Question How to 'hard restart' a Wi-Fi adapter card.

[Inojim]

I'm running Windows 10 Pro on an older Dell desktop, and have had this problem from the start. I'm pretty sure the network adapter is just a chip or so on the motherboard, so my reference to an adapter 'card' may not be accurate.

I don't shut the computer down, just put it to sleep at night. Every now and then (2 or 3 weeks) it will wake up without access to the home network. It sees the network, displays the SSID, plenty of RSSI bars, but it just won't communicate. Restarting the computer always brings it back, no attention to the router is required, but of course this means a total computer restart, which is kind of a pain if I have left multiple files open to resume work on.

I've run the Windows adapter fix-it utility, but that never helps. Only shutting down and restarting brings things back to normal. Isn't there a way to do a hard restart on the adapter (only) without shutting down the system? Simply disabling and enabling does not do the job. All this isn't a big deal, but I'd appreciate any tips. Thanks!

 

[Ralston18]

When the Dell Desktop is working and connected to the network open Task Manager > Services.

Sort on Status so you can see all Running services. It may also help to sort Group and look for network related services.

Capture some screenshots.

Objective. The next time the network adapter fails to communicate then look again to see what, if any, services have stopped.

Compare the running network services to the original screenshots.

Look for what was running but now is not running.

May take a bit of trial and error to discover what service(s) may be the culprits.

Once the culprit is identified then you may be able to restart it by right clicking it's Status to Start or Restart.

Then the next objective is to discover why the service stops to begin with.

Which may be discovered as you delve into it as you go....

 

[bill001g]

Not sure what you have tried. If it thinks it is connected to the wifi that is majority of the hardware function. It is the wifi chip that does all encryption and basic communications. Most the other functions are the same no matter if it is ethernet or wifi.

I would first try IPCONFIG /all and see what it looks like. I would compare when it is working to when it is not.

It is common to not get ip addresses via dhcp at times.
You can try the standard ipconfig /release ipconfig /renew

What is strange is if you are actually turning off the wifi and turning it back on that should also clear all the ip information.

Does the pc have a option that it keeps the wifi active even when it is sleep mode. I would try to disable any so called power save/green option related to the wifi. I guess you could also try the reverse if they are already disabled.

 

[Inojim]

Thanks, both, for the tips! I will give both of those a try, although 'delving deeper' would probably take more effort than restarting the computer when this happens, which is really not all that often. The 2-3 week intervals suggest that a restart might be in the cards just to make the computer feel important. At its age, self-esteem may be slipping.

One question: Under Device Manager, I do have the option to 'Uninstall Device.' What is the implication here. If I click on that, will the computer reinstall it automatically when I refresh the Device Manager list? If so, that might be equivalent to a computer restart, insofar as the adapter is concerned. As an integral part of the motherboard, there seems little that can be managed behind the scenes.

Thanks, again!

 

[Ralston18]

FYI:

https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/w...missing-how-to-install-ethernet-driver-on-pc/

 

[Inojim]

Good article, Ralston18, might give those tips a try next time it happens. My situation is not a missing Wi-Fi adapter, however, it shows as 'there' and even registers bars of signal for my SSID. It just says 'unable to connect to network.' Thanks, though.

 

[Ralston18]

I do not put much faith in the accuracy or those SSID bars.

Make and model router or modem/router if combined?

= = = =

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt.

Copy and paste the results herein.

 

[Inojim]

Okay, Titan. All this is beyond me, but here's what comes up:

***********************************************************

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19045.3803]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Lab>ipconfig/all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : WINDOWS-9C6P0DA
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Schlockwood

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 12-CD-B6-51-22-D1
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 3:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 22-CD-B6-51-22-D1
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 13:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Hosted Network Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 52-CD-B6-51-22-D1
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Schlockwood
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Qualcomm QCA9565 802.11b/g/n Wireless Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 90-CD-B6-51-22-D1
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::5c88:ef4f:a212:9aac%20(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.2(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, January 4, 2024 7:19:58 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, January 11, 2024 7:19:59 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 160484790
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-22-FF-90-F3-48-4D-7E-9A-43-27
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 90-CD-B6-51-22-D2
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\Users\Lab>

***********************************************************

Of course it's all been working flawlessly since I restarted the computer, and it may work for as much as a month before anomalies raise their ugly heads. But if you see something funny here, shout out! And many thanks.

 

[Ralston18]

Two suggestions in reference to the "ipconfig /all" results:

1) disable IPv6

2) change the DNS servers to Google at 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

There may be other ideas and suggestions.