SOLVED: Unable to turn on wifi on Sony VAIO (model # SVS15117FDB)

I have this problem with a Sony SVE1511RFXB since I upgraded to Windows 10 a couple weeks ago. No matter what I've tried I can't get the wifi to turn on. I have Sony Smart Network utility to turn on and off the wifi (no physical switch on this device). And although I have it set to "on" still no wifi. Have replaced the wifi card - still no wifi. Have reinstalled windows 7 from the OEM Recovery Partition and then performed Windows 10 upgrade (again) all to no avail. This is clearly a conflict between Windows and the Sony built in Smart Network software/utility. Sony's out of the computer business and no longer offering support. Tried their community forums. No love there either. Tried contacting Microsoft tech support for windows 10 by phone - fugedaboudit. It'd be easier to make a luncheon appointment with God. So here I sit with my laptop and no wifi (and a very long ethernet cable running across my living room - which I tried to pass off as part of my shabby chic motif but not convincingly. Bummed and tired

@Mark DiRollo I ended up redownloading every utility I could find that involved Sony and Wifi, and one of them end up working. Couldn't tell you which one, I don't use that computer any more, but will try to update you when I come accross that computer. I found out the wifi card still worked because I ran a linux operating system on the laptop one day and the wifi was fine, so if you are willing to drop windows, that's an option, or at least you can do that to test the wifi card (boot off a USB key with some linux distro, don't wipe your hard drive). My other solution that worked for me was using the USB wifi adaptor/receiver, for some reason the machine would recognize a external USB wifi adaptor, which is only like $10-$15

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for the info and encouragement.

Believe it or not, I tried a USB wifi adapter and even that wouldn't work. I still couldn't turn on the wifi. I think it has something to do with Sony's Smart Network utility (which isn't so smart). According to what I've read and the images I've seen, when I open the network utility it should not only show an "on/off" slider but it should also be showing all my various types of connections - LAN, WAN, etc. Even though I can connect to the internet via an ethernet, the LAN designation doesn't even show up in the window for Sony Smart Network Utility. I've never had such a difficult time with a laptop. And I know the wifi was working because it was working when it was running windows 7. Ever since I installed Windows 10 that's when the problems started. But here's the really odd thing - I even tried to go back to Windows 7 by reinstalling all the original software using the OEM Recovery partition on the hard drive. (continued in next answer)...

@whitemoth Half way through the install I get an error message that says "The Atheros network driver couldn't not be installed completely. You will have to install it separately after set up". After all is set up I check device manager and sure enough there are 2 unknown devices for which no driver could be found or installed. I checked the hardware ID's on the web expecting to find Atheros drivers. Nope. Ralink drivers instead. Then when I install those drivers - the wifi still won't work. I am at my wits end with this thing. I'd try Linux but I know nothing about that O/S. This computer is a friend's spare.. She doesn't even want it back but I'd still like to get it updated to Windows 10 anyway. Whether I do an upgrade from 7 to 10 or do a fresh install - I cannot turn on the wifi. I even went so far as to buy a brand new wifi card and even though the Device Manager shows the card and the appropriate drivers - I still couldn't turn on the wifi. I think a bunch of sadists at Sony designed this thing.

@Mark DiRollo

I don't know the laptop but in some other makes sometimes there is an option to turn on/off the WLAN in BIOS in the Advanced Settings area. Perhaps check in there