Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 "Wi-Fi turned off"

[LandoG]

Good evening,

I am having an issue with my Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card being able to turn on so that I am able to try and connect to Wi-Fi.  I am using a desktop and am unable to turn "on" the Wi-Fi.  The wireless keyboard I am using does not have a Wi-Fi on/off function key.  My hardware and network setup is as follows:

Network:

My current network uses 802.11n.  I am currently connected to the router via RJ-45 via the motherboard through Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (11) I219-V.  Wi-Fi does not work regardless of the RJ-45 being connected or not.

Computer Hardware:

Motherboard: Asrock 490z-itx/ac

Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-10700 CPU @ 2.90GHz

SSD 1: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB

SSD2: Samsung SSD 980 PRO 1TB

Wireless/Bluetooth: Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168

Windows Environment:

Windows 10 Pro (20H2)

What I have tried so far:

- Turning on Wi-Fi via windows network settings

- Connect/Disconnect via "Network Connections"

- Diagnose vis "Network Connections"  -- error is "Turn on wireless capability" (by function key, if available, or enable wireless capability on this computer)

- Device manager -> Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 -> Power Management -> Unchecked "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

- Edit power options for "Wireless adapter settings" of "Power Saving Mode" to "Maximum Performance"

- Doing a driver update through windows (via device manager)

- Uninstall of Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 (including deleting driver software and clearing temporary files)

- Reinstalling the latest drivers after removing the old ones (doing Bluetooth first and then Wi-Fi)

- Doing a system restore in windows to the last restore point and repeating the previous processes

- Doing a fresh windows install

Other notes:

No settings remain retained for the status of Wi-Fi once they are set.  This happened in both the original installation or the current installation of windows 10.  Each restart I have to change any settings that were modified before shutdown.

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello LandoG,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

To better assist would you mind providing the following information.

-Did you tested your router by configuring it to 11ac mode? If you did, does it have the latest firmware?

-Have you tested the recommended settings for 802.11ac Connectivity?

Link: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000024678/network-and-io/wireless.html

-Do you remember if this issue happened after a new OS update or Wireless driver update?

-Were you able to have your wireless connection in a normal/expected performance before?

-Were the drivers tested during the installations coming from ASROCK’s website or our website?

-Does the issue persists while using both the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz band?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician  

[LandoG]

Thank you for your response Victor,

I have followed the suggestions for AC connectivity posted on the weblink you have provided.  The wifi remains "turned off" so I am unable to test or look for any wireless connections in my area.  Interestingly, the Bluetooth is not working now.

I do not use wireless on a regular basis, but this change would be within the last two-three-ish weeks.  I tried to do a recovery from my last windows restore point from mid-December before the reinstall and the Wi-Fi still did not work.

I did have what I would consider normal performance through wireless before this.

I have tried ASRock drivers first with no luck, then the drivers from the Intel drivers webpage.

Regardless of being 2.5ghz or 5ghz band my card remains "turned off" so that I am unable to try to access any networks.  Are there any logs that may help diagnose?

[LandoG]

Sorry, I realized I missed one of the questions!

I checked my router's firmware, and it is updated to the latest version.  I am able to connect to the wireless N and AC via a second computer with an AX 201 card.

Swapped in a spare working 3168NGW to this PC.  The same error of the card being "switched off" appears.

I have gone into PowerShell as an admin and tried to enable the card through netsh.  It is unable to enable it via command line.

[LandoG]

Attached is a Netsh wlan report

Most interesting is the Bluetooth driver.  it is using a 2006 driver.  I have tried to update this without success by doing the following:

1) disabling automatic updates for drivers from Windows

2) Uninstalling device

3) Restarting computer

Upon restart the driver is back in place.  I repeat the process, and it is in a loop.  I did try on the 3rd uninstall to install the new Bluetooth driver.  it says that the installation completed okay.  I restart, and the driver is back to the 2006 version.  The new driver never seems to take hold.  The Wi-Fi driver remains at the newest driver according to Device Manager, but still has no change for the Wi-Fi being "turned off".

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello LandoG,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

We appreciate the information provided and we will use it to do further research about your issue, we will update this thread as soon as possible.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician  

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello LandoG,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

In this case, based on the information you have provided and all the troubleshooting you have completed we believe this issue is more related to a faulty hardware component than a software-related issue; therefore, our strongest recommendation will be to check directly with the OEM(Original Equipment Manufacturer) of your board to see if they can offer you with either a physical inspection for it or a replacement.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician

[Kaleb]

I am having the EXACT same issue myself! I literally updated my computer and then it started doing the exact same as LandoG’s Computer. I’m having an extremely hard time believing it’s the actual hardware. His situation also sounds exactly similar as far as updating driver software then having issues. I also followed several of the same protocols with no prevail. 

[LandoG]

I have since been able to get this sorted out.  This was a BIOS issue that caused communication issues with the M.2 port.  Downgrading my BIOS to the original release for my motherboard first gave partial success (improving Wi-Fi, with partial Bluetooth connectivity with frequent drops).  A second re-flashing of the bios to the original release of the BIOS has given me a fully-functioning use of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth that has been stable for over a month.

[Victor_G_Intel]

Hello LandoG,

We will proceed to close this thread; however, if you need any additional information; you are more than welcome to submit a new question just remember that this thread will no longer be monitored.

Regards,

Victor G.

Intel Technical Support Technician