Question Windows 11 Wireless Network Adapter Disappears

[Ron C 50]

In December I purchased two HP laptops with Windows 11 installed. Both laptops are exhibiting the same behavior. The wireless network adapter disappears (is not displayed in device manager). I can go through HP online support and reinstall the driver but the next day it's gone again. What's going on?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Models for both laptops? SKU's for said laptop would help us two fold. Did you manually install the drivers in an elevated command, Right click installer>Run as Administrator?

 

[Ron C 50]

Both laptops: HP 15-inch Laptop, 15-dy2024nr, 11th Generation Intel Core i5-1135G7, Intel Iris Xe Graphics, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, Windows 11 Home

Going through HP online customer support, the driver was downloaded and installed for me. When the adapter disappeared again, I tried to re-install the driver (run as administrator) but the driver does not install.

Adapter: MediaTek MT7921 Wi-Fi 6 802.11axPCle Adapter

Downloaded driver: Mediatek WiFiDriver Windows 11- sp128710.exe

 

[Ron C 50]

Also have tried a flush and winsock reset as well as a network reset in Advanced Network Settings

 

[dwd999]

Did you go through all of the Control Panel Power Options to make sure everything is set to High Performance and Maximum Performance? Also did you go through the Device Manager settings for your network adapter and make sure the Power Management option "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" is NOT checked?

 

[Ron C 50]

I had been using a TP-Link USB adapter to get internet access while I worked through this and now the USB adapter doesn't work (not activated when I plug it in). I got a different USB adapter and plugged it in and it works.

 

[Ron C 50]

I changed the power options setting from balanced to best performance. I'm trying to get the wireless adapter reinstalled so I can verify the power setting.

Did you go through all of the Control Panel Power Options to make sure everything is set to High Performance and Maximum Performance? Also did you go through the Device Manager settings for your network adapter and make sure the Power Management option "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" is NOT checked?

 

[Ron C 50]

Just to tie this thread up, I got with HP chat support and we did several things. Updated the BIOS; updated the hardware. Did not resolve the problem. Reset the laptop with a fresh Windows download and install. Did not resolve the problem. So I got an RMA from HP and the laptop is going in for repair.

 

[iPossumX]

For anyone with this issue who lands here, I think it's a hardware problem, not a software problem. My Gf fired up her laptop last night and had no wifi options. I was suspicious as the Network Adapter disappeared entirely from device manager. I popped the bottom of the case off and this is what I found:
HP plants a rigid plastic sticker on their WiFi card that extends over the antenna wire connections. I don't know if its from heat, or what, but this plastic piece kind of, folds up. The stick um used to hold it onto the WiFi card stays in place, but where the card sits over the antenna connections it pulls up a bit and had detached the black wire from the WiFi card. It was as simple as pushing down on it and reseating the antenna wire to the card itself.

I couldn't believe how common this problem is. Based on a quick google search, just about anyone with an HP laptop built in the last 5 years has run into this. It's an easy fix, all you need is a small screw driver and to know what the WiFi card looks like (small card with a black and a white wire lead attached to it)

Hope this helps

CS