Wifi won't turn on/scan

Hi

looked at the Service guide

can you check the BIOS Wifi settings....page50
and the Bios log it might point you in the right direction

kelper said:

Ubuntu has always had the wifi drivers when I have installed it. I have just booted from a USB and confirmed this on one laptop. Am now making a 32-bit bootable USB to test on two other laptops.

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It's a possibility that it's not a driver but the Wi-Fi card or even the router. IMHO, it would be easier to buy a USB Wi-Fi adapter and use it to see if the trouble is with the laptop or the router.

Not having any issues with any other devices connecting to the router. I don't see any other networks around me either. It doesn't scan at all.

Agent745098 said:

Not having any issues with any other devices connecting to the router. I don't see any other networks around me either. It doesn't scan at all.

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To me it sounds more and more like it's the Wi-Fi adapter.

Are you sure you didn't disconnect the antennas for the WiFi card by mistake and then forget to reconnect them?

I've recently faced the exact same problem originally posted. I gave my laptop to the service where they replaced termopaste. Wifi works from the adapter, but not from the wifi card.

The guy from the service told he called to some guy who works in Dell and they answered this is a problem with BIOS update, so once he disconnected processor from power, some BIOS settings got reset and this problem got revealed. He said we should wait for new BIOS update which should fix the problem. To be honest I have no idea if it's the truth or just an excuse.

Has anybody found a solution for this problem?

I am currently facing the exact same problem. Yesterday I replaced the thermal paste on my XPS 13 9310 (i7, 32GB) and after putting the device back together, the WiFi module (Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX500-DBS) doesn't seem to be detected. Like some of you said before, it is listed as {none} in the BIOS, but still very much present in Device Manager.

I tried running Ubuntu 23.04 from a USB stick, but no luck there; no WiFi device found. I'll try Ubuntu 20.04 next.

I also tried downgrading my BIOS from 3.15.0 to 3.14.0, but that did not seem to do anything.

The weird thing is, is that Bluetooth is working just fine; I'm currently using my BT mouse...

Also, the WiFi module cannot be replaced, since it is soldered to the motherboard. I have dis- and re-connected the 2 cables from the little chip (under the tiny metal cover with 1 screw) to no avail.

Specs:
XPS 13 9310
i7
32GB
Killer Wi-Fi AX500-DBS

EDIT:
I just tried Ubuntu 20.04 and the WiFi module was happily recognized and fully functional (did some google searches, youtube and speedtest, all perfect). After booting back to Windows 11, WiFi is sadly still not functional and now also Bluetooth doesn't work. I'm pretty happy that the WiFi module doesn't seem to be broken, but this situation is downright frustrating. The investigation continues...

EDIT 2:
Just tried a reset of the BIOS to Factory Defaults and rebooted to Windows 11. Still no WiFi, but Bluetooth is working again. Not sure if it was just the reboot or the Factory Defauls...

Same issue for me:
XPS13 9310, i7 32 gb, AX500-DBS
Bios: Wifi not recognized
Windows 10: recognized but cannot be turned
Ubuntu: works perfectly fine
Issue occur since update to Bios 3.16.

Clean windows (10 & 11) resulted in the same failure.
Also no success with bios reset.

Hope Dell will solve this soon, maybe through another Bios update.

ckb said:

Same issue for me:
XPS13 9310, i7 32 gb, AX500-DBS
Bios: Wifi not recognized
Windows 10: recognized but cannot be turned
Ubuntu: works perfectly fine
Issue occur since update to Bios 3.16.

Clean windows (10 & 11) resulted in the same failure.
Also no success with bios reset.

Hope Dell will solve this soon, maybe through another Bios update.

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Have you tried a wifi dongle? It's a fascinating conundrum and I will follow this thread with interest. Can you connect to your router via ethernet?

kelper said:

Have you tried a wifi dongle? It's a fascinating conundrum and I will follow this thread with interest. Can you connect to your router via ethernet?

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yes,
an external usb-wifi dongle works fine of course.

The strange thing is that using Linux also the internal card works fine as well.
It seems to be an Windows-only issue. I also tried diffrent driver versions (1.0.0.1274/1.0.0.1606/1.0.0.1769) without any success.

Can you start Windows in 'Safe Mode with Networking'? I wonder if there is a conflict with some program?

Unfortunately, no improvements. Anyway, the driver does not seem to load even though I started safe mode with network.

ckb said:

Unfortunately, no improvements. Anyway, the driver does not seem to load even though I started safe mode with network.

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Wi-Fi in safe mode doesn't work on a lot of computers. It depends on the motherboard. I once had a problem and needed to use Wi-Fi while in safe mode but I never got it to work. The router was too far away to use a ethernet cable. I even bought a USB Wi-Fi card that I was told would work but it didn't. If I remember correctly the Bios has to recognized the Wi-Fi card so the driver can be loaded.

Wifi does not work for me when I select 'safe mode with networking'. I get the message, 'You're connected using a virtual network adaptor that we can't test'.

But, if I boot into Macrium Reflect System Recovery, the wifi works perfectly. You could try this and use the file explorer in MR (Macrium PEExplorer)to see the details of the driver used.

Any update on this? The same just happened to me and I Have tried everything!

gtacchini said:

Any update on this? The same just happened to me and I Have tried everything!

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This is an old thread. You should start a new one. You will get more help that way.

I'd say: buy an active USB-C hub and use that when you're in the office. When you're on road you can use one USB-C port for charging, the other for networking. Shouldn't cost more than US$60 for both items. Issues like yours need to balance time and effort against cost: the time factor is already pretty massive, IMO anyway.
HTH,
--Ed--

PS: you might even want to consider a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 dock. This will give you power, plus added ports galore.

Show hidden devices in device manager. Uninstall ALL network adapters. Power off. Disconnect and reconnect wifi card antennas. Power on. See if windows recognizes it upon reboot after reconnecting antennas.

I'll try that

dacrone said:

Show hidden devices in device manager. Uninstall ALL network adapters. Power off. Disconnect and reconnect wifi card antennas. Power on. See if windows recognizes it upon reboot after reconnecting antennas.

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Ed Tittel said:

I'd say: buy an active USB-C hub and use that when you're in the office. When you're on road you can use one USB-C port for charging, the other for networking. Shouldn't cost more than US$60 for both items. Issues like yours need to balance time and effort against cost: the time factor is already pretty massive, IMO anyway.
HTH,
--Ed--

PS: you might even want to consider a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 dock. This will give you power, plus added ports galore.

Click to expand...

I'm doing that right now but at the same time it's a temporary solution, I can't go visit my clients with a wifi card attached.