I like to play around between Windows and Ubuntu Netbook Remix (Linux) on my Aspire One, and one thing that came to light was that when I was in Windows, the network connection would be intermittent, at best. I could connect, but then after a few minutes I couldn’t reach the internet: the network indicator still said I was connected to the wi-fi network, but that was it. I couldn’t get anywhere. The only solution was to disconnect and then reconnect from the network. That gets to be a bit of a pain ever five minutes or so!

Since the wireless connectivity when I was in Ubuntu seemed to be fine, that suggested that it was a Windows driver issue. The Acer One uses an Atheros 5700EG wi-fi card, which – if you do a bit of searching on the web – has a bit of a bad reputation for network dropouts like this. I don’t really want to try and replace the actual wi-fi adapter, which involves tearing the netbook apart, so I was hoping a driver update would fix the problem.

To do this is easy:

1. Click on Start
2. Right click on the icon for My Computer.
3. Select Properties
4. Click on the Hardware Manager tab
5. Click on the Device Manager button
6. Click on the plus sign next to Network adapters to expand the selection
7. Right click on the entry for the Atheros 5700EG Wireless Network Adapter
8. Select Update Driver
9. In the dialog window that pops up, make sure you have Install the software automatically checked
10. If you are offered the option, make sure you select the one that has Windows check on-line for driver udpates
11. It may take a few minutes (the installer has to download the driver from the Windows site – behind the scenes – and then install it), but the new driver should be installed, then just click Finish.

And that should be it! It’s been working fine on mine so far, and I hope this will help if you’re having similar issues.

Bookmark It