[SOLVED] WiFi reinstall problems ?

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emcee2

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Once upon a time… I had working wifi, not so much anymore.

Quick background, then on to the problem. I live in a small log cabin near(ish) to the Canadian border. Which is relevant because that means I have a satellite connection to the internet. For several years that meant a thin trickle of data supplied from HughesNet’s satellite system. Then came Starlink to the rescue, and I love it. I get soooooo much more for less money. I got in on the beta and have been happy ever since, until my original dish (aka Dishy McFlatface) quit dishing. After I sent off a quick message to Starlink they said my dish was bad and they would sent me a refurbished model 2 dish as a replacement. It took awhile to arrive, but once it did, all was fine, except for my PC. Both Macs, all of the phones and tablets in the house and the Android TV all came back to life right away. Not so much for the PC. I’ve now made it worse by following a couple YouTube “experts” (files were deleted that I wish had not been) and now I’m here with hat in hand…

The wifi is not working. At this point, I’ve attempted to reinstall drivers but they do not show up. The device Manager does not list any WIFI devices, even after “Show hidden devices” and “Scan for hardware changes”. There is no WIFI under “Network Connections.” A ping to “ping 127.1.1.1” returns as excepted.

I’m still new to PCs and am clearly in over my head. I tried a reinstall of Win 10 today (with the keep data and apps setting) but no joy.

Looking for any help I can find.

System info below.
Thanks,
 
Solution
I don't see any wifi or Bluetooth. They are built into the motherboard and not PCI cards per say. (Holding out hope) Should they still show up on one of these lists?

Code:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ lsusb
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 0bc2:2344 Seagate RSS LLC Portable
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1462:7c84 Micro Star International MYSTIC LIGHT
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 05e3:0626 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB3.1 Hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0bda:0411...

letmepicyou

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I suspect they have 2 models. When you look at the photos they have some with blue antenna and some without.
Hard to say I have been trying to find the FCCID which is always the way to know for sure what they are selling but have not been successful.
I mean, even it's not WiFi6, it still should be pretty fast. Most people couldn't tell the difference. And a lot depends on the router, anyway.
 

letmepicyou

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I guess I was wondering why it was such a good price. It is even better if it is actually wifi6e. It seems to definitely be a wifi6 card that can do 160mhz. That along with the external antenna connectors make it great deal.
The sale ends tomorrow, I'd jump now if anyone wants it.

It has a magnetic base for all of you folks out there with steel desks...or walls...or something. Not sure what that's about, but ok.:LOL:
 

letmepicyou

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Amazon has it also for a bit cheaper with their coupon. It is very strange because a lot of the amazon ads put the chipset part numbers but the wavlink site itself does not. The chipset part numbers they list do actually run wifi6e.
Yeah it's like $32 at Amazon, that's a pretty good deal. Amazon site says they were first available June of 2022. Maybe they're pushing them out the door for the next model release???
 
It is very confusing because it clearly says it runs wifi6e on the 6g radio channel but it only says it can run 1200. That means it is only running 80mhz radio channels and that is also the specs you see for mt7921k chip.
The part on the wavlink site talks about running 2400 on 5g which means it supports 160mhz radio channels. The M.2 card version wavtek sells is using a intel chipset and which does run 160mhz radio channels.

I am wondering if they switched to a medtec chipset and put a 6g radio on it. The newer intel chip ax210 run on 6g at 160mhz channels.

Doesn't really matter a lot it is a great price for a wifi card with external antenna even if you ignore the wifi6 and wifi6e and just use it as wifi5. It is just really strange.
 

emcee2

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Those are pretty much your worst options....well I guess you could have linked the unknown brands from china that sell for $5.

Those devices are sold to be used where the small portable size and low battery consumption are more important than performance. They have tiny antenna and tend to have low power transmitters.

Best is going to be a PCI card that has antenna extension that let you place the antenna on top of the case. Next would be a pci card even with the antenna close to the case are still large antenna. PCIE cards almost always transmit at full power.

For USB it is a bit harder since a lot of them are still designed for portable use where saving power is important. The ones that tend to be your best bet are unit that come with a USB extension cable and the ability to mount the unit away from the machine. They tend to be physically larger but still small compared to say the antennas you see on a pcie card.
No open PCI slots. Larger size is okay, will sit on desk next to router.
 

emcee2

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That is not a bad price for a wifi6 device. What is very strange is on their web site they say wifi6e but when you read the specs it only runs on 2.4 and 5 which means it can't be wifi6e. Not sure if they are just idiots or are intentionally trying to be deceptive
The Starlink router is wifi5 not wifi6. So there's that.
 

emcee2

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Is using a riser card an option in your system?
I don't think so, the Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini is fairly tight. Looking closer, that card is pretty small, it would only partially block one of the three fans of the GPU. Maybe it would be okay.

This thread has also sparked my interest in Linux, would drivers for Linux be a problem?

EDITED: There is a riser card for $80 with one extension cable, a second cable would be another $70 plus the wifi card. Ouch!
 
Last edited:

letmepicyou

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I don't think so, the Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini is fairly tight. Looking closer, that card is pretty small, it would only partially block one of the three fans of the GPU. Maybe it would be okay.

This thread has also sparked my interest in Linux, would drivers for Linux be a problem?

EDITED: There is a riser card for $80 with one extension cable, a second cable would be another $70 plus the wifi card. Ouch!
Why not put the wifi card on a riser? You can get an x1 riser cable for like $15.
 

emcee2

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If I wasn't a gamer, I would use Linux exclusively.
I ordered a wifi pci card and a pci cable extension to keep the wifi card from blocking a GPU fan. Once I receive and install everything, I think I'm going to install Linux and give it a work out. I'll start a new thread asking for guidance. I'll try to remember to attach a note to this thread pointing towards it. Thanks for your help with my issues.
 

letmepicyou

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I ordered a wifi pci card and a pci cable extension to keep the wifi card from blocking a GPU fan. Once I receive and install everything, I think I'm going to install Linux and give it a work out. I'll start a new thread asking for guidance. I'll try to remember to attach a note to this thread pointing towards it. Thanks for your help with my issues.
No problem.