No Airport Installed error in Macbook Air

[KABIRA16]

I have just bought a Macbook Air which is installed with Mac OS X Snow Leopard. I working on it last week when suddenly the laptop Shut itself down due to battery drainage. After connecting the laptop to the AC power source, it started but it started giving an unusual error. The Macbook Air is giving "No Airport Installed" error after restarting. However the bluetooth is working fine but the system is not able to use the Airport card. Does the Airport card needs to be replaced? Can anybody tell me if the Bluetooth chip is also there on the Airport card or Not? Please help.

[Tomaz]

Yes the Bluetooth chip is certainly on the AirPort card. Bluetooth chip and the Wireless chip both are situated on the Airport card. It is possible that the sudden power cut must have taken out the Wireless chip on the card. Was the wifi on when the laptop shut itself down? If yes then there is a high possibility that the Wifi chip on the Airport card has gone bad. If the power is cut while using any computer peripheral then there is a high chance of the device getting destroyed. This is because all the computer peripherals are based on CMOS logic which are very sensitive to voltage change. A sudden drop or increase in the voltage will cause the device to malfunction. Hence I think you will have to change the Airport card in order to get the wireless working.

[Theodot]

As the Bluetooth is working fine on your Macbook Air and still you are getting the error of Airport not installed, it is possible that this is due to some software failure. Check if the drivers which are installed for the Airport are working properly. To check if the drivers which are installed are working properly or not, Go to system preferences and then select Network. Inside Network, Select Airport and then check the version of the driver installed. Try to update the driver if possible and restart the computer. Check if the Airport works or not. You can also try to uninstall the drivers first and then install the drivers again. If this is software issue then reinstalling and updating the drivers will surely solve it.

[Barclay]

I think the sudden power cut may have corrupted some files of the Operating system and needs to be replaced. I suppose that you were using Wifi when the Laptop shut itself down. Whenever any networking device is used, the system files related to the networking are used. While using such files if the power is cut then the files get corrupted. If you have the install disk of Snow Leopard then you can use it to fix the operating system. You can also install the operating system in Install/Archive mode which will enable you to install a fresh copy of operating system while keeping the installed applications on the previous operating system intact.

[Lambard]

I would suggest you to do a PRAM reset as it will clear all the invalid entries in RAM. You have said that the system had shut itself down due to battery shortage which can be responsible for creation of Invalid entries in RAM. Clearing the RAM of the invalid entries will solve the problem i suppose. To perform a PRAM reset, Find the following Keys on the keyboard (Command, Option, R and P). Press and hold this keys while the computer is starting. Keep this keys pressing till three startup bongs are heard. Release the keys as soon as the 3rd Bong is heard. Let the system boot normally. Once the system is up, check if it gives the same error while trying to access wifi. PRAM reset will hopefully solve the problem.

[Simond]

If you can open the Macbook Air, then open and check if the Airport card is installed correctly or not. The Airport card is directly mounted on the logic board and is connected to it by using a connecting cable. If the connecting cable is not fixed properly then the Airport card does not get detected on the system. Check if the connecting cable is fixed properly. If the cable is fixed properly and still the Airport card is not getting detected then there is something wrong with the logic board of the Macbook and it needs to be replaced. If the Macbook Air is under warranty cover of apple then you can get the logic board replaced for free from an Authorized Apple Service Center.