[SOLUTION:] OMEN 15 on miniDP monitor upon waking losing wifi/bt module

[liudr]

[CONCLUSION:] I'm afraid that the issue is hardware. I've successfully connected a displayPort monitor (same one that had issues) via a USB-C dock and sleeping/waking doesn't affect WiFi/BT. If you really need a displayPort, get a USB-C to displayPort adapter. I've not got one either do I have any reason to but I am confident it will work. If you need multiple display support, be sure to read page 3 about docks. A Dell WD19 dock on the USB-C port adds 3 displayPorts (2 regular displayPorts and 1 USB-C with displayPort) or 2 displayPorts and 1 HDMI, while the laptop's own onboard HDMI can still drive a separate display, making it 5 displays counting the laptop's own display, which will be solely driven by the integrated AMD card while the other four displays can be set at highest resolution and refresh rate (see page 3 example) and driven by NVIDIA card. I suspect this is the highest amount of displays it can drive, with 4 displayPort data lanes each driving one display and AMD driving the laptop display.

Bios firmware version F.13 doesn't help FYI.

[ATTENTION:] If you have a similar problem, please post the brand and model of your monitor. If we see enough brands and models of monitor have the same issue, we know it's NOT the monitor.

[EDIT]: originally thought it was BIOS update but no. Still not working after rolling back. Worked once right after roll back and wireless adapter disappeared again after sleeping and waking.

[OP:]

I bought this OMEN 15 laptop around BF at BB and recently (12/18?) updated its bios from F05 to F07 using HP support assistant. Everything went smoothly like all the other HP's I've updated BIOS on. I don't use this laptop much so maybe I've not used it until yesterday (12/22). Today, after playing some light games, I left the laptop on its own and later returned to it to find its wifi capability is entirely gone. No wifi adapter in device manager or bios (very "reassuring" to see bios says wireless module is NOT INSTALLED).

I decided to roll back bios. Luckily HP bios has that built in so I rolled back. Wifi recovered and BT showed up. I'm monitoring it basically by doing work on it as of now so I can see if wifi will still disappear.

So HP, there's bugs in F07 bios update. Fix it or pull it. It's going to turn users against you if you don't do something.

[liudr]

Well, it seems that BIOS random shutdowns and wireless losses are quite common from another thread about pavilion gaming laptops. I'm glad I didn't get the ultra-cheap pavilion with 1650. I'm glad that updating to F.10 solved problems of many but my OMEN has no such version. Just 07 as the latest, and it doesn't work. I think this is an issue with HP priorities. I've used EliteDesks and EliteBooks with no BIOS update issues. Are they spending enough time on the non-business lines of products?

[liudr]

No, playing games was ok but once again as I left the machine for dinner, it may have fallen asleep and upon waking wifi and bluetooth are both gone again. I'm using an external monitor, that's the only difference since I bought the machine. This is not BIOS issue. It's something else.

[liudr]

After more trial and error, I have determined the issue to be related to using NVIDIA graphics card and windows sleep and maybe HP OMEN bios firmware. If I use my laptop as a regular machine with no external monitors, windows uses AMD integrated graphics. Sleeping and waking are fine. If I play games on my laptop screen, windows uses NVIDIA graphics but I've never left my laptop that is running a game and have it fall asleep while running the game (is that even possible?) so no data on that. If I connect an external monitor, windows activates NVIDIA graphics. This is when the issue occurs if the laptop goes to sleep state. It wakes up not finding the wireless adapter so both wifi and bt are gone like they never exist. I can understand that hooking up external monitor to a gaming laptop isn't the most common use case but I can imagine many people would want that for more comfortable gaming with their preferred KMVs. I imagine the wireless adapter is on PCI-e bus and even disabled Link State Power Management hoping it would not cause the issue but the issue persists.

So why would the laptop not reactivate wireless card after waking from sleep if it is using NVIDIA card? Only HP engineers and developers can answer that. For anyone else with the same issue, losing wifi. My only recommendation is to report this issue and do tests like I did so it would be an easily reproducible issue instead of them brushing it off as a rare thing.

If you have an OMEN 15 2020 and wish to help me, please do the following test:

Symptom:

Wireless adapter disappears

Way to produce the symptom:

Connect to an external monitor (LG 27GL650F) via the miniDisplayPort port and put your laptop to sleep. see if your wireless card disappears when you wake your laptop.

Solution:

Disconnect external monitor, shut down. Boot up without external monitor.

Notes:

If you just reboot without shutting down, you won't get your wireless adapter back.

If you shut down and boot up again with the external monitor still connected, you won't get your wireless adapter back.

