Asus Eee PC Wireless Network Card Not Working?

by michael on March 29, 2009 · 52 comments

Earlier today, my son told me that the internet connection on his Asus Eee PC 1000HE wasn’t working. He’d been streaming a movie on Netflix when the connection “suddenly” dropped. I always dread having to troubleshoot Windows issues, especially when it comes to networking problems, but I waded in…


My first stop was the Network Settings. Unfortunately, it appeared as if the computer couldn’t see the wireless card. Next stop, the Device Manager. Here again, the network card was invisible. Unlikely as it seemed given that the computer is just under a month old, I started thinking that the wireless card had died. The good news was that we were still within Amazon’s 30 day return window. The bad news was that I’d have to re-configure the computer if we needed to swap it out.

Just as I was losing hope, I decided to IM a friend for help. He asked whether or not there was a switch on the side of the computer to turn the wireless card on/off. Being a Mac user, I had never heard of such a thing — in Mac OS X, the wireless card is controlled by a pulldown menu in the menubar. On top of that, the wireless card remains visible in the Apple System Profiler even when it’s turned off. Thus, I wasn’t holding out much hope that this would be the solution.

Unfortunately, there was no switch for toggling the network card. The question itself, however, made me curious enough to do something that I rarely ever do… I cracked open the User Manual. And guess what? I found the solution.

On the Asus Eee PC 1000HE, the wireless card can be toggled on/off by pressing Fn-F2. Apparently my son inadvertently hit that key combo (what are the odds?) thereby shutting down the wireless card. Something else that I learned was that, unlike the case with Macs, the wireless card on a Windows-based PC can’t be seen by the Device Manager when it’s turned off.

Topic(s): Technology & Gadgets
Keyword(s): asus, netbook, networking, troubleshooting, windows

{ 52 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Dan June 13, 2009 at 6:50 pm

I had a similar problem: I wound up needing to enable WLAN in the BIOS itself after my computer’s battery went completely dry.

2 Navin June 18, 2009 at 8:07 pm

Thank you so much! I had the exact same problem and nothing else worked!

3 Nitram June 21, 2009 at 8:58 pm

Yes, thanks for sharing your solution. My wife’s Eee did this, and being a Mac person too I was stumped by the weird Windows Networks settings etc.

4 Bruce Bernfeld December 11, 2009 at 12:07 pm

Unbelivable!! I have been looking for a solution for TWO WEEKS!! Thanks so much

5 DLWEST December 24, 2009 at 12:58 pm

Fantastic…Thank you so much! I worked on my daughter’s 900HD 2 hrs. trying to figure it out.

6 oUTIS December 27, 2009 at 3:00 am

Thanks! So glad I found this. I thought my card was toast.

7 John January 9, 2010 at 1:50 am

Thanks. Worked like a champ!

8 Matteo January 26, 2010 at 2:08 pm

That solved my problem (Eee PC1005) too!!

Thanks

9 Thx February 15, 2010 at 1:15 pm

One more thank you…

10 mak March 7, 2010 at 7:21 pm

Yes! One more thank you.

11 Mac March 25, 2010 at 8:02 pm

That did it! Such a simple solution. Mine randomly stopped working as well… And I know for a fact I haven’t pressed that combination. I tried it anyway, because I was desperate, and it worked. Perhaps something I did with my system recently made it happen. I do not know. I’m just glad this worked. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
Awkwardly easy to fix!

Thanks for sharing your experience.

12 Ant April 14, 2010 at 12:31 pm

Many, many thanks for the advice! My wife was ‘gifted’ her Eee without any manuals, so this was causing me a real headache. What an unorthodox way of doing things, ASUS!

Thanks again!

13 Basma April 15, 2010 at 8:20 am

Hi
I had my eee pc 1000 have the windows x re-installed but it seems the wireless card is not working well..I keep getting dropped out and its impossible to download anything …what did you say to do? fn f2 ? how is that done ? do I type “Fn” the prss the F2 key or what?? thanks

14 admin April 15, 2010 at 10:11 am

Basma: Hold down function (fn) and press F2.

