WiFi Card Problem

Not long ago, I noticed that my router was no longer on its 5G connection,, but rather on Network 2, whatever that is. I was too busy to do anything abut that, which one day had fixed itself by reverting to the 5G connection. Today, the router was back on the very slow Network 2, so I delved into seeking some pertinent information.

I was on a chat with Dell, which finally turned me over to a live agent, with whom I did exchange some messages. Given the perversity of inanimate objects, while I was gathering some information for her the chat vanished. As it happened, and I don't recall why, I was able to contact her via email.

Moving ahead, I have reason to suspect that the WiFi driver needs to be deleted, and I know how to do that. Once I had come to that conclusion, I wanted to know if there might be any problems in so doing, and my search for comments about that stated that Windows 11 25H2 is known to have difficulties with this kind of operation. This assumes obviously that my judgement is correct. If not, then what I ought to do?

If I proceed and the driver fails to automatically reinstall, one of the 25H2 known complications. can I connect the modem to the computer with an ethernet cable to force a reinstall of the WiFi driver?

To answer your question, Wifi driver and ethernet driver are separate drivers and separate devices.
I would disable wireless adapter in device manager before connecting ethernet cable. If for some reason, your ethernet will not connect, just re-enable wifi and you're back where you started.

However, there are other steps in troubleshooting network issues than just a driver.
1. Powercycle your router. Restart PC.

2. Run network troubleshooter. Settings>System>troubleshoot>other troubleshooters>Network & Internet>-RUN

3. Reset network adapters Reset Network Adapters in Windows 11 Tutorial

4. Attached is @FreeBooter .bat file which resets network components. RIGHT click on the .bat file and select run as administrator.

5. Check for file system corruption. Open a command prompt as administrator and type
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart

Open a command prompt again as administrator and type
sfc /scannow
After system file checker completes, make note of whether it found and corrected any problems.

glasskuter said:

To answer your question, Wifi driver and ethernet driver are separate drivers and separate devices.
I would disable wireless adapter in device manager before connecting ethernet cable. If for some reason, your ethernet will not connect, just re-enable wifi and you're back where you started.

However, there are other steps in troubleshooting network issues than just a driver.
1. Powercycle your router. Restart PC.

2. Run network troubleshooter. Settings>System>troubleshoot>other troubleshooters>Network & Internet>-RUN

3. Reset network adapters Reset Network Adapters in Windows 11 Tutorial

4. Attached is @FreeBooter .bat file which resets network components. RIGHT click on the .bat file and select run as administrator.

5. Check for file system corruption. Open a command prompt as administrator and type
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart

Open a command prompt again as administrator and type
sfc /scannow
After system file checker completes, make note of whether it found and corrected any problems.

Click to expand...

First of all, and most important, thank you for taking the time to compile and post such an informative message.

I was unable to find the "Run as administrator" for the .bat, so skipped same and progressed to the Reset tutorial, which ran and I was on-line with 5G for less than a minute, as had been the case before the reset.

The other tests had already been done before doing the above.

A Dell support agent has also trying to help me; I have not read email today, so I expect to find a reply to the last message I sent to her yesterday afternoon.

I would like to install the new 6E-capable router that is still in the box, but I have no idea if it might install correctly given whatever it is in the computer that is still amiss.

Strictly as an aside, yesterday as I was composting my message, a green symbol appeared on the screen, so I clicked on it and was informed that my message needed some changes to its format; I assume that this was an AI imbecility on the grounds that, with my academic background which I shall not post here, is vastly more competent in the use of the English language than any computer program. The format being correct, i did not "correct" it. If it was not AI, then it must have been imaginary....

You should be able to right click on the .bat file and select 'run as administrator' from that. It won't do it's stuff unless you do run as administrator.

Not Myself said:

trictly as an aside, yesterday as I was composting my message, a green symbol appeared on the screen, so I clicked on it and was informed that my message needed some changes to its format; I assume that this was an AI imbecility on the grounds that, with my academic background which I shall not post here, is vastly more competent in the use of the English language than any computer program. The format being correct, i did not "correct" it. If it was not AI, then it must have been imaginary.

Click to expand...

If you are referring to when you were creating your forum post, it was not imaginary.
A change has been implemented to the forum. When creating a thread you have 2 options to choose, standard or guided. If you choose "guided" it is connected to AI and AI will rewrite your post for you. If you choose "standard" it is as it has always been.

thecaretaker said:

You should be able to right click on the .bat file and select 'run as administrator' from that. It won't do it's stuff unless you do run as administrator.

Click to expand...

I have clicked on the symbol , which opens a folder with the .bat inside, where I have been right-clicking on the .bat file off and on this morning, and have never been offered `run as administrator.; Why, I have no idea.

Instead of opening the .zip file in file explorer try Unzipping it.

glasskuter said:

Instead of opening the .zip file in file explorer try Unzipping it.

Click to expand...

Well. okay,, but um, er, that is , I don't open it in file explorer, I simply click on it and the file opens. Whee the files comes from, I have no idea, but I would be happy to Unzip it were I able to copy it or whatever.

glasskuter said:

Instead of opening the .zip file in file explorer try Unzipping it.

Click to expand...

I don;t open the zip file in file explorer. I click on it and it opens in a new folder. I just took a quick look at it and did not see a simple copy command, which may well be there. I can unzip the file if I can get to put into the unzipping program; how do I do that?

As I was reading m email that included this, as I expected, I also had a reply from the Dell agent telling me to remove the file in the Device Manager and then install the file that Dell uses for this type of problem. I have the previous email with the link that that program. I cannot decide which to try first.