Question Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Pcie adapter not detected by mobo, any ideas?

[turtleman090]

Hi
I recently bought a tp-link ax3000 archer t55e wifi bluetooth adapter for my build since my motherboard doesn't have built in Wi-Fi and ethernet is not an option. I have been using another cheap Wi-Fi adapter by tp-link and, although its low speed, been working just fine. The thing is I installed the card and it wasn't detected by windows. I assumed it was just a driver related issue so I just installed the recommended drivers. Boot up, still no detection, restart, still nothing. I opened the mobo bios and for my surprise, the card wasnt even recognized by it. From then I tried absolutely everything I could think off, changing Pcie port (mobo has 2 x1 ports and 1 pciex16), resetting BIOS, updating BIOS, reinstalling drivers, changing random BIOS config options and nothing seems to work, except from a couple attempts (like 5 out of 100 maybe) when rebooting the system and without any visible pattern, the card gets recognized and works flawlessly, both wifi and bluetooth.
I also took the card back to the store to test it and it worked fine with their stuff there, so yeah, Im completely clueless on what could be causing this.

specs btw:
MOBO: Gigabyte A520M DS3H
GPU: 3060ti fe
CPU: Ryzen 5600X
RAM: 2x8 Kingston HyperX Fury 3200
PSU: and old CoolerMaster Silent Pro M 850W

I also have an M.2 drive installed and several (4) sata hdd/sdd, I tried disconnecting all of the mentioned before and still nothing.

Thanks for the help!

UPDATE: I actually managed to find a way to get it to work on a (sort of) consistent way. It's not practical at all tho:

I first boot up the PC, then check if the card is recognized. If it's not (most probably), turn off the PC. As soon as the thing goes off, IMMEDIATELY turn it on again with barely a second in between. It will now probably show up fine and work as intended.

I would guess then that issue is power related, maybe the motherboard can't give enough energy on a single boot up? Also, I have an 850W PSU so I doubt it couldn't keep up with a single wireless adapter, I have also tried diconnecting everything else on the board other than cpu, ram, gpu and the card itself and still nothing came out of that. Any ideas on what do?

Thank you!

 

[COLGeek]

Did you connect the external cable to a USB header?

 

[turtleman090]

Did you connect the external cable to a USB header?

yup, still nothing tho

 

[COLGeek]

Is the card fitting properly into the PCIe slots? Including when you lock down via screw to the back of the case?

 

[turtleman090]

Is the card fitting properly into the PCIe slots? Including when you lock down via screw to the back of the case?

Pretty sure it is, it's actually plugged in right now but not working sadly, I'm using my other wifi adapter on the second pcie slot. I'll attach a picture bellow.

https://imgur.com/a/sRbPuoi

 

[COLGeek]

Do you have any open PCIe slots on the other side of the GPU?

 

[turtleman090]

Hi
I recently bought a tp-link ax3000 archer t55e wifi bluetooth adapter for my build since my motherboard doesn't have built in Wi-Fi and ethernet is not an option. I have been using another cheap Wi-Fi adapter by tp-link and, although its low speed, been working just fine. The thing is I installed the card and it wasn't detected by windows. I assumed it was just a driver related issue so I just installed the recommended drivers. Boot up, still no detection, restart, still nothing. I opened the mobo bios and for my surprise, the card wasnt even recognized by it. From then I tried absolutely everything I could think off, changing Pcie port (mobo has 2 x1 ports and 1 pciex16), resetting BIOS, updating BIOS, reinstalling drivers, changing random BIOS config options and nothing seems to work, except from a couple attempts (like 5 out of 100 maybe) when rebooting the system and without any visible pattern, the card gets recognized and works flawlessly, both wifi and bluetooth.
I also took the card back to the store to test it and it worked fine with their stuff there, so yeah, Im completely clueless on what could be causing this.

specs btw:
MOBO: Gigabyte A520M DS3H
GPU: 3060ti fe
CPU: Ryzen 5600X
RAM: 2x8 Kingston HyperX Fury 3200
PSU: and old CoolerMaster Silent Pro M 850W

I also have an M.2 drive installed and several (4) sata hdd/sdd, I tried disconnecting all of the mentioned before and still nothing.

Thanks for the help!

UPDATE: I actually managed to find a way to get it to work on a (sort of) consistent way. It's not practical at all tho:

I first boot up the PC, then check if the card is recognized. If it's not (most probably), turn off the PC. As soon as the thing goes off, IMMEDIATELY turn it on again with barely a second in between. It will now probably show up fine and work as intended.

I would guess then that issue is power related, maybe the motherboard can't give enough energy on a single boot up? Also, I have an 850W PSU so I doubt it couldn't keep up with a single wireless adapter, I have also tried diconnecting everything else on the board other than cpu, ram, gpu and the card itself and still nothing came out of that. Any ideas on what do?

Thank you!

 

[Paperdoc]

What you describe in your notes that it sort-of works suggests that the card itself is too slow to complete its own POST process and reply to the mobo that is IS working. Thus the mobo fails to recognize its presence. As a TEST you might try this. With the card NOT working after boot-up, go into Windows Device Manager. Look for that card in the list of devices, and it may NOT be there. Now at the top click on the very top line of the devices list, then click on Action and choose the Scan for Hardware Changes. If the card is working now after a too-long initiation, this action WILL discover the card and add it to the list. It should NOT have any yellow caution flag on it, and appear to be working normally. Exit from Device Manager and check to verify it is working now.

If that gets your card to work properly, it MAY be defective. Contact Tech Support at TP-Link for advice on whether this slow initiation behaviour is normal and how to deal with the problem it causes, or whether instead the card is defective and should be replaced under warranty.

 

[turtleman090]

What you describe in your motes that it sort-of works suggests that the card itself is too slow to complete its own POST process and reply to the mobo that is IS working. Thus the mobo fails to recognize its presence. As a TEST you might try this. With the card NOT working after boot-up, go into Windows Device Manager. Look for that card in the list of devices, and it may NOT be there. Now at the top click on the very top line of the devices list, then click on Action and choose the Scan for Hardware Changes. If the card is working now after a too-long initiation, this action WILL discover the card and add it to the list. It should NOT have any yellow caution flag on it, and appear to be working normally. Exit from Device Manager and check to verify it is working now.

If that gets your card to work properly, it MAY be defective. Contact Tech Support at TP-Link for advice on whether this slow initiation behaviour is normal and how to deal with the problem it causes, or whether instead the card is defective and should be replaced under warranty.

Ok so, i tested what you told me, felt pretty confident about it but sadly the card is not recognized even after the Scanning for new hardware action , tried a bunch of times and no luck whatsoever, although I do believe the issue has to be somewhere related or at least on the same spectrum, so thats a relief! Any other idea on how to approach this? Also, I havent contacted Tp-Links support on the issue and most definitely will soon enough, I will also test the card on other systems to check if the same issue occurs.
Thank you!

 

[Paperdoc]

If Windows cannot even detect the card with your system running, then the card is NOT working at that time. This confirms that whether or not it works is intermittent. That is NOT right! Contact TP-Link for a replacement under warranty.