HP 8560W cannot turn on Wifi after Windows 8.1 Pro Install

[VVet69]

Hi Paul,

I went back and reinstalled the Win7 driver and booted up. Wireless works just fine there; I left it on when i shutdown.  I still feel like there is some driver or associated setting in Windows 8.1 that is preventing the WLAN card from being turned on.  Are there any other hardware troubleshooting tools available from HP or a 3rd party?

Regards, Steve

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Steve:

That is very odd.

There are drivers for that card on your notebook's W8.1 support page, so it should be fully supported.

There is a HP 4 in 1 bootable diagnostics key that you can download and put on a USB flash drive.

Bottom of the page, middle file.

https://www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/hpsupportassistant/pc-diags.html

[VVet69]

HI Paul,

I downloaded and tested both of the PC Diagnostic tools you suggested. Wifi Card did not show any errors, passed the PC-based IRQ and ROM tests, the other test just said it passed.  I guess I will just have to buy a USB wireless card for now... 😞

Thanks for all the help!

Regards, Steve

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime, Steve:

Glad to have been of assistance.

I am bewildered by your wifi problem.

[VVet69]

HI Paul,

Update: I found out what was causing the issue. In the BIOS settings, Enable LAN/WLAN Switching was checked. I unchecked/saved/rebooted and the wireless device works now.  I do not recall ever changing that BIOS value.

Regards, Steve

[Paul_Tikkanen]

That is great news, Steve.

That setting is enabled by default.

I completely forgot that if you have the notebook connected by ethernet, it will automatically disable the wifi unless you disable that setting.