Did My New HP Pavilion Come With A Bad Network Adaptor?

[Hickory_Hill]

I have tried all of the recommended solutions to fix this and nothing has made a difference.  My network adapter is realtek rtl8821ce 802.11ac pcie.  Says it is working properly and has the latest divers.  I saw they were from 2021 so found new ones and copied them into the system32/drivers folder where the current ones are.  I barely see my home wifi (one bar) even when next to the router and when I try to login it says cannot connect.  I was briefly able to connect to my iPhone which gets no cell signal out in the country where I live but the connection strength was very weak for that also and it was right next to the laptop.  I assume this is a software issue, but cannot find a solution to fix it.  I have rebooted my home wifi also.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I don't know what drivers you are using, but all you need to do is to run the exe file from the W11 driver at the link below and you will get version:

2024.10.228.2    03/07/2023

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp145501-146000/sp145749.exe 

You may want to give that a try.

You could have a broken or detached antenna wire or the card could be defective.

There's no way that I know of to test the card.

[Hickory_Hill]

Thanks that was a different driver than I had tried.  I see there are three for this device.  Seems the download you provided has the first two, but not the third with the first two having recent dates?  Is this a Windows11 thing?  I thought Windows11 was mature enough now.  Should I have gotten a new laptop with Windows10?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to your question.

I assume that the updated driver didn't help?

If not, your only option would be to replace the Wi-Fi card (which may or may not make a difference) or purchase a dual band USB Wi-Fi adapter.

Since there is only one Wi-Fi antenna wire included in your notebook, you can't upgrade the card to a better one unless you completely disassemble the notebook including the display panel in order to run the second antenna wire.

The dual antenna kit is listed in chapter 3.

Below is the link to the service manual.

Maintenance and Service Guide HP 15 Laptop PC