Wireless Capability is turned off / Hardware Radio Switch Off (Only on Windows 7)

[Michael154]

Hello, HP Community.

I've just got myself my first laptop that's HP 250 G6 Notebook PC. I've had it with pre-installed windows 10, but I wanted to downgrade it to Windows 7 Ultimate, as the laptop operates quite faster on WIndows 7, than it does on Windows 10 for some reason. However, as I installed Windows 7, all hell broke loose. To my surprise I discovered that both Intel and HP forums don't quite support drivers for windows 7, so I was forced to use Driver Pack (aka DriverPack Solution). I installed the full package of drivers and everything seemed fine at first, until I noticed something weird - My Wireless wasn't working. For the past 2 days now I've been trying every possible solution that I could get my hands on from troubleshooting to BIOS adjustments, to booting ubuntu alongside Windows 7, to testing every possible driver that's even slightly related to HP 200 series with little to no result. Best I could manage was to set up an Cable connection and Cable Network Sharing from my phone, still I couldn't manage to get my Wireless adapter to work, including my Bluetooth device.

From what I've gather, it appears to be an issue that only occurs with Windows 7 in particular. All of my Laptop functions and drivers work just fine with Windows 10 and Ubuntu. The thing is that with Windows 10, my laptop is almost constantly using 100% of its CPU on fresh windows 10 installation, with only IE working and a Task Manager opened, which is absurd and Ubuntu just doesn't suit my needs as an OS. 

I'm absolutely desperate for help to try and solve this issue on my current Windows 7 OS. I'm currently having every driver imaginable installed and working, including Intel PROSET/WIreless WiFi Connection Utility. I couldn't get anything to wake the Bluetooth up, tho, it's not even listed as a missing driver or anything.

My WiFi driver is "Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168", power management options are off, BIOS is enabled and I'm on the edge of my sanity.

I'd deeply appreciate any help that you could throw my way. 

Thank you!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The only way to get the adapter to work in W7 is to remove it and mask a couple of the contacts.

You can also try that one suggestion about pressing and holding the Windows key while pressing the X key...

See this discussion...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Wireless-and-Networking/Function-Key-not-working-how-to-turn-...

[Michael154]

Oh, Paul, you're an absolute legend on that topic. 

I've got to the part that there was a hotfix found at some point which seem to have the issue solved, but unfortunately now, it's no longer available anywhere on Microsoft website, instead I'm basically told "Sorry, go to windows 10 to cry about it" . 

Is there any direct download of that hotfix? Or am I too late to save myself from this situation?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The hotfix only worked if you install W7 in UEFI mode, which in and of itself is very hard to do.

Since this problem did not effect me personally, I never bothered to download the hotfix, which Microsoft has discontinued.

I don't know the hotfix number or anything, so I have no idea where you could download it from.

Unless that other guy's pressing the Windows + X key does anything (which I am very skeptical that it does), your only option would be to remove and mask the contacts on the Intel 3168 wifi adapter.

There is one other thing you could try which no one seems to have done, and that would be to install the older but better Intel 7265 dual band AC wifi adapter.

Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 802.11ac 2 × 2 WiFi + Bluetooth 4.2 Combo Adapter

HP part #793840-005

The problem is...I don't know if it is the model of the card, or the notebook itself that is causing the issue, so installing a different model card could be a waste of time.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

OK...I found the applicable hotfix number...

KB2561821 v2

Unfortunately, I can't find it anywhere.

[Michael154]

Well it appears that nothing worked, so I just bought myself a USB WiFi Adapter. It's working as fine as it can, so I guess it's case closed. Thanks for the heads up, Paul.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.