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No network visible

2K views 16 replies 3 participants last post by  cwwozniak 
#1 ·
My computer cannot see any networks anymore, whether I bring it to work or at home. There is no network icon in the lower right hand side of the screen anymore. Please help!
 

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#2 · (Edited)
Hello katerrr, and welcome to TSG.

Please tell us:
1) The brand and the full and exact model number of what I assume is a laptop computer.
2) The exact version of Windows that is installed and if that version is what originally was installed on the computer.
3) Are we safe to assume you are referring to WiFi connections rather than a wired Ethernet connection?
4) Does your laptop have any kind of a WiFi Status light and/or a dedicated WiFi On/Off switch or key? If so are they indicating that the WiFi is on?
5) Does the Windows Hardware Device Manager show the WiFi hardware? If so, does it show any errors or warnings for it?
 
#3 ·
Thank you so much for helping.
1) It's an Asus laptop, & the model number is 8260NGW
2) It is Windows 10 & has been updated since June of 2018 when I got the computer, but I believe it's always been Windows 10.
3) Yes, I am referring to wifi. I did attempt to plug an ethernet cable in just as a test but it did not recognize the ethernet cable & nothing happened.
4) It does have a wifi light & it is on.
5) I did not see wifi hardware but I could be missing it since I'm not entirely sure what I'm looking for. Here is a picture of the device manager
 

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#4 ·
#5 ·
1) I checked for the latest driver & it said "the best drivers for your device are already installed."
2) How do I know what mode my network is using?
  1. In Device Manager, select Network adapters, and then double-click the network adapter name.
  2. Select the Advanced tab and look for a Wireless Mode setting. Make sure it's set to the mode your network is using.
3) There's no wireless icon to click on to forget.

Thank you, I just wrote in where it said "model number" but I think you're right. The model number should be P2540U.
 

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#6 ·
Thank you for the correct model number. A quick Google search did not turn up any pages suggesting a problem with that model's WiFi. I will look into it when I have more time today and tomorrow. I want to find out if a possible Windows 10 update caused the problem and a rollback might solve the problem.

I believe the best mode setting is the one that lists the most modes. 802.11b is fairly old and I don't think most modern WiFi access points support it. You should be OK with Dual Band 802.11a/g. The 802.11n/ac Wireless Mode should be Dual Band 802.11n/ac.

I believe the lack of icons to forget is that there are no saved WiFi configurations. Am I safe to assume that at one time you had a list of known WiFi access points like for home and work that you just needed to click on to connect?

Were there any hardware or software changes in your laptop just before the WiFi stopped working?
 
#7 ·
Thank you for taking the time to look at this. I use this computer for school online. As for the Windows 10 update, it says it was last checked on 3/22/20 & that I'm up to date. In the pictures are a list of updates & then a list of driver updates.

Where you said "You should be OK with Dual Band 802.11a/g. The 802.11n/ac Wireless Mode should be Dual Band 802.11n/ac" I don't have Dual Band 802.11n/ac as an option, just 802.11n or 802.11ac under the Value section.

Yes, I did have wifi connections before i restarted my computer. I had download Malwarebytes & followed some instructions from a website from Computer World on how to make your computer run faster since mine has been incredibly slow. I'm assuming I made some sort of change that disabled wifi but I'm not sure which change that was.
 

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#8 ·
Where you said "You should be OK with Dual Band 802.11a/g. The 802.11n/ac Wireless Mode should be Dual Band 802.11n/ac" I don't have Dual Band 802.11n/ac as an option, just 802.11n or 802.11ac under the Value section.
Sorry about that. I don't use any computers with WiFi and took a guess. Check the specifications of your WiFi Router/Access point at home. Newer ones most likely support 802.11ac.

The .NET Framework update failure on 3/28 may be the culprit. A Google search turns up a number of web pages with people having WiFi problems after such a failure. One possible solution was not to trust Windows reporting the drivers were up to date and to check the laptop manufacturer's website for the latest WiFi driver updates and re-install or install them.

Did Malwarebytes report that it removed or quarantined anything?

Are you using a wired network connection on the laptop for now?
 
#9 ·
Oh that's ok. I looked & it looks like 802.11ac is what I should use. So should I uninstall & reinstall my wifi driver? Sorry, I'm not sure how to reinstall it.

Yes, Malawarebytes quarantined 38 things. Some were a registry key, 1 was a registry value, & the rest were files.

I connected to an ethernet cable today. I could not do that yesterday but today I could.
 
#10 ·
I'm sure you're busy so you may have just not gotten a chance to look deeper into this, but to me I don't consider connecting to the ethernet for internet access a complete success. I don't have a place to plug an ethernet cable into my workspace, otherwise I would just do this since I feel it's a bit faster internet speed. I still cannot see the wifi network so I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how I can fix this. At least I can move my computer to the place where I can connect to the ethernet cable, so if I need to uninstall and reinstall a driver, now I can do that.
 
#11 ·
Don't bother reinstalling whatever wireless driver you have. Just download the latest one from your PC manufacturer's web site and install that one. That may or may not be a reinstall.

Most, but not all, drivers come in a .exe file that is self-extracting and self-installing so all you have to do after downloading it is to double-click on it.

Don't discard that downloaded file, especially if it fixes your problem, because Windows 10 loves to install random drivers it wants to and doesn't seem to care if they work.
 
#12 ·
OK will do! Sorry, I'm not sure what the name of the driver would be. You had mentioned I can download it from the manufacturer's website, so just go to ASUS's website and search for driver? Or is it called something more specific?

Thank you for the advice!
 
#13 ·
For the adapter brand and model look at the top line of your attachment in post # 5 (Intel 8260).

Many of those websites can be pretty annoying. Hopefully at Asus's you'll find a Support link, a way to navigate to your laptop model, a drivers or download section, and eventually get to the driver for network/wireless/Intel 8260.
 
#14 ·
I got really busy with work and some personal things for the last few days and have not been around.

You can download drivers directly from the Asus website. When I started to enter P2540U model number, the search box came back with P2540UA, P2540UB, and P2540UV as valid model numbers. I have no idea what the differences are.

https://www.asus.com/support/Download-Center/
 
#15 ·
I just wanted to update you guys that downloading the driver from the Asus website worked! In the meantime, I had bought a wifi adapter so that fixed the issue temporarily, but I wanted a more permanent fix.
https://www.asus.com/Commercial-Laptops/ASUSPRO-P2540NV/HelpDesk_Download/ was the website I used and I just downloaded the LAN driver. Thank you all so much for your help!
 
#17 ·
You're welcome. You may want to investigate my previous link further. I believe the LAN drivers are for the wired Ethernet port. Go further down the list to see if there is a Wireless driver available for your exact model and OS version.
 
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