[SOLVED] No wifi after psu change?

[koray123]

I have an alienware aurora r5, and recently the original power supply has been bothering me. The fan on it is insanely loud, and has been since day 1. So, I ordered a corsair 550w power supply. I installed it today, only issue I ran into was the power supply didn’t come with a connector for my dvd drive (it was a weird small 6 pin connector) But i didnt mind it, I never use my dvd drive anyways.

So I finished putting everything back together, I hit the power button and it boots up no problem. But then I noticed that I couldn’t connect to wifi, no networks would show up, and for some reason the search bar in the start menu wouldn’t work, whenever i typed something in, nothing would pop up.

I did some research and a lot of people said to update drivers and check if “WLAN AutoConfig” was enabled. I did both of these, and nothing worked. I tried using the diagnostics tool and nothing would help. It told me Windows Wireless Service isn’t running, and when I tried to start it manually, it told me it couldn’t be started. Any help with this? I’m clueless.

 

[gmagdna]

Since the PSU housing more than less sits over the wifi card did you open the case again to make sure the card didn't get knocked lose during the swap?

Does the wifi card appear in Deice Manager? If Yes, you can try to remove and let it be found again. Not optimistic that'll help but an easy thing to try.

 

[koray123]

Since the PSU housing more than less sits over the wifi card did you open the case again to make sure the card didn't get knocked lose during the swap?

Does the wifi card appear in Deice Manager? If Yes, you can try to remove and let it be found again. Not optimistic that'll help but an easy thing to try.

Yes, the wifi card does appear, and I did open the case up to make sure it didn’t get knocked out of place. Everything looks fine, but no wifi connections will show up. When I open the device manager, it will not let me remove the card.

EDIT: I did figure out how to uninstall the card from my system. I restarted my pc and it was found again, but I still can’t get any internet connection.

 

[ko888]

Are the Main and Aux antenna wires connected to the WLAN card?

 

[koray123]

Are the Main and Aux antenna wires connected to the WLAN card?

Yes, I checked while I had the case apart, and I checked the antennas too, everything looked fine.

 

[koray123]

BTW, the first time starting up after installing the power supply I ended up getting a BSOD, but after it restarted i was no longer getting it, if that helps with anything.

 

[gmagdna]

I'm not familiar with the BIOS on that machine but have you checked to see if there's a setting for the radios there? There is such a setting in some.

In Network and Sharing>Change adapter settings is the wifi connection present? If Yes, what's the status? Guessing it's Disabled but want to be sure of the state you see.

You originally noted you "check[ed] if 'WLAN AutoConfig' was enabled ...and nothing worked". So WLAN Autoconfig is Enabled, correct? I understand Win Wireless Service would not enable.

It's the Intel 3165, correct?

Are you on Win10? If Yes, did the 1909 upgrade install? Asking because I've run across several reports of Win upgrades corrupting the R5 wifi driver.

 

[koray123]

I'm not familiar with the BIOS on that machine but have you checked to see if there's a setting for the radios there? There is such a setting in some.

In Network and Sharing>Change adapter settings is the wifi connection present? If Yes, what's the status? Guessing it's Disabled but want to be sure of the state you see.

You originally noted you "check[ed] if 'WLAN AutoConfig' was enabled ...and nothing worked". So WLAN Autoconfig is Enabled, correct? I understand Win Wireless Service would not enable.

It's the Intel 3165, correct?

Are you on Win10? If Yes, did the 1909 upgrade install? Asking because I've run across several reports of Win upgrades corrupting the R5 wifi driver.

Just checked the bios, didn’t find any setting for the radios.

Yes, the wifi adapter is present and enabled but it shows not connected.

No, WLAN Autoconfig was not running. When I tried to start it manually, it would tell me something along the lines of “The dependency service or group failed to start.”

Yes, it is the intel 3165

And yes, the 1909 upgrade was installed, but has not caused any issues until now.

I tried running chkdsk earlier and now my pc is extremely slow. I tried running src/scannow and it wouldn’t let me do that either. I am beginning to think this is a software issue rather than anything having to do with the power supply, but I am not sure.