15 Basma April 15, 2010 at 8:53 pm

HI
thanks for your reply ..in my case I noticed I kept getting dropped out of the net when I try and download or watch clips etc … then some virus corrupted my Windows XP and I took it to a computer shop and they installed Windows XP from their own disc (not the one that came with my EEE PC 1000..I dont have an external disc drive thats why I took it to them) … they said its the same … anyway, the net is connecting ok now but I still get d/c when I put demands on it (like try and download stuff) ..its only 14 months old so warranty has expired so why is this happening? could the wireless card be damaged or something?
the technician took it out and cleaned it and then when he put it back in it was able to display more networks in the area and not drop out when walking away from the modem so it does connect ok but it seems its not strong enough anymore for downloads?? any suggestions? thanks :)

16 Bob April 18, 2010 at 4:01 pm

My son was left to his on devices this afternoon. Autistic kid drawing on Tuxpaint.
Tried allsorts of fixes.
He must have pressed the Fn-F2 combination. Thank you for telling me the toggle.

17 Arthur April 21, 2010 at 11:45 pm

I’ve just spent 2 hours wondering why my wireless stopped working, then I found your post.

Thanks a heap!

18 greenfieldsun June 25, 2010 at 10:34 pm

I also have the connetion problem with my eeePC HE1000. When I click the link to open a new webpage, it can froze for several minutes and finally shows the connection failure information. Sometimes it also works out. Repair the wireless connection can reload the webpage. I am doubting the wireless adaptor has some problem in the model.

19 Sheila September 16, 2010 at 10:00 am

Thank you so much, i was freaking out and you saved me.Now i can get back to my assignment.

20 Julie September 28, 2010 at 9:18 pm

Thank you so much for posting this! I couldn’t figure out why within 15 minutes my internet stopped working! You rock :)

21 Tr November 12, 2010 at 4:39 pm

Thanks so much!!!

My kids must have bumped this key combination and I was totally baffled how to get this going again. I also, never read manuals.

22 Jeff November 21, 2010 at 10:08 pm

Thank you for the post! Fixed my computer when hope was low!

23 Jennifer November 25, 2010 at 8:20 pm

OMG! I spent all day trying to “fix” my Asus eee because I just lost internet. Luckily I saw this post and Fn F2 worked!!!!!!!!!!Unbeliveable. Thanks so much for this post!

24 Anne Patterson December 5, 2010 at 12:43 am

Thank you for this post. I had been researching for a couple hours before happening upon this article. Saved the day. Thank you very much!!

25 Jason Meltzer December 6, 2010 at 10:51 pm

THANK YOU! This was bothering me for weeks now – I had basically stopped using the netbook. :-)

26 kath January 23, 2011 at 6:55 pm

OMG i have just spent almost 3 hours trying to troubleshoot my wifi. trying to restore my system to an earlier time when i knew the internet worked. first thought the router died but it worked with the ethernet wire. anyway THANK YOU. damn cats….must have stepped on just the right combo the only night

27 Harry February 17, 2011 at 9:11 pm

Dude, YOU are DA MAN!!!

Rock on, baby!

28 Joe February 19, 2011 at 2:45 pm

It worked!.. Just when I was going to go find a new wireless system I found this page.. I have EEE PC.. and by pressing the FN and The F2 key the wireless network returned. Thank you for sharing that, it saved me alot of hassel, since the guy at the computer fix it store was baffled as well.. Aloha

29 Purhh March 1, 2011 at 7:41 pm

I NEED HELP* MY KEYS WENT OUT AND I NEED ANOTHER WAY TO FIX IT!! PLEASE TELL ME YOU GOT A SOLUTION

30 Marine60 March 11, 2011 at 9:55 pm

Just stumbled across your post. Two years down the track and still saving the day. I too was ready to go an buy more unneeded equipment. Thank you

31 Tony March 20, 2011 at 2:12 pm

Thank you sooooo much for this post! I found it using my HTC Desire HD as (for the second time!) My wireless had stopped working – last time it cost me $50 for a tech to ‘repair it’! Legend!!!

