Switched from a Realtek wifi card to an Intel card and can't seem to install wifi driver

[osny87]

As the title says I decided to upgrade my wifi card on my HP Pavilion Gaming laptop from a Realtek card to the AX200. I checked to make sure it was compatible and it is. Problem is that I can't get the laptop to recognize the card as a wifi card. Even saw a couple of youtube videos suggesting this card as an upgrade for the same exact laptop.

When I first installed the card I went to the Intel download center and downloaded the wifi driver. Once it finished installing I checked to see if I could connect to wifi, but no networks came up. I checked Device Manager and the wifi adapter was not showing up. Check hidden devices and it wasn't there either.

Next I fully uninstalled the old Realtek drivers (realized there were still some residual files/programs related to it) and attempted to install the drivers again. Still no dice. And this time I checked the Bluetooth section and saw that it did install the Intel Bluetooth drivers. I've already tried several times, but for whatever reason whenever I install the Wifi specific driver it only installs the Intel Bluetooth driver and not the Intel Wifi driver.

I've also tried several of the troubleshooting steps shown on Intel's support pages, but I can't find anything on this issue where the wifi driver installs bluetooth instead of wifi.

[n_scott_pearson]

Unless you actually installed the Intel Bluetooth driver package, you have the generic Microsoft driver. You need to install the real driver package since the Bluetooth subsystem shares the PHY with the Wireless subsystem.

At this point, I suggest you do a clean install. Here is the process to follow:

1. If you haven't already, download - but do not install just yet - the latest Bluetooth and WiFi drivers for your adapter. Here are links to these drivers: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/30121 and https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/30112.
2. Disable Internet access. Unplug Ethernet cable and/or disable wireless. Keep disabled until told to re-enable.
3. From Apps & Features, check for instances of Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Intel Wireless Bluetooth. If none, skip to step 6.
4. Uninstall each instance of Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Intel Wireless Bluetooth that is present. When prompted, choose to "Discard Settings".
5. Manually reboot your computer, keeping Internet access disabled.
6. In Device Manager, check Network Adapters for an entry for Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200. If none, go to Step 9.
7. Right click on the entry for Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 and uninstall it, choosing to (checkmark) Delete the driver software for this device.
8. Go to Step 5.
9. (Optional but recommended) Clean out all temporary files using the Windows Clean Disk tool. I recommend that you checkmark all categories offered, even if no files currently (so it leaves it set up for next invocation).
10. (Optional but recommended) Clear each of your browsers' cache.
11. Install the Bluetooth driver package (rule: always do Bluetooth first).
12. Install the Wireless driver package.
13. Manually shutdown and reboot your computer.
14. Enable Internet access.
15. Test.

Hope this helps,

...S

[osny87]

Hey, appreciate the suggestion. Unfortunately it didn't work. As a matter a fact I discovered another possible issue. I was able to uninstall the Intel Proset Bluetooth driver from my programs list, but I wasn't able to find anything related to the Intel Proset Wifi driver.

Ended up doing a system restore to before I attempted to install the drivers and did a fresh install following your instructions. But still no luck.

I got curious and checked the program file folders for each. While the Bluetooth folder had a drivers and docs folder the Wifi folder only had the docs folder. I'm not sure why, but I suspect its not installing correctly. I did download the files again in case the one I downloaded before was corrupted somehow, but it still didn't work. I even tried an older version of the driver, but still nothing.

[n_scott_pearson]

Yea, I've noticed lately that the Bluetooth package remains in the App & Features list but the Wireless package does not. This means Device Manager-based device uninstall is critical (and not automated). Hopefully this will be fixed. Meanwhile, after doing the installs, are you able to use the wireless?

...S

[osny87]

No, still didn't work. I tried again and after doing a system restore again to make sure all the Intel driver were not present my OS started blue screening. Ended up having to reinstall the OS (thankfully not much on that drive so it was relatively painless). I kept the card in the computer, but even after a fresh install of the OS the computer still would not recognize the wifi drivers for the card. Only bluetooth appeared.