I am using a USB TP-Link Wi-fi adapter on my Dell 380 with Windows 7 Ultimate. After bringing up my browser I noticed I could not get any web-site to load. When I checked the tool bar it indicated I had connection. I then got off my browser and saw that my tool bar indicator showed no connection. I then ran the Windows Trouble Shoot Tool which indicated I needed to plug in a Wi-Fi adapter. Assuming my adapter had gone bad, I brought up my control panel to uninstall the TP-Link adapter driver and install a different adapter. To my dismay, the TP-Link driver was totally gone from my list of programs. So, I re-installed the TP-Link drivers and all is working fine.
Does anyone know how a driver can automatically be deleted from a machine. I thought this was impossible.
To my dismay, the TP-Link driver was totally gone from my list of programs. So, I re-installed the TP-Link drivers and all is working fine.
I am glad you got it resolved but next time a piece of hardware suddenly disappears, before resorting to re-installing drivers, try a simple reboot first. That often solves everything. And if not, I recommend a "cold" reboot. By cold, I mean to shutdown Windows and your computer in the normal way, then unplug the power supply from the wall (or, if your PSU has one, flip the master power switch on the back of the PSU to Off (0)). Wait about 15 seconds then restore power and boot normally.
During boot, Windows looks for new hardware and installs the applicable drivers, if available. The idea is Windows would discover that adapter and re-install the drivers on its own. In your case, it is not likely the driver was erased from the boot drive. It is just more likely some hiccup caused Windows to temporarily lose track of it.
