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Update Failed, Now My Laptop Can't Access The Wi-Fi At All.

JGoff
Novice
2,059 Views

I'll add more detail later as to exactly what steps I took in my attempt to solve this on my own. I leave it out now, because I spent the past 9 hours attempting to fix this and frankly don't have the patience to recall everything I did. Suffice to say, I've tried everything from uninstalling just about everything related to Intel Networks on my laptop all the way to messing around in the Bios. I must have restarted my computer at least 50 times and I feel like I've tried literally every driver update option from 17.5 onwards.

I have a Lenovo Y50 laptop with an Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 3160 card in it. I run Windows 10 with a 64 bit os.

Early Wednesday I made use of the Intel(R) Driver Update Utility to update my driver from 17.5 something to 18.20.0. Although the blue pop up window informed me that the update was successful, the Intel(R) Driver Update Utility window listed the word "Failed" next to it despite me having been prompted to restart my computer which i did. Additionally the history displayed that it was "Not installed". It was at this point that my computer completely stopped picking up wi-fi, despite working perfectly fine before the attempted update. I attempted to roll back to the previous driver in the device manager section, but was unable to do so because the driver listed as being in use was still the old one since the update failed.

I then spent the next 9 hours looking up any and all possible fixes, none of which worked. Currently, I have the 18.11.0.8 driver installed which I downloaded off of Lenovo's website as a last resort. My computer is still unable to connect to Wi-Fi. I'm literally completely out of ideas at this point. This all started when the initial update failed, and nothing that I have done since has even remotely helped.

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1 Solution
JGoff
Novice
804 Views

In the event that anyone stumbles across this post with the same problem in the future, I suggest that you simply backup everything on your computer and perform a system restore if none of the above suggestions work for you.

I'm still uncertain of what caused my problem in particular, but this was the only course of action that I found myself left with. I will proceed with caution before installing anymore driver updates in the future.

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3 Replies
ASouz7
Honored Contributor II
804 Views

Jzny,

We understand you did all possible troubleshooting in order to fix the issue. However, we would like to know if this wireless adapter is the original one installed by factory or was it installed later?

Can you confirm if you followed any of the tips in the links below?

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/sb/CS-030709.htm?wapkw=wifi+recommended+settings Wireless Networking — What are the Recommended Settings for 802.11n Connectivity?

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-034658.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — Quick Checks That Might Improve or Fix Connection Issues

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-031167.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — Why Doesn't My Laptop Recognize My New Intel® Wireless Adapter?

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-025332.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — Resolving Wi-Fi Network Connection Issues

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-025393.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — What are the Advanced Wi-Fi Adapter Settings?

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-035591.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — Current Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-025417.htm Intel® Wi-Fi Products — Identify Your Intel® Wireless Adapter and Driver Version Number

As a second option we can try the following considering you already used the drivers from your computer manufacturer.

1 - Download and save https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25279/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Windows-10 Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Windows® 10https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25279/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Windows-10 File name: Wireless_18.20.0_e164.exe

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

3 - In Control Panel, Device Manager, Network Adapters, right click on the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 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 - Once this is done, 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 (if applicable)

If after that you still experience this issue, please contact your nearest Intel Contact Center for live assistance from one of our technicians. Here si the link: http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/contactsupport Contact Support

JGoff
Novice
804 Views

Hey, I appreciate the feedback and help.

My wireless adapter is the original one that my laptop came with and I've read and tried all of the links.

As for the 5 step solution that you posted, I've tried that already, but I went ahead and tried it again just now to no avail.

My issue is with step 4. Now that I've deleted all of my most recent driver installs, when I go to refresh my computer and turn it back on, in the device manager under Network Adapters there is still Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160 showing no matter how many times I try to uninstall it/ restart my computer. Additionally the driver version is always the same and won't uninstall. This driver version is 17.15.0.5.

I've tried uninstalling it/ restarting about 10 times now but it keeps coming back.

JGoff
Novice
805 Views

In the event that anyone stumbles across this post with the same problem in the future, I suggest that you simply backup everything on your computer and perform a system restore if none of the above suggestions work for you.

I'm still uncertain of what caused my problem in particular, but this was the only course of action that I found myself left with. I will proceed with caution before installing anymore driver updates in the future.

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