Realtek RTL8821CE problems on HP Notebooks

[Synchrolearn]

Like many people, I am having lots of intermittent failures with the Realtek WiFi RTL8821CE in my Notebook HP 15-da0038na and the same intermittent problems with my wife's identical machine.  I have been through HP Support and changed drivers etc, etc. but the problem still returns intermittently.  I have seen on here lots of brilliant advice from members such as Paul Tikkanen and WAWood and have tried to find an Intel replacement part. The Hardware manual suggests Intel AC 9461 but the edge connector looks different in the photos?  Can anyone help (I am ok with opening up the notebook, I am an ex-computer engineer) with:
a) will this work ok
b) which Intel module will work in the 15-da0038na ? 

Thanks very much in advance!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I highly doubt the Intel AC9461 will work.  I have suggested it to a couple of forum members who reported it didn't work and some have done it on their own and reported it didn't work.

The reason for this is after doing some research is that the 9461 and 9560 are CRF cards (companion RF), and the simple explanation is the motherboard contains parts for the wifi to work and the card contains parts for the wifi card to work.

it is not an 'all in one' wifi adapter like we are all familiar with.

And I believe the only way the card works is in notebooks that came with it.

Here is the product brief from Intel. As you can see, this is some new-fangled design...

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/wireless-products/dual-band-wireless-ac-9461-brief.html

Any other Intel card would require two antennas for everything to work.

As you know, the RTL8821 and RTL8822 cards have been a flop, being constantly plagued with connection issues.

Realtek is constantly releasing drivers, and I doubt they are finished.

I have no idea why HP continues to use these cards.  They should quit until Realtek fixes these adapters once and for all.

In the meantime, the only suggestion I can offer if you have not done so already, would be to update the wifi driver to the latest version Realtek has released to HP.

2024.0.10.103/2024.0.4.108     Aug 22, 2019

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp98501-99000/sp98918.exe

[Synchrolearn]

Hi Paul, many thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated.

Yes, I was using the latest driver when the problem started, but have since rolled back to 2024.0.8.104 (April 6, 2019) which I thought had worked as it was ok for a day or so, but then the fault returned. If I ignore it for a while and connect via LAN cable and carry on working, after a while it seems to sort itself out and starts working again.  A really frustrating problem though.  I agree, I wish HP would sort out this issue and provide an upgrade path to a working Intel module, for example.

Thanks again for responding.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Did you try this one?

2024.0.9.103/2024.0.4.108 Jul 18, 2019

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp98001-98500/sp98489.exe

[Synchrolearn]

No, I haven't come across that one Paul - I'll give it a go and let you know!  Sometimes takes a few days to know if the fault is going to return.

Thanks again!

[Synchrolearn]

Just downloaded and installed it, works ok.

Rebooted laptop and still works ok, so will monitor it for a while!

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.

Hopefully that one will work better.

It was not on your notebook's support page, and was the one previously released.

Another thing you can try is to visit the Microsoft Update catalog and test the drivers Realtek releases to Microsoft.

These come out before they go to HP.

If you look down toward the bottom, Realtek has already released a new one to Microsoft...5th from the bottom of the page.

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=8821CE

They are cabinet files (no exe file), so the easiest way to deal with those is to install 7-zip.

https://www.7-zip.org/

Download the driver file and save it.

Then use 7-Zip to extract the cabinet file into its driver folder name.  Don't worry about any reported errors.

Select the Extract to:  option, and let it extract the file into its folder name.

Once the file has been extracted to its folder, go to the device manager, click on the RTL8821CE wifi adapter, click on the driver tab, click on Update driver, select the Browse my computer for driver software option, and browse to the driver folder that 7-Zip created.

Make sure the include subfolders box is checked and the driver should install. Then restart the PC.

I have zipped up and attached this latest driver for you below. 

I renamed the file from the cabinet file name which is gibberish.

I wanted to give you the steps, so you can bookmark that link and periodically check for new updates to the driver.

No doubt there will be more to come!

[Synchrolearn]

Wow that is SUPER helpful Paul and very much appreciated!

I will see how it goes with the 2024.0.9.103 version for a couple of days, then I will try that latest version as well.

Really terrific support - THANK YOU.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Let's hope that Realtek is finally homing in on this problem.