WIFI works on Linux, but not on Windows

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Amanda, Apr 23, 2020.

  1. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    Hey folks!

    First, my apologies if this forum isn't the place for such thread, but I'm kinda running out of options.

    So the problem is that, a few months ago, my wifi stopped working under Windows 10, but kept working under Linux (any distro).

    What I've tried so far:

    * Uninstalling the drivers (from Device Manager) and restarting;
    * Installing the Atheros driver from the correct driver webpage;
    * Disabling and enabling the device from Device Manager;
    * Enabling/disabling the WLAN Autoconfig service;
    * Pressing Fn+F3 which is supposed to be the combo for enabling/disabling WIFI via the keyboard;
    * Disabled the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" on the adapter properties;
    * Restarts and more restarts, and any combination with the above options;

    I even re-installed Windows from a fresh USB copy, but the problem persists.

    Any idea of what could be happening?

    Thanks!
     
  2. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    Are you on Win 10 1909?
     
  3. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    Yes. I downloaded the newest ISO from Microsoft's website, installed it, and fully updated it.

    Version 1909 (OS Compilation 18.363.77:cool:
     
  4. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    Does the mobile work if you use a wifi dongle?
     
  5. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    Do you mean the mobile phone...... or is there some mobile feature in Windows?

    If you mean just using a wifi dongle, I don't have those available. I would really like to just get to the bottom of this weird issue. It's weird because WIFI should work by re-installing Windows, but also because a hardware failure can be ruled out since wifi works under Linux.
     
  6. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    When I have this problem I download multiple versions of drivers. Sometimes when chasing a bad driver I download at least 6 different versions or slightly different drivers. I'd google the wifi hardware & start collecting drivers. Official drivers don't always work.
     
  7. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    So this is super weird.

    I'm not sure what I did was the fix, but I dd'd the flash drive on Linux, created a GPT partition table, and a single fat32 partition.
    Then I copied the contents from the W10 ISO into that partition.
    It's funny because people said it wouldn't work since FAT32 only supports files up to 4 GB, but the "install.wim" file is bigger than that, it seems.

    Then I installed Windows with the LAN cable disconnected, and voila: https://imgur.com/a/TTvMUyW

    (I had installed Windows with the cable disconnected before and it didn't help).
    (I was using rufus to setup my USB drives for install, then I used Linux and a simple copy/paste of the ISO contents and it worked).
     
  8. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    It's worth noting that there may be a more recent wireless driver available, than the one for download on the Acer support page. The drivers listed on the support page are all quite old, as Acer - like most computer manufacturers, stop publishing drivers updates around 6 months or so after a computer is released, even though quite often new drivers continue to be released by the individual device manufactures.

    For example, the Acer page has an Intel WiFi driver released in 2017 for download, even though Intel released a driver this year. It is quite possible that there also is a newer driver for your Atheros WiFi card.
     
  9. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    No wonder you were confused !!
    I have no idea where the word mobile appeared from in my post. I know I had a few forum tabs open at the time with notes so.. not sure really.
    I went offline soon after and didn't spot it 'til I came online this morning.
    Sorry for confusing you but glad to see you seem to have managed to sort it (without really knowing how!!)
     
  10. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    Hah, no problem! :argh:
     
  11. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    But...... WIFI wasn't working from a fresh install without a connection, so whatever default drivers were there from the beginning somehow worked :confused: Which is why I'm confused as to what happened.
     
  12. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    On rare occasions the drivers installed by Windows Update cause issues.
     
  13. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    Yeah what really happened here?

    Slightly off topic months ago I installed W7 on an old laptop that hadn't been used for more than a year. Without an internet connection my laptop displayed the proper date & time. I think there's hidden networks open to fresh M$ installs.
     
  14. stapp

    stapp Global Moderator

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    Probably due to the CMOS battery which powers time counter even when machine is switched off.
     
  15. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    Correct. But, as mentioned, this wasn't possible since I installed (and configured) Windows without an internet connection in the first place, so it's not possible for Windows update to have a role on it. This is why, to me, this is a mistery, because whatever default drivers Windows 10 has, they used to not work, but then worked out of the blue.
     
  16. Amanda

    Amanda Registered Member

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    That was my first guess too :thumb:
     
  17. Kyle_Katarn

    Kyle_Katarn Developer

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    Open dot11Expert
    Double click on adapter (once connected) and please post error stats.
     
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