Question How long does a Wi-Fi adapter typically last? Because I think mine may have just died

[Voidseeker_1]

I haven't had Wi-Fi disconnection issues in probably about a year where my Wi-Fi keeps disconnecting (which was due to bad adapter placement and after moving it my problems were solved) and today my Wi-Fi kept disconnecting and my adapter I'm pretty sure is over 10 years old (it was given to me) and I think it just kicked the bucket because it no longer lights up and even after a restart no luck and when I go to "view hardware and connection properties" it no longer shows as much as it used to and it says my adapter is "status": not present and says it's disconnected and has a max trans unit of 0
. My adapter is Wi-Fi 3 and I'm pretty sure its this one https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Archer-T4U-Wireless-Adapter/dp/B00D0AF3TA. I know its a TP-link AC1200 T4U

 

[Lutfij]

today my Wi-Fi kept disconnecting and my adapter I'm pretty sure is over 10 years old (it was given to me)
It's probably the drivers for the device or the OS acting up or that the adapter is just saying goodbye.

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

 

[bill001g]

I think in a lot of cases it is microsoft that kills them off. They make it so the device drivers no longer run on the newer version of windows. So if you can somehow stay with a old install of windows then you are talking about hardware failures. I am not sure there is any long term data from say people who keep a wifi nic for 10 years and what the failure rate is.

A huge number of people have been conned by the marketing guys that they "NEED" the newest and greatest. You have people buying new wifi equipment every year or two. The scam is sure the newest wifi has more bandwidth and will give you better speedtest numbers but in real world usage you will see no difference. The guys running torrent 24x7 of course disagree.

In your case a USB nic is more subject to physical damage since it is plug in and out of the machine. Wifi chips also run pretty warm and ones in a USB stick do not have as much cooling.

If these chips were going to run on a satelite where it costs millions of dollars to replace I am sure they can make chips that never fail. There are huge number of USB wifi nics being sold on amamzon that are better than your for $5. You could throw it away every years and still not be out much money. This is one example...do not buy this. I was going to say you could get them for under $1 direct ship from china but it seem the new import laws in the USA have put a end to that.

https://www.amazon.com/300Mbps-Adapter-Wireless-Network-Desktop/dp/B0F79PJNTY

You can get brand name ones from tplink for $10-$15 if you really want something cheap that at least you know is not a scam.

Wifi7 is still a bit pricy but you can get wifi6e internal pcie cards for $30-$40 depending on the brand.

 

[cruisetung]

I have one TP-link AC1200 T4U as well that's still kicking.

I admit I don't use it much though as most of the time I keep it disabled and use ethernet instead.

 

[Voidseeker_1]

today my Wi-Fi kept disconnecting and my adapter I'm pretty sure is over 10 years old (it was given to me)
It's probably the drivers for the device or the OS acting up or that the adapter is just saying goodbye.

When posting a thread of troubleshooting nature, it's customary to include your full system's specs. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

CPU: Ryzen 5 5600
Cooler: Cooler Master ML120 V2
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Steel Legend
Ram: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16gb 2667
GPU: RX 6600 8GB
Storage: WD Blue 2TB 7200RPM, Samsung 970 500GB, and Samsung 990 1TB
PSU: EVGA 600W 80+ white
Case: NZXT H510
OS: Windows 10 pro
Monitors: Samsung C27F398 and Samsung LF27T35
PSU is about 4 years old and BIOS ver: P.460, 10/20/22

 

[Voidseeker_1]

I think in a lot of cases it is microsoft that kills them off. They make it so the device drivers no longer run on the newer version of windows. So if you can somehow stay with a old install of windows then you are talking about hardware failures. I am not sure there is any long term data from say people who keep a wifi nic for 10 years and what the failure rate is.

A huge number of people have been conned by the marketing guys that they "NEED" the newest and greatest. You have people buying new wifi equipment every year or two. The scam is sure the newest wifi has more bandwidth and will give you better speedtest numbers but in real world usage you will see no difference. The guys running torrent 24x7 of course disagree.

In your case a USB nic is more subject to physical damage since it is plug in and out of the machine. Wifi chips also run pretty warm and ones in a USB stick do not have as much cooling.

If these chips were going to run on a satelite where it costs millions of dollars to replace I am sure they can make chips that never fail. There are huge number of USB wifi nics being sold on amamzon that are better than your for $5. You could throw it away every years and still not be out much money. This is one example...do not buy this. I was going to say you could get them for under $1 direct ship from china but it seem the new import laws in the USA have put a end to that.

https://www.amazon.com/300Mbps-Adapter-Wireless-Network-Desktop/dp/B0F79PJNTY

You can get brand name ones from tplink for $10-$15 if you really want something cheap that at least you know is not a scam.

Wifi7 is still a bit pricy but you can get wifi6e internal pcie cards for $30-$40 depending on the brand.

Ok thanks!

 

[Voidseeker_1]

I have one TP-link AC1200 T4U as well that's still kicking.

I admit I don't use it much though as most of the time I keep it disabled and use ethernet instead.

So I figured out the issue. Apparently yesterday my device somehow got disabled and after going into device manager I just re-enabled the device but am having disconnection issues