My aging computer has recently started rejecting using wireless (am unable to do wired due to my living circumstances), and I seem to have run out of options other than reinstalling windows (at this point, installing tux )or updating the hardware, so I figured I'd post here to see if anyone has any ideas before pursuing any further solutions. It's a custom built computer, so I'm using a wireless adapter instead of an integrated chipset or whatever it's called. I've ruled out the wireless transceiver as an issue, as my roommate's adapter worked the same way (I did install the drivers first).

I took a photo of my screen (no internet so you can't punish me!) to show that the wireless transceiver drivers are functioning in the task manager, and the device manager recognizes that I have the transceiver plugged in. I edited out my desktop background (though it's not really incriminating at all so I could post the original photo if needed) No wi-fi networks appear when I open the internet menu (the menu exists cut-off as pictured: the buttons that read wi-fi, airplane mode, and mobile hotspot do not appear. the menu does not get larger than that tiny corner).

So far everything I've tried has been your normal turning it off and on again, unplugging & plugging back in the transceivers into different USB ports, reinstalling the drivers (on several occasions), windows's "Network Reset" function (which says it uninstalls all relevant drivers and everything). Something to note is that my windows is probably like 6 months plus out of date. I have experienced a couple similar bouts of illness before (all this calendar year), but these were all able to be solved with the "Network Reset" function.

I'm mostly posting this here on a lark, since I've been able to get tech problems solved like this in the past. Also if this is the wrong comm and I should post in askchapo instead or something let me know.

  • ChairmanSpongebob [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Second that the adapter itself could be toast, in my experience those little things can get really hot and flakey. So I'd look at replacing that, but you can also check those USB ports it's plugged into. I like the idea of using a bootable Linux USB to check if your devices/hardware are working.

    Windows could have updated, or the drivers could have updated and broke something. So you could look at rolling back the drivers for the WiFi adapter to an older version. There's guides online for this and it can be a struggle, my heart goes out to you

    • ChairmanSpongebob [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Maybe perhaps also there's a generic driver you could try to use. Unfortunately you basically need internet to troubleshoot why you can't get internet to work, it sucks.