 

[gmagdna]

software possibility is why I asked about 1909. Try running a System Restore to a point before 1909 updated?

 

[jonnyguru]

I have an alienware aurora r5, and recently the original power supply has been bothering me. The fan on it is insanely loud, and has been since day 1. So, I ordered a corsair 550w power supply. I installed it today, only issue I ran into was the power supply didn’t come with a connector for my dvd drive (it was a weird small 6 pin connector) But i didnt mind it, I never use my dvd drive anyways.

So I finished putting everything back together, I hit the power button and it boots up no problem. But then I noticed that I couldn’t connect to wifi, no networks would show up, and for some reason the search bar in the start menu wouldn’t work, whenever i typed something in, nothing would pop up.

I did some research and a lot of people said to update drivers and check if “WLAN AutoConfig” was enabled. I did both of these, and nothing worked. I tried using the diagnostics tool and nothing would help. It told me Windows Wireless Service isn’t running, and when I tried to start it manually, it told me it couldn’t be started. Any help with this? I’m clueless.

Are you sure your DVD drive power connector is the only thing missing between the original PSU and the new one?

 

[koray123]

software possibility is why I asked about 1909. Try running a System Restore to a point before 1909 updated?

Will try that once I get home, thanks.

 

[koray123]

Are you sure your DVD drive power connector is the only thing missing between the original PSU and the new one?

Yep.

 

[koray123]

software possibility is why I asked about 1909. Try running a System Restore to a point before 1909 updated?

Just tried that, didn’t have any system restore points.

 

[Adamy24]

May sound dumb at this point did you restart router. I lose connection sometimes that helps. Shut pc down first then router

 

[gmagdna]

If you still want to try therollback:

1. Press Win+I to open the Settings app.
2. Choose Update and Security.
3. Click the Update History link.
4. Click the Uninstall Updates link.
5. The Control Panel’s Installed Updates windows appears. It lists all updates that Windows monitors, which includes Windows updates as well as updates to specific programs.
6. Choose the update you want to undo. 1909 may be toward the bottom. You may see another update you want to try to uninstall first.
7. Click the Uninstall button that appears on the toolbar.
8. Not every update features the Uninstall button. Minor updates may not show the button.
9. Follow the directions provided on the screen.
10. If prompted to restart Windows, do so.

 

[bryanc723]

Do you have an ethernet cable you could connect directly to a router? You might have unknowingly damaged something or gave something a shock, and it would be a way to test if you have one. Process of elimination.

 

[jonnyguru]

If you put the Alienware PSU back in, does the WiFi work again?

 

[koray123]

If you still want to try therollback:

1. Press Win+I to open the Settings app.
2. Choose Update and Security.
3. Click the Update History link.
4. Click the Uninstall Updates link.
5. The Control Panel’s Installed Updates windows appears. It lists all updates that Windows monitors, which includes Windows updates as well as updates to specific programs.
6. Choose the update you want to undo. 1909 may be toward the bottom. You may see another update you want to try to uninstall first.
7. Click the Uninstall button that appears on the toolbar.
8. Not every update features the Uninstall button. Minor updates may not show the button.
9. Follow the directions provided on the screen.
10. If prompted to restart Windows, do so.

Just tried that, hasn’t helped.

 

[koray123]

Do you have an ethernet cable you could connect directly to a router? You might have unknowingly damaged something or gave something a shock, and it would be a way to test if you have one. Process of elimination.

Unfortunately I do not have an ethernet cable, but I will see if I can get one and I will try it.

 

[koray123]

If you put the Alienware PSU back in, does the WiFi work again?

Will try that right now.

EDIT: didn’t work

 

[koray123]

May sound dumb at this point did you restart router. I lose connection sometimes that helps. Shut pc down first then router

Just tried it, didn’t work.

 

[koray123]

I have fixed it! It must have been a software problem, I reinstalled windows and everything is working fine now. Thank you all for the help. I knew something had to be up with the software, because many features suddenly stopped working, and the computer was nearly impossible to use. I bought a new ssd (which i had planned on buying for a while) and just finished installing windows, and everything is working fine.