Please Help With Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165

[DUrbi2]

Hello,

So I am have been scouring the internet and troubleshooting my wireless adapter for about a week now, and I still am unable to get it working.

I am unable to activate the Wi-Fi on my laptop, which is a week old Dell Inspiron 17 7000 series. The Wi-Fi key on the keyboard does not enable it. Neither does toggling the Wi-Fi switch in Network settings: I click to turn it on, and it attempts to toggle On before it reverts to the Off state. I have gone into Network Connections, which contains the icons for the Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections, and it shows that the Wi-Fi is enabled (the Icon is in color, as opposed to being greyed out when off; and right clicking it gives me the option of disabling it, so it must be enabled). Still, when I right-click and select to Connect, it does not. Selecting to Diagnose it yields a message for the following problem: "Wireless capability is turned off." But the previous courses of action are unable to turn on the wireless capability. I have also gone into Device Manager and updated the drivers, as well as disabled and re-enabled the adapter from there.

I have also gone into the command prompt, and the command netsh interface show interface displays that Wi-Fi is disconnected. I have subsequently attempted to enable Wi-Fi with the following command: netsh interface set interface Wi-Fi enabled. The output: "This network connection does not exist."

If any one can please help with troubleshooting this matter, I would forever be grateful.

This problem originated exactly one week ago. I dual-booted my Windows 10 laptop with Ubuntu 14.04. After a bit of setbacks, I was able to install Ubuntu alongside Windows 10, but I was unable to use Wi-Fi in Ubuntu, although I was able to use it in Windows. In my attempt to address the Wi-Fi issue in Ubuntu, I tried to update the kernel, but it unsuccessfully installed. Some more troubleshooting ensued, and before I knew it, Wi-Fi was not working in Windows as well. I ended up recovering the entire system so that I can reinstall Ubuntu, but Wi-Fi still is not working, even after this factory reset.

Again, I would appreciate anyone's time and help in resolving this matter.

.

[ASouz7]

Durbina,

We understand you are trying to turn your Wi-Fi on and in spite of all the troubleshooting you did, your computer is still not connecting as it should. Looking at all the troubleshooting reported, we recommend that you clean uninstall it and then contact your computer manufacturer in order to obtain the latest drivers: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/topics/OEMs.html Computer Manufacturer Support Websites Is this wireless adapter the original one that came installed by facotry?

As a second option, you can try the following and use our generic software for this adapter found in our download center. For your convenience, we added the link to it below:

1. Download and save: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25603/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Windows-10 Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Windows® 10 - File Name: Wireless_18.30.0_PROSet-64.exe

Go to Control Panel, Programs and Features and Uninstall the current "Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software", if it is installed. When prompted, choose the option to "Discard settings".

2. Also in Programs and Features, Uninstall Intel® WiDi Software.

3. In Control Panel, Device Manager, Network Adapters, right click on the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 and Uninstall it. Make sure you mark the option to "Delete the driver software for this device".

4. Reboot the PC or scan for hardware changes, check device manager and if an older driver is detected and installed, repeat the actions to uninstall and delete it as well. Repeat this process until the OS does not allow deleting the driver, or until the controller shows as Unknown Device.

5. Reboot or scan for hardware changes, then uninstall and delete any older driver versions as you did for the Wireless adapter.

6. Install the Intel® Wireless driver. During the first steps of PROSet/Wireless installation, make sure to customize the installation and install all the 3 driver components

[DUrbi2]

Hi,

Thank you for your reply and your help so far.

Yes, the wireless adapter is the original one that came installed by the factory.

The first two steps of the second option you provide were without an issue. I then attempted to uninstall the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 in Device Manager, but about a quarter of the way of the uninstall, it closes, and the Wireless-AC 3165 is removed from the Network Adapters until I scan for hardware changes, at which time it returns. I have uninstalled it, scanned for hardware changes, and subsequently uninstalled it again a dozen times. I have also rebooted my computer and repeated the uninstall and scan for hardware changes a number of times. It remains uninstallable. Any suggestions to overcome this hurdle?

I tried--just for the sake of it--to reinstall the Intel Wireless driver through the PROSet/Wireless Installation after my attempts at uninstalling the AC 3165 from the Network Adapters, and the WiFi is still unable to connect--and even recognize any WiFi signals.

Again, I appreciate your time and help in resolving this matter.

Kindest regards,

Durbina.

[ASouz7]

Durbina,

Could you please try to contact your OEM and check if they have any updates that might resolve this issue since this is an OEM adapter then let us know what the results were.

[DUrbi2]

Thank you for the follow up reply.

The updates through Dell did not resolve the issue, and they want to charge me a little over two hundred dollars to look into the matter further, so I will be troubleshooting through other avenues that I can find and will post a solution here when I discover it.

Durbina

[DUrbi2]

So after many, many hours of troubleshooting by myself, I called Dell again. I spent another four hours with a Dell technician trying to enable my Wi-Fi. It was unsuccessful, and the outcome was that Dell is now sending me a box to mail my laptop in for repair. Literally after that session with the Dell technician, I closed my laptop, conceding defeat in my troubleshooting endeavors.

I don't know for what reason I opened my laptop a few minutes later, but I did, and upon waking up from sleep mode, I found that the Wi-Fi and wireless options were enabled. I was ecstatic--but nonetheless skeptical that my wireless problems were now resolved. So I restarted my laptop, and upon booting up, the wireless capabilities were still disabled. In some random post on some random forum at one point during my troubleshooting over the course of these past two weeks, I read that someone had an issue where the Wi-Fi on his laptop would only enable (or, it might have been that it would always disable) upon waking up from sleep mode. So, I closed my laptop, waited for it to fall asleep, and then I re-opened the laptop, and upon waking up, the wireless capabilities were enabled! I restarted my laptop a few more times, and upon booting up each time, the wireless capabilities would be disabled, but after immediately closing the laptop, putting it to sleep, and waking it up, the wireless capabilities would be enabled. So I found a fix, so far! I can now use Wi-Fi.

My only issue now, which I ask of anyone here to help me resolve, is how I can fix the problem of my laptop's wireless capabilities only enabling after waking up from sleep mode.

Any help would be greatly appreciate!

Durbina

[ASouz7]

Durbina,

For this specific issue, please try the following:

1. Go to Control Panel >> Network Adapters >> select and right click on the wireless adapter and select Properties.

2. Once Properties is open, select the tab that says Power Management. Once this tab is open, you will see two options that says:

*Allow this computer to turn off this device to save power.

*Allow this device to wake the computer.

You can find more information on what each of these options impact by accessing this link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2740020 Information About Power Management Setting on a Network Adapter

[TAkir]

Hi,

Even I have had the same exact problem and went through all the mentioned steps. I still have the same problem where my computer can enable wifi only when it wakes up from sleep. I unselected options in Power Management tab as suggested as well.

Everything works fine now except for the hassle that I have to put my system to sleep everytime it reboots in order to connect to WiFi. It is pretty annoying.

Any help is appreciated.