# Acer Aspire 7745 loses Wifi connection



## KPS (Dec 11, 2010)

Hello, I've got an Acer Aspire 7745 and I am finding that it frequently drops the wifi connection. When I start up my laptop, it finds my wifi signal no problem and has no issues connecting to it. After a while (it doesn't seem to have any sort of typical timeframe to happen), it just stops connecting to the wifi signal even though it will recognize that it's available. If I try to connect to it again, it just says "unable to connect". 

When I try to troubleshoot, it goes through the process and eventually tries to reset the adapter. It disables it fine, but when it re-enables it, the computer freezes/locks up making force-restart it. If I don't do the troubleshooting method by try and disable the adapter and re-enable it, the same thing occurs. 

If I don't do any of that, once the wifi signal is dropped, if I restart the computer, things seem to connect again just fine (until the next time it drops it). 

I originally bought the laptop and found this problem, so I took it back to costco where I bought it, and got a new one thinking that it was just a defective particular laptop, but this one has the same issue has the previous one (same make/model). 

I don't have any similar issues with any other hardware that uses the wifi signal. 

I use windows 7 and there doesn't seem to be any sort of common "program" that I have running each time the signal loss happens.

Anybody have a similar problem or heard of this?


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Hello KPS and welcome to TSF,

First thing you should do is attempt to update your Wireless Network Adapter's driver.

You can do this by opening device manager and right clicking on the device and selecting "Update Driver".


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## KPS (Dec 11, 2010)

Thanks for the welcome and tip.

I've just tried that, and it seems that the driver is up to date.


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Hello again. Do you know what wireless adapter your Acer has?

Go into Device Manager to find out.... It will either be Atheros, Broadcom or Intel


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## KPS (Dec 11, 2010)

It's a Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Try changing the wireless channel of the router you are connecting to. It is possible there is interference from other electronic devices that, for some reason, is affecting the Broadcom Wireless Adapter more than the other devices that connect to the network.


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## Jay R. Yablon (Dec 14, 2010)

KPS said:


> Hello, I've got an Acer Aspire 7745 and I am finding that it frequently drops the wifi connection. When I start up my laptop, it finds my wifi signal no problem and has no issues connecting to it. After a while (it doesn't seem to have any sort of typical timeframe to happen), it just stops connecting to the wifi signal even though it will recognize that it's available. If I try to connect to it again, it just says "unable to connect".
> 
> When I try to troubleshoot, it goes through the process and eventually tries to reset the adapter. It disables it fine, but when it re-enables it, the computer freezes/locks up making force-restart it. If I don't do the troubleshooting method by try and disable the adapter and re-enable it, the same thing occurs.
> 
> ...


 
I had the same problem as you and updated the wireless network adapter driver for the Aspire 7745 from the ACER website from 5.60.350.6 to 5.60.48.35. What driver revision do you currently have for the adapter?


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Thank you for the input and the information Jay, it is much appreciated!


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## Jay R. Yablon (Dec 14, 2010)

I also made one other change I saw suggested on another forum. In the device manager, I unchecked (said no to) "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." That makes good sense because the wireless adapter is certainly cutting off, and there is a history of problems with windows systems getting locked up after something goes into hibernation.


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## Jay R. Yablon (Dec 14, 2010)

Jay R. Yablon said:


> I also made one other change I saw suggested on another forum. In the device manager, I unchecked (said no to) "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." That makes good sense because the wireless adapter is certainly cutting off, and there is a history of problems with windows systems getting locked up after something goes into hibernation.


 
Sorry to report I dropped the connection again about an hour ago. So the two changes I made (driver upgrade, remove the power off for the network adapter) did not solve the problem.


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## Jay R. Yablon (Dec 14, 2010)

KPS said:


> Hello, I've got an Acer Aspire 7745 and I am finding that it frequently drops the wifi connection. When I start up my laptop, it finds my wifi signal no problem and has no issues connecting to it. After a while (it doesn't seem to have any sort of typical timeframe to happen), it just stops connecting to the wifi signal even though it will recognize that it's available. If I try to connect to it again, it just says "unable to connect".
> 
> When I try to troubleshoot, it goes through the process and eventually tries to reset the adapter. It disables it fine, but when it re-enables it, the computer freezes/locks up making force-restart it. If I don't do the troubleshooting method by try and disable the adapter and re-enable it, the same thing occurs.
> 
> ...


 

As I mentioned earlier, I have the same problem. I just did an internet chat with ACER technical support. They wanted me to do a system recovery which is like killing a mosquito with a bazooka, and which would put me out of business for a week before I could get all my programs and files properly reinstalled. 