I also tested the HDMI port and a USB-C thunderbolt adapter with USB-C HDMI. Note, USB-C thunderbolt only carries DisplayPort signals so this USB-C HDMI is actually a USB-C to DisplayPort to HDMI converter. It is managed by NIVIDIA adapter. Anytime the laptop has its own onboard miniDisplayPort activated, sleeping and waking will cause the wireless adapter to be lost and the solution has to be to unplug the miniDisplayPort cable, shut down, and boot up. I wonder if this is a hardware signal interference issue on the mobo.

This is definitely not a windows issue. At my work I had one HP laptop and one HP desktop and they were both only using DisplayPort outputs. I connected them to an HDMI monitor with an adapter cable. Used them for years before they both got replaced by a single new HP laptop. Still I'm using DisplayPort between the new HP laptop and my new HP monitor, this time on its DisplayPort input with no adapters. This works. No issues whatsoever, or I've not noticed since I primarily use wired network at work. But since covid, I've taken my laptop home and have used a USB-C thunderbolt adapter to connect to an external monitor and used various configurations usually involving a second external monitor via the HP laptop's HDMI port. The laptop has no NVIDIA adapter though. Anyway, that's business-class computing. I felt maybe the consumer-class computing needs engineers to actually test out their products in various configurations before releasing them. If those engineers have used this laptop for their work, they would have encountered this very typical ext-monitor via miniDisplayPort only configuration (assuming monitor may have older HDMI version so not supporting 144Hz) and wonder what happened. But it's very unlikely any of them will do that or see this post.

The up side is the onboard HDMI output supports 1080p at 144Hz so my 144Hz monitor isn't a waste. It will also likely support 4K at 60Hz. I'll very unlikely use the miniDisplayPort for external display because I can use HDMI. Consider these consumer-class devices toys. If you have a DisplayPort VR set, then don't keep it connected to the laptop.

I also tested on an HP E243i monitor and my laptop has no trouble waking up with WiFi working but it refuses to hibernate after repeated attempts. It just woke up right after. My EliteBook has no issue being put into hibernation with that monitor on DP.

When I have time, I'll hook up my HP EliteBook dock that has DP and my EliteBook with the LG monitor to see how that goes.

[praveenbv]

@liudr, Welcome to the HP Support Community!

Sorry for the inconvenience caused to you. I understand that after going to sleep mode, your Windows 10 computer disconnects Wi-Fi automatically. I'll certainly help you with this.

This may occur due to outdated drivers or incorrect network settings.

Let us try the following steps, and check if it helps.

Method 1: Update the Network adapter.

Press Windows + R to open the Run command dialog box.

Type devmgmt.msc and hit Enter.

Select the driver from the list by extending the Network adapter.

Right-click on the driver and click on Update driver Software.

Method 2: Windows might be turning off your network adapter to save power. You can try turning off the power-saving option in the network adapter's properties.

Press Windows key + X, and then click on ControlPanel.

In the search box, type adapter, and then, under Network and Sharing Center, click View network connections.

Right-click the Connection and then click Properties. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Under the Networking tab, click Configure.

Click the Power Management tab, clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box, and then click OK.

Hope this helps you. Keep us posted with the status of the issue to help you further.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted. 

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping!

Have a great day! 

•  

[liudr]

Praveenbv,

I already did those. WiFi Driver is most recent, per you method and hp support assistant. I even updated bios but not a solution. I already unchecked the allow to turn wifi off option from power management so that box is already unchecked. I have an hp monitor with displayport at work. If that exhibits the same issue, should I start blaming the cable then? So it's NOT HP's hardware issue. None of you owns such laptop can could put it through the simple test I proposed?

[praveenbv]

@liudr

We have done the basic troubleshooting as per the document and the notebook needs to checked taking remote access so that get to know it's a hardware or software issue.

I'd suggest you contact HP in your region regarding the service options for your computer or HP Chat Support Team.

[ItsToasted]

I have the exact same issue. It does have to do with the external monitor. I wrote about it in here with no response from HP:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Wireless-and-Networking/Wireless-Adapter-Not-Working-when-HDM... 

[liudr]

I finally got a chance to test my laptop with another monitor on DisplayPort, an HP E243i. It's a 24 inch monitor with 1920*1200 resolution with 60Hz refresh rate but I had it display 1080p@60Hz. I put my laptop to sleep while it's on WiFi and it woke up with WiFi still working. The one that didn't work is an LG 27 inch gaming monitor at 144Hz rate. I wonder if the refresh rate has something to do with the issue I'm experiencing consistently. I'll test my LG monitor at 60Hz and post its model number once I get home.

[liudr]

Praveenbv,

Thanks for your response. I'm just testing a bit more before I bring this issue to possible tech support. Tech support isn't as great as they once were these days. Dell for instance now transitioned to whatsapp for support. Requests takes hours to hear back and then the pingpong responses follow. What a joke?! Is HP still having a web browser-based live support chat?