No Wifi After Clean Reinstall of Windows 10 Pro?

[paulyron]

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.

[Anghammarad]

Windows doesn't have "all drivers" on board.

 

You need to download the drivers on another machine onto USB and then install them on the old XPS... 

 

 

[paulyron]

3 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

Windows doesn't have "all drivers" on board.

 

You need to download the drivers on another machine onto USB and then install them on the old XPS... 

 

 

So this is completely normal?  The thing is my windows ten desktop that I did a clean reinstall last week... that desktop is over ten years old... this did not had this issue.

 

 

This xps laptop is around 5 years old and have these issues.

 

 

How do I know what drivers exactly I need to download?  

[Anghammarad]

8 minutes ago, paulyron said:

So this is completely normal?  The thing is my windows ten desktop that I did a clean reinstall last week... that desktop is over ten years old... this did not had this issue.

 

 

This xps laptop is around 5 years old and have these issues.

 

 

How do I know what drivers exactly I need to download?  

Head to the Dell Website, go to download drivers in support, enter your device model and they will show you what they have in store. 

 

I had the same behavior at work when upgrading a few older machines to windows 10, or reinstalling some Thinkpads... not all but some. 

 

It always depends, some machines are equipped with more like "Mainstream" hardware, those drivers are included, but as soon as it gets special, it gets hairy. 

 

That is why I ususally download all current drivers for a machine, before doing a full fresh install. 

[paulyron]

7 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

Head to the Dell Website, go to download drivers in support, enter your device model and they will show you what they have in store. 

 

I had the same behavior at work when upgrading a few older machines to windows 10, or reinstalling some Thinkpads... not all but some. 

 

It always depends, some machines are equipped with more like "Mainstream" hardware, those drivers are included, but as soon as it gets special, it gets hairy. 

 

That is why I ususally download all current drivers for a machine, before doing a full fresh install. 

 

Well the issue is I cannot go online on the dell xps 15 9550 laptop.  So I need to use another computer for this?  I'm typing on another computer at the moment.  Could I use an ethernet cable and connect it to a modem with the dell xps laptop or would that not work?  What about using a usb wifi adapter that I use with my desktop which is how I go online on it.  Would that work?

 

 

But how do I know which drivers I need to download and install though?  So you recommend me using another machine and download those drivers... into a usb flash drive and then run it on this dell xps laptop?  Now if were to get online with an ethernet connection or a usb wifi adapter with it... would that actually be better?  Like when you click on upgrade driver on those things with yellow exclamation points... then it would find the drivers?  Or it still will be the same process of having to go to the dell site?

 

 

A big issue here is someone said to go to system information - components - adapter.   I do not see any wifi adapter of any sort.  Someone had told me to check this and I told them there isn't there besides microsoft debugger and WAN Miniport.  So what happens here?  It doesn't seem to show any wireless card so would this be an issue?

[Anghammarad]

8 minutes ago, paulyron said:

 

Well the issue is I cannot go online on the dell xps 15 9550 laptop.  So I need to use another computer for this?  I'm typing on another computer at the moment.  Could I use an ethernet cable and connect it to a modem with the dell xps laptop or would that not work?  What about using a usb wifi adapter that I use with my desktop which is how I go online on it.  Would that work?

 

 

But how do I know which drivers I need to download and install though?  So you recommend me using another machine and download those drivers... into a usb flash drive and then run it on this dell xps laptop?  Now if were to get online with an ethernet connection or a usb wifi adapter with it... would that actually be better?  Like when you click on upgrade driver on those things with yellow exclamation points... then it would find the drivers?  Or it still will be the same process of having to go to the dell site?

 

 

A big issue here is someone said to go to system information - components - adapter.   I do not see any wifi adapter of any sort.  Someone had told me to check this and I told them there isn't there besides microsoft debugger and WAN Miniport.  So what happens here?  It doesn't seem to show any wireless card so would this be an issue?

you could download the wifi drivers, get that working and then download the rest from the laptop itself. 

 

 

[paulyron]

1 minute ago, Anghammarad said:

you could download the wifi drivers, get that working and then download the rest from the laptop itself. 

1 minute ago, Anghammarad said:

 

So I would go here then?  Then click on network.  There is now 7 drivers for that.  I am looking at these drivers and I am pretty sure my wifi card wasn't any of these as these look to be new.  And it doesn't even show a wireless card/adapter in my computer.  So how would I figure this out then?

 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/xps-15-9550-laptop/drivers

[Anghammarad]

4 minutes ago, paulyron said:

So I would go here then?  Then click on network.  There is now 7 drivers for that.  I am looking at these drivers and I am pretty sure my wifi card wasn't any of these as these look to be new.  And it doesn't even show a wireless card/adapter in my computer.  So how would I figure this out then?

 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/xps-15-9550-laptop/drivers

The one not recognized is in your opening post the "Network Adapter" ... 

 

Which one that is I can't tell you, it depends on what you ordered. 

 

I personally would try out all of them. 

 

Don't use the installer, unzip them each in their own folder, then try to manually install the drivers for the network adapter by pointing to each drawer until windows finds the right one. 

 

With this method you won't install not working stuff. 

[Anghammarad]

23 minutes ago, paulyron said:

Could I use an ethernet cable and connect it to a modem with the dell xps laptop or would that not work?  What about using a usb wifi adapter that I use with my desktop which is how I go online on it.  Would that work?

If the Laptop has an ethernet jack, you could try. 

 

As for USB Wifi Dongles, they usually need their own drivers as well. At least the ones I used recently.

