Wi-fi turns off when USB device is plugged in
I am having the problem that most times that I plug in a USB device, my wi-fi in the Asus Zenbook UX31E will turn off (not disconnect, but turn off with the red x over the wireless icon in the task bar), as per the diagram after step 7 in the diagram below:
Another thing to note, the light on the F2 button (which has the wireless icon) is still lit when the wireless deactivates. I am always careful to not press Fn and F2 when inserting the USB device.
I reactivate it through right clicking the wireless icon and performing the troubleshooting steps - most of the time, this is quick.
Other information that may be relevant to this question:
Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
Wireless adapter (internal): Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter
I have had the laptop for 2 years and have had no mishaps (drops etc).
I have checked the questions and answers to Wi-fi turns off randomly, Wi-Fi connection turns off all the time and Wi Fi keeps going on and off - but these do not address the problem I am having.
Solution 1:
As of this post, two people have posted some great possible solutions.
If those don't work, or you want to try something else first, try attaching only one very low power USB device into the port (such as a USB flash drive, but not a mechanical drive). See if your Wifi still works. If it does, that would indicate that it is a power issue, and that the power drain from your USB port is causing your Wifi adapter to fail. It's an easy-to-check possibility.
Solution 2:
The root cause of the problem is as follows! Believe you are currently running Windows 7 64-Bit system on an Asus Zenbook UX31E .
On the ASUS download page for the UX31E their is a list of Utilities that comes installed on your computer. One of these is called "Wireless Console 3" here is a link to the utility download to fix the issue:
http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/U32VM/Wireless_Console_3_Win7_64_Z3029.zip
Its pretty much a switch which I'm assuming is the "SW switch" that your diagnosis told me was off; that is just a graphical representation that shows up at the bottom of your screen telling you if your Blue Tooth and or LAN capabilities are enabled or not. You can access it by either holding the "FN" button and hitting F2 or turning your actual switch on or off located by your SD chip slot on the front left side of the UX31E .
So wrapping things up your Wireless Console 3 has some sort of glitch in it that tells you your LAN is off when you come out of sleep mode or when you start your computer but the graphical representation shows that its on. So all you need to do is UNINSTALL the Wireless Console 3 Utility and it seems to fix the issue.
From what I can tell you will still able to turn your wireless capabilities on and off, it just doesn't show a high resolution picture telling you what your settings are. (It shows a tower for LAN in the top left corner when you turn it on and off then disappears).
Hope this helps!
Martin