WiFi driver issues.

[JayLion]

Hey,
My laptop IS NOT CONNECTING TO MY WiFi. I contacted your Twitter HP Support, and they suggested it might be an hardware issue.

When powered on, my WiFi settings and drivers are absent, therefore I am unable to connect to the Internet.

When I download the drivers and try to install them manually, this still doesn't work as my WiFi options/settings are not present.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers via the Device Manager; this however partially works. When powered on, the WiFi options would appear, along with the drivers. However, once connected, and you attempt to the connection, the laptop either freezes or the WiFi drivers would fail and the connection would be lost.

After this, if the laptop is rebooted, it would return to the original problem of no WiFi drivers or options available.

Can you assist? I can always use the Ethernet cable, however as a student, WiFi is important while on campus.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi:

See if installing the latest Realtek W8.1 wifi driver resolves the problem...

2023.66.1104.2017 Rev.A   Windows 8.1 (64-bit)   Nov 21, 2017

Fix and enhancements:

- Fixes Security vulnerability in WPA-2 handshake mechanism
- Improves the Mircascat and Hotspot function errors.
- Improves Wi-Fi/BT coexist function.

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp82501-83000/sp82801.exe

[JayLion]

Hey. Thanks for the suggestion. I followed suit, downloaded and installed the new driver. It honestly worked for a day, where I was able to re-download some of my apps, and it went back to the same problem.

-Laptop froze, so I restarted.

-WiFi options and drivers were absent.

-Tried uninstalling and re-installing, no luck.

I'm back to problem one with no WiFi connection and the ONLY option to plug in Ethernet cable.

Any further advice?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Sorry that the updated driver didn't permanently resolve the problem.

Unfortunately, I don't have any other suggestions for you to try regarding getting the RTL card to work.

You may have to resort to purchasing an external USB wifi adapter.

There are issues with the model wifi adapter your notebook has.

I would have suggested that you could replace the internal card with the Broadcom wifi card listed in the service manual, but I think that specific model wifi card needs two antennas to work, and I believe the RTL8188EE wifi card your model has, only has one antenna wire.

If you want to open up the notebook, and see how many antennas are connected to the wifi card, and if there are two, then you actually have more options for an internal wifi card upgrade than the Broadcom single band wifi card listed in the service manual.

Looks like the internal card is fairly easy to get to...chapter 5.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c04763999

[JayLion]

To be honest, I believe you with the hardware problem. This problem has been harrassing me for a while. When searching the problem with the driver, it states that the "hardware isnt connected". A while ago, I had this same issue, and it was resolved by installing a new driver. However that driver doesnt seem to be solving the problem at the moment.

The sad thing is.... all these issues started when my Warrenty expired. LOL! Make of that what you will.

I really dont trust 3rd parties to fix the problem, as normally another problem arises when they go in.

Guess I'll convert it to a Desktop with the Ethernet cable, or external USB.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, I wouldn't pay anyone to try and fix it.

You would be better off doing what I suggested, and taking a peek inside.

Replacing the wifi card takes a few minutes, if your notebook has two antennas.

But if you are not comfortable with doing it, then better to leave it be and use a USB wifi adapter.

They make some models that barely stick out of the USB port nowadays.

I see you have the same luck that I do regarding warranties and things breaking down.

[JayLion]

Hey, I got the external WiFi adapter and it works great. Thanks for the advice.

Is it possible for you to send me a link to a Bluetooth driver? Thinking about giving that a try.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Your model did not come with built in bluetooth.  If it did, it would have been listed along with the 1x1 802.11b/g/n WLAN wireless connectivity specification.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04593794

You would need to get an external usb bluetooth adapter in order to have bluetooth.

I use this one for example...

https://www.amazon.com/Kinivo-BTD-400-Bluetooth-4-0-USB/dp/B007Q45EF4

[JayLion]

Hey Paul, can you assist with something?

I encountered a BSOD recently, with an error titled "CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT". My initial research says that it could be a hardware issue, usually around drivers, which sounds like the WiFi drivers are back to haunt me for the New Year. I restored the PC back to factory settings recently, which I read usually helps, but the error is back again.

Can you assist?

Happy New Year btw!🖒

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Happy New Year!

Unfortunately, I don't know what could be the cause of that error.

If you think it is the Realtek wifi card driver causing the issue, you may want to uninstall the wifi driver since you are not using the wifi adapter anyway.  Go to the device manager, click to expand the Network Adapters device manager category, right click on the Realtek wifi adapter, select uninstall, check the uninstall driver box, and restart the PC.

If windows reinstalls the driver, then right click on the Realtek wifi device and disable it.