HP Pavillion M9040n

About a year ago I purchased an HP Pavilion M9040n, otherwise known as an HP Pavilion Multimedia Computer.

It has been a great computer during the time I've had it. Vista Home Premium has been solid, it works great as a TV and DVR.

I have had some trouble getting the remote IR receiver to work properly. I have this computer in my kitchen, under the cabinet, so this would be nice, though it has not been a very high priority to figure out.

This computer get used by a 5 member family quite a bit. Like I said, it has worked great for us.

BUT, last week after an automatic software upgrade, the computer suddenly could not find the wireless network.

I tried restoring to a previous point and a variety of other fixes, but none worked.

Then I decided to contact HP tech support. My preferred method is via IM.

It took about 10 minutes for a technician to get with me, but we then got to work. I must say this was not a good experience. After about 20 minutes, the technician said it was probably the wireless usb device that went bad.

The big picture: no wireless device showing under hardware devices. Also, Add New Hardware never found the device.

Knowing I had never seen an external USB wireless network device on the computer, I asked if this was an internal device, to which the answer was yes.

A bit frustrated, I left it at that.

I've not seen an internal USB wireless adapter before, but I decided it was time to dive in.

Knowing a bit about computers, I knew what I wasn't looking for. This led me to a small device with what appeared to be an antennae wire running around the inside of the box. Guessing this must be the device, I unplugged it from the motherboard and cranked up the machine.

My theory here was to remove the card, start the computer so it knew the card wasn't there, then shut down the computer, plug it back in and hopefully the "new" hardware would be found.

Wonderfully enough this worked.

We are now back in service.

In case you are wondering, there is a part number for this internal USB wireless "card", but I wouldn't bother if it truly fails and just get an external USB wireless adapter.