Inspiron 15 7537 - Wireless network unable to find adapter

Hi all,

Been fighting this for over a week now and really hoping someone can help out here.

My bluetooth adapter became corrupted last week (device manager said Windows shut it down - error Code 43).  I reinstalled the drivers - with the help of Dell tech support to make sure I was using the right ones - and now bluetooth works but my wifi adapter is unrecognizable.  No wifi networks appear in Connection Settings, etc.  For all purposes the wifi adapter simply doesn't exist.  LAN connections work fine.  Dell would like me to send the laptop in for repair (read: wipe n' write).  This seems extreme so hoping someone can help me with this.

Laptop is a Dell Inspiron 15 7537 running Windows 8.1 with a Intel 7260 B/G/N 2.4GHz+Bluethooth 4.0 wireless network card.  

Network card driver is version 17.0.1.5 (3/12/2014) from Intel.

Dell diagnostics says "the wireless device was not found...no network connection detected - connect to a wireless network to continue testing."

Using Intel PROSet/Wireless tools diagnostics it says "Wireless Hardware is not bound to transport driver"

Anyone have any suggestions why the adapter isn't recognized?

Thanks