Question Wireless light on my Toshiba Satellite C55 laptop will not turn off after cleaning cpu fan

[bd01ng]

Hi everyone,
A bit strange this one, but I've been searching all over and cannot find any solutions that work. I might have missed something, so hopefully I'll strike it lucky here.

Anyways, my good ol' Toshiba Satellite C55 with Windows 10 Pro was running a bit warm, and it has been a while since I gave the cpu fan and grille a good clean, so I goes through the routine of shutting her down, removing the battery and then commence unscrewing the case from the mainboard.

Once all the screws were finally removed and the hard drive taken out, I finally managed to get to the cpu heatsink and fan. I carefully clean the grille and the fins of the fan, as I have done a few times before, check to make sure all dust and any gunk is gone from the surrounding area, and then start to re-screw the case back together.

All screws finally inserted correctly and the battery replaced in the back, I reconnect all the cables to the laptop and turn it back on. No problems booting and everything seems to be working okay. Then I notice an orange led on the front of the laptop is on. There are 3 lights on this model. First is the AC connection, the second is the battery light and the last one is the wireless light.

This is the light that has been causing me a bit of a problem. I ALWAYS have the Flight Mode setting ON, with my wireless adapter DISABLED. Bluetooth is OFF but the adapter is not disabled. Now, usually when the orange light is on I press the Function key with F12. This turns Bluetooth on. After another press Bluetooth turns OFF and the orange light also turns OFF. Now it doesn't. Function and F12 turns Bluetooth ON and OFF, but nothing else.

After many combinations of enabling wifi, turning on Fight Mode, checking the power settings on the wifi adapter, updating drivers, nothing seems to work. The light stays ON!

Hopefully someone has had an issue like this and can help. Sorry for the long post. Link to the laptop model below.

https://ie.dynabook.com/discontinued-products/satellite-c55-a-1uc/

tl;dr After taking apart the laptop to clean the cpu fan, the Wireless signal LED is permanently ON.

 

[AlHuneke]

Did you follow good anti-static (ESD) procedures when you took it apart? If not, you may have damaged some electronics.

 

[bd01ng]

Yes, I did. I placed the laptop on a anti-static mat, and I have a wrist strap too. I made that mistake once before long ago with a very expensive pc upgrade

 

[bd01ng]

Bit of an update. I have a pretty safe assumption that Windows 10 is the issue. I decided to create a Linux boot disk and try a version of that to see if it was a hardware issue. I went for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Once the OS finally booted I thought I'd try the Fn F12 keys. After a few seconds, the light went OFF! I checked the Control Center and the WIFI and Bluetooth were disabled. I tried the key combo again and the light came on and both Bluetooth and Wifi were enabled.

So, thankfully I haven't damaged any hardware but I seemed to have confused Windows. No matter how many times and combos of Wifi and bluetooth on/off then try the Fn F12 option or click on the Flight Mode button, the light REFUSES to go out.

I don't know for sure if WIndows is actually shutting off all wireless communication, even though the icons say OFF.

Not sure what to do now. I don't really want to reinstall the OS, but I fear this is the only option left.