WiFi turns off upon physical stimulus

[berban]

Hey community,

I have an R400, model 7440DK5 that has served me very well over almost 3 years at this point. However over the last month or so it has been having a very peculiar problem: the wifi keeps turning off when the laptop receives some physical stimulus, for instance if I pick it up and move it to another table. The wifi doesn't return until I reboot the machine.
What is particularly puzzling about this is that the problem appears due to something physical, say jostling the laptop, but is resolved by restarting the system, which would suggest that it is a software/firmware issue.

My laptop is still under warranty so if no one can point me towards any ideas then I'll send it back. I was just wondering if this might be a common problem with a simple fix, although I searched the web and could not find much in the way of similar issues.

Some more details about the problem:

- When this happens it's as if the computer forgot it had a wifi adapter at all. All wifi related items disappear from device-manager and there is no longer an option to connect to a wireless network.

- The wifi light turns off

- Bluetooth remains functional as normal

- The laptop does not have to be on to be jostled; if it is asleep or in hibernation and I move it, it will likely resume without wifi.

- Sometimes restarting does not fix the problem. If this is the case usually what works is leaving it off (and stationary) for 5 or 10 minutes and when I turn it on again the wifi will be back on.

- Battery vs. charging seems to make no difference

Things I have tried:

- Updating the driver (tried both versions 13 and 14)

- Toggling the radios switch

- Not allowing the device to turn off to save power

Thanks all!

berban

[ColonelONeill]

If the wifi is working, and you toggle the switch, does it come back?

[tripplec · Accepted solution]

Could just be oxidation. Pulling the card and reseating it in the slot may be all it need. It happens over time in some connections and varies with metal used at the connections/connectors of the slot.

[TheDude]

pull the wifi card, run a pencil eraser over the contacts and re-seat it.  If that doesn't solve it, then send in for repair (or use a local repair option, which is what I like about Lenovo).

[berban]

Thanks to both of you guys who suggested removing the wifi adapter! I followed the instructions here http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-72544 and now it seems to be working without problems again.

[berban]

Hey, just wanted to update this thread with the outcome of my repair attempt. The first time I took out the adapter it worked well for about 3 days but then started acting up again, slowly at first but over the course of a couple days it was just as bad as it initially was. So I took it out again and this time snuggled some foam up against the adapter to try to keep it from moving around. This worked for about a month; unfortunately it has just recently been disconnecting again, only once or twice so far but I think the underlying problem has not been solved. Also my 'n' key just became fussy... therefore I guess I'll be sending the computer back anyway.

My only fear is that theyll do the same thing that I did (which did indeed fix it for a little while) and then send it back, only for the problem to return after a day or two

Anyway, thanks again for your help, guys

[tripplec]

I thought most of these mini PCI express cards have screw hole in one corner to prevent that.