Cannot detect any wireless networks on my HP ENVY TouchSmart m7 j120dx

Question

Hello,
My laptop won't pick up any wireless networks at all - I'm having what seems like a few different problems:
1.  Because the laptop won't pick up any wireless networks, I can't of course connect to the internet without using my ethernet cable.
2.  When I try to turn my adapter on using the F12 key, all it does is toggle airplane mode - which isn't going to help me connect to the internet.
3.  When I go to 'Network' under PC Settings, I can toggle airplane mode but the bluetooth is greyed out and can't be toggled and it doesn't even give me an option to turn back on my wifi adapter.
4.  When I went into the Network and Sharing Center to enable the adapter that way under 'Change Adapter Settings', I couldn't even see the adapter listed there.  All it showed was Ethernet and Hamachi because I use LogMeIn Hamachi on my computer.
By this point, I was like "Oh, great - the adapter might somehow not even be there even though it was last night," (I was online wirelessly the night before) so I went into the device manager and then expanded Network Adapters I only saw the same two Ethernet and LogMeIn adapters.
5.  So next, I tried downloading the adapter - but the problem is, I have no idea what kind my laptop is supposed to have.  Going to the download drivers section in the support area of the hp website, I found many options and none of them seemed to work.  I also tried redownloading the Wireless Button Driver (whatever that's called) and that didn't work.
5.  I even tried doing a system restore to a point of about a week ago - this also did not solve my problem because the same things were happening and the same things I tried above still are not solving the problem either.
I know countless other people have had the same problem(s) mentioned above (simple Google search told me that) with their HP ENVY Notebook PCs, so I'm hoping that someone can help me and finally solve this problem for me.
The model  is HP ENVY TouchSmart m7 j120dx, the model number is E8A11UA#ABA, and my computer is running Windows 8.1 64-bit.
On another note, here's the names of the only 2 adapters that show up in my device manager list (one is for LogMeIn Hamachi);
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet)
LogMeIn Hamachi Virtual Ethernet Adapter (Hamachi)
The wireless was working fine before with Hamachi installed, so I doubt that has any significance.
If there's any other information you need that I did not mention above, feel free to ask me.  I look forward to someone replying as soon as possible and being able to find a solution to this problem for me!
EDIT: One other thing I should mention is that the wifi in my location is working fine for every other device I try (phone, gaming console, other people's laptops/desktops, etc.

Answer 1

Hello dginther,
Welcome to the HP Forums!
I understand wireless is not working properly. If the issue just began occurring, I would perform a system restore. I want you to bring the computer back to the earliest restore point possible, in an attempt to dodge whatever caused the issue. Here is a document on how to perform a System Restore: System Restore
Next, please try the steps in this HP document: Troubleshooting Your Wireless Network and Internet Connection (Windows 8)
These steps should be enough to resolve the issue. If not, you can try a manual reinstall of the driver:
1. Go into Device Manager, then Network adapters.
2. Right-click on the wireless driver, and select "Uninstall".
3. Restart the computer. This will force the driver to reinstall itself.
Please let me know the results of your troubleshooting. Thanks!
Mario
I worked on behalf of HP.