32 scott March 20, 2011 at 10:05 pm

I can’t thank you enough. My card went dead and I thought of looking for another card when I saw your Fn-F2 fix. I had just used a few days before the Alt-F2 (to input xkill for Unbuntu command) and wondered if I had hit that by mistake. Sure enough Fn-F2 and I have wireless. Thanks again.

33 gr8jeep April 6, 2011 at 3:50 pm

Awsome , fixed it for me , thank you very much !

34 Whit April 7, 2011 at 8:27 pm

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

35 greg April 13, 2011 at 2:20 am

Ha! I did not even know it was an option. more fool me. thanks for the post.

36 Dan April 24, 2011 at 7:54 pm

It’s kind of sad that people need a blog to figure this out. The F2 key has the wireless symbol on it in blue and its very obvious that the blue function key (also blue and the only other blue key on the keyboard aside from the F keys) activates the secondary FUNCTIONS of the f keys also known as the FUNCTION keys. People are retarded.

37 Jen June 4, 2011 at 11:50 am

Thanks you so much! My son must have done the same thing. Tried everything. Have a great weekend.

38 Arthur Dent June 26, 2011 at 4:41 pm

thank you so much, i thought my wife would come home and freak that I broke her laptop… lifesaver!!!

39 linda July 9, 2011 at 6:23 pm

Lifesaver!!! Thank you so much!!!

40 Jason July 21, 2011 at 9:07 pm

Thanks!!!!!!!! I was about to take this dang thing in to the shop.

41 Bnard July 27, 2011 at 12:09 pm

I just spent 45min at GeekSquad and he couldn’t figure it out, but he wanted to sell me a 1yr support package for about $200. I declined and decided to try my luck somemore and ran across your recommendation. Low and behold it worked. :-) Thanks a bunch!!!

42 Tony August 28, 2011 at 10:22 am

Thanks so much for posting this solution on the net. I just upgraded to a new version of Ubuntu and thought that was causing the loss of the wireless. Then I can across your posting and remembered that the wireless can be turned on or off.

43 Jeremy September 1, 2011 at 10:35 pm

This worked for me on Gigabyte T1028
Thank you so much :D
Yay! :D
This was making me think I needed to buy a new one.

44 BumpTheHump September 21, 2011 at 6:31 pm

Hello,
The solution seemed to help a lot of people, but I don’t have this luck. My network card won’t unfortunately find any wireless network. I asked the landowner to restart the modem, but if it doesn’t work… I’ll have to head where I bought it tomorow, oh joy, lucky I doesn’t work tomorrow. I’m glad to have the four years warranty. Any other options?

45 Art October 6, 2011 at 8:23 am

that didn’t work for me and we even took it back to where we bought it as it was still under warranty and they said they couldn’t do anything because it was internally. Now we don’t know what to do we have tried to do the fn-f2 and that don’t work. we have an Asus Eee Pc seashell edition? HELP can’t get wireless back on

46 Carol October 18, 2011 at 2:15 pm

Thank you so much, our daughter used the eee pc for a project last night and today no Internet, she had to use fn keys and your note made me realize I wonder if she hit f2 by accident, bingo…I wasted hours today trying to figure out how the connection could have vanished, I used the iPad to google the subject and found your note. You made my afternoon!

Thanks again :0)

47 Larry October 23, 2011 at 7:51 pm

I’ll be damned! Function-F2 and I’m back in business!

48 Devon November 14, 2011 at 7:53 pm

Thanks!! I had to enable WLAN in the BIOS..

49 Fitim November 18, 2011 at 4:07 pm

Thank you mike

50 Jonas November 26, 2011 at 7:28 pm

Had the same problem. Didnt work with the F2 button. It was non-responsive. Had to enter the Bios and reactivate the WLAN card there.

51 Steve Jobs December 29, 2011 at 5:51 pm

Have none of you ever used a laptop before?

52 zard January 22, 2012 at 8:37 am

Thannks, after almost two years of using this computer I guess I accidentally used this button combo. I already almost accepted the fact that from now I’d be hooked on by a wire again…. So thanks for posting this. Works fine again.

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