Intel AC 3168ngw pairs but won't connect

[rsuriano]

Hey, I'm posting here because I tried all sorts of things but nothing seems to work. I have an HP laptop that had a single band network card, so I bought an Intel 3618 so I could connect to 5GHz wifi networks.

The thing is after I changed the network card, the bluetooth stopped working. I tried to download all kinds of drivers and perform clean installs of the bluetooth drivers, as instructed by some other threads in this forum, but the farthest that I could go is to pair my headphones and my phone. I can't fully connect to any of them, only pair them (weird thing is that my headphones could only be paired via the old windows settings inside control panel, as the "Bluetooth & other devices" menu doesn't work at all to detect new devices.

Should I try reinstalling windows? It seems like it's the only thing left, but I really don't want to take all that effort if there's a simpler solution.

Thanks for reading.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello @rsuriano

Thank you for posting on the Intel️® communities.

In order to have a better understanding of your issue, please provide me with the following:

• Are you having issues with Wifi or is it only Bluetooth?
• When did it start to happen? Was it as soon as you changed the wireless adapter?
• Is the system able to pair with other devices besides your Phone and Headphones?
• What drivers have you tried installing?
• What OS version are you using?
• Did you confirm the compatibility between the wireless adapter and your laptop with HP? 
• What is the model of your laptop?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards, 

Jean O.  

Intel Customer Support Technician

[rsuriano]

Hello Jean! Sorry, I didn't have much time the past few days. Thanks for the answers. Here's my info:

• Are you having issues with Wifi or is it only Bluetooth?

Only bluetooth, wifi works really good.

• When did it start to happen? Was it as soon as you changed the wireless adapter?

Yes, it was immediately after installing the new adapter.

• Is the system able to pair with other devices besides your Phone and Headphones?

I don't have more Bluetooth devices, but I would say it can't connect to any of them. I can go further with the phone, but it's like it's just connected in name because I can't interact with my phone while it's connected.

• What drivers have you tried installing?

I updated the drivers in Device Manager, and tried these two:

-https://www.intel.la/content/www/xl/es/download/18649/intel-wireless-bluetooth-for-windows-10-and-windows-11.html

-Intel Wireless Bluetooth Version 20.100.9.6, as it said it was the right driver for my particular network card.

• What OS version are you using?

I'm on Windows 10 Pro 64 bits, version 21H2.

• Did you confirm the compatibility between the wireless adapter and your laptop with HP? 

I got the model from a HP Forum question about a similar laptop model. 

• What is the model of your laptop?

My laptop is an HP da0062LA.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello @rsuriano.

I hope you are doing fine.

Were you able to check the previous post?

Let us know if you still need assistance.

Best regards,

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello @rsuriano.

Thank you for your response; the information provided has been completely useful.

You must keep in mind that installing this Intel generic graphics driver will overwrite any customized driver from your Computer Manufacturer (OEM). OEM drivers are handpicked, customized, and validated to resolve platform-specific issues, enable features and enhancements, and improve system stability. Intel’s generic graphics drivers are intended for testing, and we recommend using drivers from HP. However, if you want to stick with the Intel Generic driver, I would like to recommend doing a clean installation of the driver, this helps us get rid of any possible corrupted files that may affect the well functioning of your device, the steps to perform the clean installation are the following:

Step 1: Download the latest Bluetooth Driver for Your Intel® Wireless Bluetooth.

(https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18649/intel-wireless-bluetooth-for-windows-10-and-windows-11.html)

Step 2: Uninstall the Bluetooth driver.

Note Windows* may have an inbox Wi-Fi driver that came preinstalled on your system. These types of drivers can't be uninstalled (you won't see the "Delete the driver software for this device" option). Proceed to the next step if you start seeing the same version of the driver installed automatically after performing the uninstall process.

• Expand the Network Adapters category.
• Right-click your Intel Bluetooth and choose to uninstall it.
• Make sure the option to delete the driver software for this device is selected.
• Repeat steps A through D until the option to Delete the driver software for this device is grayed out.
• Restart your computer.

Step 3: Driver installation.

Locate the driver you downloaded back in Step 1. Right-click the file you downloaded and select the option to Run as administrator.

I hope you find this information useful.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[rsuriano]

Hi Jean, thanks for the info!

I think I've already performed that clean installation before, as I came across a post on this forum while trying to solve the issue, but it didn't fix the problem. I haven't considered looking for HP updates instead of Intel's, so I'll work through that I guess.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello @rsuriano

Thanks for the information provided.

I will be waiting for your response to check the outcome of trying the OEM drivers. Please refer to the HP link to your laptop (https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-15-da0000-laptop-pc/20395828/model/21909840)

I hope you found this information helpful for your issue.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[rsuriano]

Thank you for the help Jean, I'll try those drivers and get back to you.

Cheers!

[Jean_Intel]

Hello @rsuriano.

Thanks for letting me know. Once you have tried the OEM drivers, keep me updated with the outcome.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[Jean_Intel]

Hello @rsuriano.

I hope you are doing well.

Were you able to check the previous post?

Let us know if you still need assistance.

Best regards,

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[rsuriano]

Hello @Jean_Intel, I got some news. I tried those steps but the problem persisted, so  I installed Linux on a free partition I had in my laptop and tried to connect from there. I could do it successfully, but sound had a very very low quality and my headphones did the "out of range" sound they make when they get too far.

My conclusion is that there is some hardware problem related to the bluetooth antenna, so I gotta dig in further in HP forums next.

I have a question about the network adapter, a thing I remembered from when I installed it. Could it be that one of the two antenna ports is for the wifi and the other is for the bluetooth? If that's the case I may have messed up installing it, as my older network card had only one antenna port, so in the new card I left the "aux" antenna disconnected (part of it is because I couldn't find another antenna in my laptop to connect it to).

[Jean_Intel · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the information provided.

Regarding your question, the Aux antenna is responsible for all the functioning of Bluetooth. The Main antenna for the wireless card is only in charge of WiFi connections.

My suggestion this time is to contact the OEM of your laptop to confirm whether or not the system contains another antenna connection. Also, check the proper installation steps to install the wireless card on their system.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Best regards,

Jean O. 

Intel Customer Support Technician

[rsuriano]

Aah I see, that makes a lot of sense haha. Yes I'll head over to the HP forums now. Thanks for the help and the time Jean!

[Jean_Intel]

Thanks for your comment, I appreciated it.

We're glad to know the information helped. Hopefully, it will help the HP community. Since the thread is now solved, we will close it. If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

I hope you have an amazing weekend.

Best regards,

Jean O.

Intel Customer Support Technician