Where's wi-fi on AAO 532h Netbook?

My year-old Acer Aspire One 532h Netbook has never been wireless online. I have always had it hooked up to different plug-in wired ports around the house. I was on vacation with it and could not find a connection at a free wi-fi stand-alone Mickey Dees. It says 'the adapter is not connected'. Here at home it says the same thing. How do I make this a wireless connection? What am I missing here? Thanks for all your good info on here!

 

Bump.

 

Check that the WiFi adapter is enabled : Fn + F3. This key combo will launch the WiFi part of the Dritek Launch Manager installed by default on an Acer Aspire One Windows netbook, which doesn't have a hardware button to enable/disable the WiFi card.

If WiFi is enabled, then you should just click the Wireless Network icon down in the right corner of the Taskbar. That should bring up a list of available networks, and by clicking on one of them, you will get the connection dialogue allowing you to enter WEP/WPA/WPA2 passwords etc.

DutchDK

 

If your running Win 7 go to

Start > Control Panel > Network & Sharing Centre

Select "Change adapter settings" in left-hand menu, highlight and right click "Wireless Network Connection", choose "Enable"

Right click again and choose connect, select your desired network.

 

Won't help, if the card is hardware disabled by default - The 532 doesn't have a hardware switch on the front like the D150/250/260 series to enable/disable the WiFi card. It has to be done by the Fn + F3 keyboard combo and the Dritek Launch Manager.

DutchDK

 

You can enable or disable any (wireless or wired) network adapter, be it internal or a USB external, from the "Change Adapter Settings" menu as long as the adapter is attached and has been installed (drivers).

Nowhere did I mention a "Hardware Switch"

 

Not on the 532 nor on the 753.

With the WiFi card enabled by the Fn-F3 combo you can see that the Adapter settings in Network & Sharing Center allows you to disable the card ("Deaktiver" in Danish).
http://peecee.dk/uploads/082011/753-cardenabled.png

With the WiFi card disabled by the Fn-F3 combo, you can now see that the Adapter settings in Network & Sharing Center doesn't give you an option to enable the card, just still the disable option, since Windows cant control the "hardware state" of the card.
http://peecee.dk/uploads/082011/753-carddisabled.png

The netbook, as stated, doesn't have a physical hardware switch for the WiFi, but the keyboard combo of Fn+F3 is actually hardwired to switch on/off pin 20 of the Mini-PCI-express slots in sequence. It's evident when you boot a linux distributon, where you then have to use successive presses of the Fn-F3 combo, to enable the WiFi/BT/3G modules, in the combination you want enabled.
The Acer Dritek Launch Manager on Windows hooks into that routine, and lets you control the status by software. If the Dritek Launch Manager isn't loaded, you wont have a graphical interface to show what the hardware status is. And as far as I recall, the status will be off by default (battery savings purpose).

So again, if the OP hasn't checked whether the card is hardware enabled, he can't use the information in your post to enable the WiFi connectivity.

DutchDK

 

Try this...

Disable the wireless adapter with your Fn+F3 then go to "Change Adapter Settings". Is the adapter still there ?.

Highlight it (left click once to select) and then right click it to give you the menu. Select enable. Does it enable ?.

This is controlled by Win 7 not Acer's preinstalled software (Bloatware)

What would you do if you had 3 wireless adapters hooked up to your netbook (1 internal and 2 USB). How would you select the specific adapter you wanted to use ?.

I regularly have 2 wireless adapters hooked up to mine. The internal and a high power USB external.

Yet another way to do it if you are running Win 7 Home Premium or above (not available in Starter) is...

Start > Control Panel > Windows Mobility Center > Turn Wireless Off or On. Pretty easy eh.

I'm not getting in a pissing contest with you, I'm just stating there are various methods of turning network adapters on or off.

I guess if you were using a different brand netbook without your fabled "Fn+F3 & Dritek Launch Manager" you'd be S.O.L.

Personally, for a quicker booting and faster machine you should uninstall all of Acer's pre-installed Bloatware except for eRecovery. It's all redundant and can done within Windows.

But of course if you want to remain the un-informed, don't take any suggestions and don't try other methods.

 

This netbook is a Windows 7 Starter. So far, it is just for fun surfing and I don't need to upgrade to Windows 7.

In 'Change Adapter Settings' it shows 3 choices. 1)The LAN connection(unplugged)-Atheros AR8132 PCI-E Fast Ethernet. 2)Wireless Network Connection(not connected)-Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport Adapter. 3) Wireless Network Connection 2(not connected)Atheros AR5B93 Wireless Network Adapter.

Fn + F3 = No Device. ??

At least I finally got the wireless icon in the lower right-hand corner. I never had that there before. And I can see the other connections around me and can get on some of them as 'connected' but will not bring up a webpage. Could not see the others before.

I will try it next time I am at the coffeeshop. Hopefully it works! Thanks for all your help!

BTW, Is it normal to have more than one Wireless Network Connection? Which one is better to use when I WiFi?

 

Here's a definition of the Virtual Adapter...

"It creates a virtual wireless card, making windows think that instead of one, you have two or more cards installed on your system. Keep in mind though, that the maximum bandwidth of your wireless card will be split when using this. It lets you connect to more then one wireless network at a time. For instance, an Ad-Hoc network and an Access Point at the same time. An access point and a wireless printer at the same time."

You only actually have one "hardware" wireless adapter, the Atheros AR5B93 Wireless Network Adapter. If this is disabled you have nothing in the way of wireless.

The LAN connection (Atheros AR8132 PCI-E Fast Ethernet) is your wired network adapter where you plug in your ethernet cable.

Sounds like you got your wireless card working now that you have the icon in the lower corner. Click the icon and you can see all the wireless networks within range. If you hover your cursor over a connection a popup will show you it's status. If it has security enable you'll need the key (password) to connect to it.

If there is a network without security enabled, it will show a cross on the strength meter, left click that network once and select connect and it should connect to that unprotected network.

**Caution** Do not send any sensitive data (credit card #'s) over a non-encrypted (security enabled) network connection. It can be picked up and used.

 

Thanks for all the good information on here! You guys ROCK!