[SOLVED] No Wifi After Clean Reinstall of Windows 10 Pro?

[pauly01]

I used my usb stick with windows 10 to do a clean reinstall of my maybe compromised dell xps laptop. So wanted to wipe it clean. I did the clean reinstall of windows 10 pro.


But when the screen turned on, there is no wifi connection. When you click on the bottom right corner, you see that globe which means you aren't connected to the internet. When you click on it normally, you see a bunch of wifi connections for you to connect to. Instead it shows



Network and internet settings

Airplane mode that is blank and you cannot click on it.

I went to troubleshoot and show available networks and it shows nothing.

This is what I see under device manager for network adapters and other devices

Network adapters
WAN Miniport (IKEv2)
WAN Miniport (IP)
WAN Miniport IPv6
WAN Miniport L2TP
WAN Miniport Network Monitor
WAN Miniport PPOE
WAN Miniport PPTP
WAN Miniport SSTP

These above appear to be installed? There is no yellow exclamation point or anything like that above. When I right click each one of these WAN, it shows device status this device is working properly for each one of these.

However the devices below do have yellow exclamation points and they show The drivers for this device are not installed (code 28) There are no compatible drivers for this device. To find a driver for this device, click update driver. Of course update driver does not work due to no internet.



3D Video Controller
bcm2045a0
Network Controller
pci data acquisition and signal processing controller
pci data acquisition and signal processing controller
pci device
pci memory controller
sm bus controller
unknown device
unknown device
unknown device


Can anyone explain why I have no wifi and apparently no wifi adapter driver if that maybe the case? Note, my BIOS was very old before I did this clean reinstall. I remember it was like over 5+ years old at least and I never did a bios update. I never did an update because the concern of it bricking... made me never do a bios update. Could that be a reason?


Obviously I prefer to not go this route but could this be the reason and fix it? Because shouldn't all the drivers be installed when you do a clean reinstall? My windows ten home desktop that I did clean reinstall did not have this issue. I do use a usb wifi adapter for wifi with that though.

 

[dwd999]

The windows installer has a very limited selection of supported peripherals. So it shouldn't be a surprise that your laptop's wifi is not supported right out of the box. Go to the Dell website and download all of the support files for your specific laptop version and install them.

 

[Cj-tech]

I used my usb stick with windows 10 to do a clean reinstall of my maybe compromised dell xps laptop. So wanted to wipe it clean. I did the clean reinstall of windows 10 pro.


But when the screen turned on, there is no wifi connection. When you click on the bottom right corner, you see that globe which means you aren't connected to the internet. When you click on it normally, you see a bunch of wifi connections for you to connect to. Instead it shows



Network and internet settings

Airplane mode that is blank and you cannot click on it.

I went to troubleshoot and show available networks and it shows nothing.

This is what I see under device manager for network adapters and other devices

Network adapters
WAN Miniport (IKEv2)
WAN Miniport (IP)
WAN Miniport IPv6
WAN Miniport L2TP
WAN Miniport Network Monitor
WAN Miniport PPOE
WAN Miniport PPTP
WAN Miniport SSTP

These above appear to be installed? There is no yellow exclamation point or anything like that above. When I right click each one of these WAN, it shows device status this device is working properly for each one of these.

However the devices below do have yellow exclamation points and they show The drivers for this device are not installed (code 28) There are no compatible drivers for this device. To find a driver for this device, click update driver. Of course update driver does not work due to no internet.



3D Video Controller
bcm2045a0
Network Controller
pci data acquisition and signal processing controller
pci data acquisition and signal processing controller
pci device
pci memory controller
sm bus controller
unknown device
unknown device
unknown device


Can anyone explain why I have no wifi and apparently no wifi adapter driver if that maybe the case? Note, my BIOS was very old before I did this clean reinstall. I remember it was like over 5+ years old at least and I never did a bios update. I never did an update because the concern of it bricking... made me never do a bios update. Could that be a reason?


Obviously I prefer to not go this route but could this be the reason and fix it? Because shouldn't all the drivers be installed when you do a clean reinstall? My windows ten home desktop that I did clean reinstall did not have this issue. I do use a usb wifi adapter for wifi with that though.

Try connecting to the internet over a wired Ethernet connection, then install the drivers for your WiFi card or motherboard from the manufacturer website. If you provide your full system specs, I’m sure someone can help you find the right drivers.

 

[sylas]

Or use your phone to download Win 10 x64 drivers from Dell, and then transfer to your computer via USB, then install them like normal.

 

[stevwolf]

Yes seems like a wired connection would be good to start then search for drivers.
Failing that see if you can buy a cheap WIFI Usb device. Get that installed then try finding solution. Devices with yellow exclamation. Try deleting them then windows will try to find a driver for it. Sometimes perhaps it has found wrong one or miss fired for that device. Deleting starts from scratch. But get your internet working first.