They insisted that I was the first to report this problem, which is one reason they gave for giving me the runaround. Have you reported this? If not, please do. They need to hear this from others. I was told if they heard from more than just me, they would escalate this through their whole technical support team.


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## KPS (Dec 11, 2010)

Unfortunately the 2 fixes that were suggested didn't do it for me either. I still have the same problem. 

Either the techie from Acer wasn't being truthful to you, or for whatever reason, my initial complaint to them didn't get recorded. I did send in something to acer with the first laptop, however I haven't done it since with this replacement one that I got. I will do so...


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## DaveInCampbell (Feb 26, 2011)

Hey KPS...

Did you ever solve you WiFi lockup problem? When I read your thread, you describe EXACTLY what I too am experiencing right now. It's frustrating to say the least. Can you let me know if you or anyone else has had success in solving this problem? I appreciate you input... thanks...

Dave


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## jamstar01 (Mar 11, 2011)

I am inquiring about a solution to this issue as well. I am having the exact same problem.


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## KPS (Dec 11, 2010)

Sorry everyone, I had forgotten to post when I did it as it ended up becoming a moot point. After I returned my first one to Costco because of the problem (hoping it was simply an issue with the particular laptop and not the model) and ended up seeing the same issue with the replacement, I took mine back to costco for a refund and didn't get a replacement. So I'm afraid I never had a solution that worked...


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Hello again KPS,

I am sorry it didn't work out for you, I assume you found a suitable replacement you are happy with?


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## KarlM144 (Apr 30, 2011)

I appreciate having this page as this is exactly the problem I've been having right down to having bought the computer at Costco. I have a Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter and just updated the wireless network adapter driver for the Aspire 7745 from the ACER website from 5.60.350.6 to 5.60.48.35. We'll see how it goes. Thank you for the help.


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## Gael9 (Jun 11, 2011)

Hi everybody

I had this same problem with my ACER 7745 bought at Costco...

I updated my Broadcom driver with this one:

5.100.82.63 from 17/03/11 that can be found at:

Broadcom drivers

So far no disconnection!

Hope this helps!

Gael


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## JenSun27 (Jun 22, 2011)

Mine does the same thing. I emailed support and they had me check all these updates. They were all updated with the current version of drivers and or settings. I then sent my unit to Acer for repair. I just got it back and within 15 minutes it dropped the internet connection. I looked at what they did. They downloaded all windows updates that included a wireless driver. They said they had no problems with internet connection for 3 hours. (The same thing I did). Anyways called back Acer and they want me to restore my hard drive. (Another thing is I just got the unit back from repair 3 weeks ago because the hard drive failed and they had to replace it.) Why would you need to restore a hard drive when it is brand new. I have been on the phone with them for over an hour and they want me to send it back again. Why so they can update it again and find no hardware problem. I think not. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. Apparently Acer has no clue and I am not losing another 2 weeks of work to have them do nothing. I have no faith in them and will never buy another Acer again and will tell everyone that! Please let me know if you were able to get yours fixed. Thanks


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## jopakolla (May 9, 2015)

Hello!

I have an Acer 5755g with W7 64bit, purchased about 4 years ago and working fine until now. Same wireless card though, and the exact same symptoms.

I have been struggling with the same problem for about a month now. I tried updating the drivers automatically and manually, performed two clean Windows installs (once to disable windows updates), physically disconnected and reconnected the wireless card connectors. Nothing changed, the disconnects have been getting more frequent.

Today i seem to have found a solution. From some forum, i found this site:
Station-Drivers - NEWS.
It is in French, but you can choose the English option. From there, i downloaded the latest Broadcomm wireless driver:
broadcom_wlan_7.12.39.12-11.
It did not have a card designation, just a generic Broadcomm wireless driver. When i installed it and restarted, the name of my wireless card in device manager changed from "Broadcomm 802.11n network adapter" to "2x2 11b/g/n Wireless LAN PCI Express Half Mini Card Adapter". Pretty weird, but the card still works. 
I googled the new card name, it is also manufactured by Broadcomm. The driver seems to be signed correctly.
The connection has been stable for 3 hours now; this is the longest in quite a while. I will update if it fails again.


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## jopakolla (May 9, 2015)

After about 5 hours, it failed again. Sorry for jumping the gun. I guess i have to start looking for a new laptop.


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## shootkiran (Dec 6, 2015)

I have the same problem but the workaround i've been using since a long time ago is as follows:


Open your command prompt
type ping google.com -t
and minimize your command prompt
This workaround has been working as for me. May be this helps.:smile:


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