Network adapter has just disappeared!!!?!

[Sidge]

Can anyone help?

DD1 has an Acer netbook running Windows 7 Starter. Has worked fine up until this afternoon, when she lost all internet connectivity and some keys won't work.

When I look in Devices there is no network adapter listed and we have no software to reinstall it (the netbook came preloaded).

Does anyone know what I can do now?

I've seen someone's daughter's netbook have USB ports disabled, and the 3G Orange SIM couldn't be found (as the 3G modem was also disabled).

It's many months (and many miles) away but think it was an Acer.

Anyway, solution I found online was that some settings were enabled/ disabled in the BIOS, which needed user to press a function key before Windows boots.

Perhaps if you have the model number, someone will have seen similar prob...

If there's been a sudden failure of several keys plus random loss of hardware functions I'd be considering if there were linked to, say, an accidental spill of a drink onto the thing.

If so then turn it off immediately, take the battery out, and put the machine in the airing cupboard for a couple of days.

Thanks guys, I can't see any evidence of a spillage but will give that a go thanks Snorbs.

I had a look in BIOS when I booted with F2 but didn't see many options that could have been enabled or disabled thanks NetworkGuy, but admit I'm certainly no expert.

Will keep trying to sort it out - thanks for your help!

I would have thought that the netbook would have a recovery partition,meaning you can take it back to how it was when you took it out of the box,a factory restore.This would at least indicate if it is a software or hard drive fault.
I once saw a samsung laptop that had lost the cd drive but a factory restore soon had it back.

A thought,it may be worth doing. a system restore to before the problem occured,may not work but worth a try before doing a full restore.

Thanks Motion, I tried a system restore to earlier today but no joy. I've Googled solutions and tried Windows support but they all suggest downloading a driver but of course I can't get online so I can't do that! Strange as well how she's lost some keys but not others - she's lost b, c, p, x, caps lock and the down arrow.

If I do a full system restore will she lose everything on the netbook? (Not a disaster as I don't think she's got much of anything urgent on there)

Yes,she would lose everything on the netbook if she did a factory restore,you could transfer any music,pictures etc to usb stick,then transfer back after restore.The most annoying thing about a factory restore is all the windows updates have to be installed again and if it is a hardware problem it won't do any good but it is worth a try.

if it's any help my laptop has stopped working wirelessly....we swapped to sky and before that we were BT....the laptop sees the router, the router sees the laptop but they are just not friends so i have a fucking wire trailing all through the sitting room, the hall and the sho cupboard, out under the stairs and into the router!

sooooo these things can just happen!

Catsmamma - is the laptop running Windows 7 ?

Only ask because when I first got a Win 7 laptop in March 2010 there were some major problems getting it to work with the router (from PlusNet). I found the router was set to WPA/WPA2 and the laptop failed to connect.

I set the router to WPA or WPA2 and then the laptop was OK. As you have changed ISP and router, it might be something similar, so it depends on how easy it is to get into the router settings...