Computer can't detect any wifi networks

[notlefthanded111]

One of my supervisors at work handed me her personal laptop today and asked me to fix the wifi. She's pretty computer-savvy, so I should've known it wouldn't be an easy fix.

The laptop is a Dell XPS 15 9550, and the wireless card is a Dell Wireless 1830 802.11ac.

The problem is that even though wifi is on and claims to be working, the computer won't detect any networks, even though there are several in range that other devices can detect just fine. It claims connections are available, but when I try to look for one the list is always empty. I've tried resetting the network adapter, updating the drivers, and uninstalling and reinstalling the wireless card, and it still won't detect networks. Is there something else I can do that I'm missing, or do I need to just tell my supervisor she needs a new wireless card?

(If it matters, wired internet is working just fine.)

 

[RealBeast]

One question is whether it ever worked (connected to a network), and what OS version is running.

As far as further troubleshooting, first I would download a free wifi analyzer like THIS one and run it to see if it actually detects the signal strength and channels for surrounding wireless networks.

If it does, then I would just give a quick try at changing the wireless adapter MAC address using the free tool HERE. You can always change it back but often it will fix the issue.

 

[Paul NZ]

Is the ip it's using conflicting with another laptop / desktop?

 

[notlefthanded111]

One question is whether it ever worked (connected to a network), and what OS version is running.

As far as further troubleshooting, first I would download a free wifi analyzer like THIS one and run it to see if it actually detects the signal strength and channels for surrounding wireless networks.

If it does, then I would just give a quick try at changing the wireless adapter MAC address using the free tool HERE. You can always change it back but often it will fix the issue.

She told me it stopped working while she was at a conference, which to me implies that it did work before that. Plus the computer appears to be at least a year old, and it doesn't have an ethernet port (I had to use my own USB adapter), so I can't imagine she was using it without connecting to the internet all this time.

Whoops, forgot to say, it's Windows 10 Home Edition.

The wifi analyzer does seem to be detecting networks, huzzah! I'll try the mac address thing in a minute.

Is the ip it's using conflicting with another laptop / desktop?

Don't think so, this problem has come up in four completely separate locations so far.

 

[notlefthanded111]

I tried changing the mac address (I had no idea what to change it to, so I just clicked random), and unfortunately that didn't fix the problem. Any other ideas?

 

[The Paladin]

I have seen one occurrence when Wi-Fi did not work even though drivers and hardware where good, after opening the backside of the laptop I found one of those antenna wires had popped off is "clip" you may want to check that visually easy to do.

 

[RealBeast]

I have seen one occurrence when Wi-Fi did not work even though drivers and hardware where good, after opening the backside of the laptop I found one of those antenna wires had popped off is "clip" you may want to check that visually easy to do.

Normally a great thought, but if it is detecting the signal strength and radio channels with inSSIDer, that is unlikely since that tells you the hardware is working.

One last step before jumping into the big troubleshooter is to go into the network control panel, manage wireless networks, and delete the entries, then restart and attempt to re-establish a connection to the office wireless by selecting it and enter passkey.

While you have done some of the steps already (assuming that all else failed up to now), go through the W10 troubleshooting guide at MS HERE and run through it, although you can skip things that you have already tried. This will give you a systematic approach to take.

 

[notlefthanded111]

So here's an interesting development. I followed all the steps on the microsoft troubleshooting guide that made sense, no luck. Then, in desperation, I tried manually connecting to my home wifi network. Presto, internet! There still aren't any networks visible when you look for one, but manual connection apparently works. So I guess the real problem is why on earth nothing shows up in the list. (I feel a little silly that I didn't try this sooner, but to be fair I've never seen this problem before.)

 

[The Paladin]

seems this is a very common issue with this wifi on the dell forums
https://www.google.com/search?q=Dell+Wireless+1830&ie=&oe=

 

[notlefthanded111]

Just a bit of an update:

I looked into other issues people have with this wireless card, and the suggestions all seemed to be a) disable all power saving settings on it; or b) give up and get a new card. I tried option a and had no success, alas. Had to return the computer to my supervisor today, and I told her she should probably buy a new card, but she was beyond thrilled when I showed her the manual connection still works in the mean time. So I didn't technically solve the problem, but at least I kept her happy. Thanks so much to everyone for their suggestions!