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.
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I had a similar problem: I wound up needing to enable WLAN in the BIOS itself after my computer’s battery went completely dry.
Thank you so much! I had the exact same problem and nothing else worked!
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.
Unbelivable!! I have been looking for a solution for TWO WEEKS!! Thanks so much
Fantastic…Thank you so much! I worked on my daughter’s 900HD 2 hrs. trying to figure it out.
Thanks! So glad I found this. I thought my card was toast.
Thanks. Worked like a champ!
That solved my problem (Eee PC1005) too!!
Thanks
One more thank you…
Yes! One more thank you.
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.
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!
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
Basma: Hold down function (fn) and press F2.
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
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.
I’ve just spent 2 hours wondering why my wireless stopped working, then I found your post.
Thanks a heap!
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.