Dell laptop has suddenly lost WiFi!?!?!

StevieP

StevieP

StevieP

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So my son turned his laptop on only to find that it has all of a sudden lost it's WiFi capabilities!

I don't mean that it won't connect or there is a problem - it has literally lost all mention of it having WiFi built in!

I've tried looking in the BIOS and have even reinstalled Windows 11 but there is no mention of WiFi in device manager and when you click on the network and connectivity icon in the system tray it just gives me airplane mode and ethernet!?!?

Anyone have any thoughts or ideas??
 
StevieP said:
So my son turned his laptop on only to find that it has all of a sudden lost it's WiFi capabilities!

I don't mean that it won't connect or there is a problem - it has literally lost all mention of it having WiFi built in!

I've tried looking in the BIOS and have even reinstalled Windows 11 but there is no mention of WiFi in device manager and when you click on the network and connectivity icon in the system tray it just gives me airplane mode and ethernet!?!?

Anyone have any thoughts or ideas??
Click to expand...
This happens to my Dell work laptop sometimes. Comes back after a restart though. Is the WiFi an add on card that might need reseating?
 
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I've restarted loads of times and no joy - it's not an add-on card, it's always been built in!

I have a suspicion that the OS has recently "upgraded" to Windows 11 without my knowledge and it's the only thing I can think of that's changed!
 
Have a look for the wifi card drivers on the laptop manufacturers website and install the drivers in compatibility mode as win 8 or 10
 
Does Windows 11 have WIFI drivers?

Even if it does it may not have your drivers so you will have to source them from elsewhere.

Few fixes to try.

 
aaaaaaaand, now it's working! :confused:

Having restarted in excess of 20 times last night with no joy, I decide to have one last look this morning and the WiFi option is sitting there like an innocent child!
 
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