, or does it even matter when dealing with the wireless card?? thanks again for any direction you can give me...i was fairly certain that your suggestion was the problem after a lot of reading, but i didnt want to start messing with the notebook unless i knew for sure...

 

[JohnWill]

Are you sure there's no trapdoor? There is usually at least one, for memory, and most have several.

Here's the DV2000 Series Maintenance and Service Guide.

Within that guide, the following illustration appears on page 5-20, that's where the wireless card is located. Trust me, the door is there, there's also one for the memory and for the hard disk.

 

[TerryNet]

The correct trapdoor should be the one closest to the wireless switch.

Don't shuffle your stocking feet on the carpet or pet the cat while performing this operation and you should be OK with static electricity.

 

[ramill04]

so i opened the trapdoor and the wireless card is definitely firmly seated...i now suspect that something might be going on with the actual switch, which is located on the front of the machine...any more advice would be helpful...thanks in advance

 

[JohnWill]

Make sure you "wiggle" the card in the socket slightly to insure good connections. If that doesn't do it, it may be the switch or the card could have failed.

HP has had a run of bad wireless cards, and they even have an extended warranty on some models for the issue. You may want to contact them about this issue.