[paulyron]

22 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

The one not recognized is in your opening post the "Network Adapter" ... 

 

Which one that is I can't tell you, it depends on what you ordered. 

 

I personally would try out all of them. 

 

Don't use the installer, unzip them each in their own folder, then try to manually install the drivers for the network adapter by pointing to each drawer until windows finds the right one. 

 

With this method you won't install not working stuff. 

 

I am pretty sure the wireless card in my xps laptop is called dell something.. .or like wireless adapter 802.11 but that is now showing at all.

 

 

Only thing I see is microsoft kernel debug network adapter and I was told this isn't a wifi adapter.  The rest shows WAN Miniport etc...

[Anghammarad]

1 hour ago, paulyron said:

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

 

 

[paulyron]

2 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

 

You are telling me that is the wireless card adapter on my dell xps laptop?

 

 

When you right click it and properties, there isn't much information about it.  

 

Shows 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 drive

[Anghammarad]

31 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

The one not recognized is in your opening post the "Network Adapter" ... 

 

Which one that is I can't tell you, it depends on what you ordered. 

 

I personally would try out all of them. 

 

Don't use the installer, unzip them each in their own folder, then try to manually install the drivers for the network adapter by pointing to each drawer until windows finds the right one. 

 

With this method you won't install not working stuff. 

To quote meself ^^

[paulyron]

Do you mean network adapter in System information - network - adapter?

 

 

Or do you mean network adapter under device manager?  I am confused with which part you mean here.

 

 

 

[Anghammarad]

10 minutes ago, paulyron said:

Do you mean network adapter in System information - network - adapter?

 

 

Or do you mean network adapter under device manager?  I am confused with which part you mean here.

 

 

 

in the device manager under unrecognized/other devices... the ones Windows didn't find the drivers for.

[paulyron]

28 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

in the device manager under unrecognized/other devices... the ones Windows didn't find the drivers for.

Okay but so how I know which driver is it then?  I download all the 7 drivers under networking and install each of them until it works?

[Anghammarad]

1 hour ago, Anghammarad said:

The one not recognized is in your opening post the "Network Adapter" ... 

 

Which one that is I can't tell you, it depends on what you ordered. 

 

I personally would try out all of them. 

 

Don't use the installer, unzip them each in their own folder, then try to manually install the drivers for the network adapter by pointing to each drawer until windows finds the right one. 

 

With this method you won't install not working stuff. 

And quoting myself again... 

 

@paulyron

[Mark Kaine]

6 hours ago, Anghammarad said:

Windows doesn't have "all drivers" on board.

 

You need to download the drivers on another machine onto USB and then install them on the old XPS... 

 

 

actually if you use an ethernet connection (maybe wifi aswell) before installing windows should download all necessary drivers, even if just generic ones

 

6 hours ago, paulyron said:

My windows ten home desktop that I did clean reinstall did not have this issue

yeah, this, but for some reason it doesn't always work like that on *laptops* i had this issue too.

 

you basically have to download missing drivers from manufacturer website and then install them manually.  id start with network/wifi drivers obviously as that would make things easier. 

 

6 hours ago, paulyron said:

How do I know what drivers exactly I need to download?  

manufacturer website, exact name of the laptop,  it should show you the appropriate drivers. 

 

 

EDIT: while this probably won't help with network adapters (unless intel) i definitely used this, otherwise my laptop wouldn't function properly

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html

 

(thats if you have INTEL hardware,  of course,  which i dont know since you unfortunately didn't post specs...)

 

Sidenote: funny enough i didn't have any of these issues when i installed windows 11 on this same laptop,  all drivers (the correct ones, even outlandish Harman audio ones) were installed automatically...maybe something to try as well  - just a thought,  and no, my laptop isn't officially supported by windows 11, still worked better than 10 in regards of drivers... (i went back to 10 because I ultimately didn't like all the new and fancy 11 stuff... but it wasn't totally bad overall would personally give it a 5/10  )

[paulyron]

12 hours ago, Anghammarad said:

And quoting myself again... 

 

@paulyron

 

Okay.  So best way is to go to dell site and enter service tag.  Then which drivers do I install though?  There are many of them.  I will be doing this on another computer to download it into flash drive.  But which drivers do I need to download here?

 

 

I do have ethernet cable but the modem is way too far from it so I cannot do this.  I do have usb wireless adapter that I use for my desktop to go online because the modem is too far from it.  Could plugging this into this dell xps laptop possibly work for this?

 

 

Best option is still download all the drivers for this service tag but how I know which drivers to download and which one is needed?  Is it only the network ones or which ones?

 

 

 

[Anghammarad]

9 minutes ago, paulyron said:

 

Okay.  So best way is to go to dell site and enter service tag.  Then which drivers do I install though?  There are many of them.  I will be doing this on another computer to download it into flash drive.  But which drivers do I need to download here?

 

 

I do have ethernet cable but the modem is way too far from it so I cannot do this.  I do have usb wireless adapter that I use for my desktop to go online because the modem is too far from it.  Could plugging this into this dell xps laptop possibly work for this?

 

 

Best option is still download all the drivers for this service tag but how I know which drivers to download and which one is needed?  Is it only the network ones or which ones?

 

 

 

When you get the network running, you can download all the other drivers from teh dell website with their automated tool.

 

The USB Wifi Dongle may need its own drievrs as well, so I wouldn't get my hopes up to get that running, if you don't have a driver ready...

 

The modem being far away, well it is a laptop for crying out loud ^^ if it was a 60 pound big tower full of drives I would say "yep too far away" but a laptop... seriously? 

 

The best option, if the modem is too far away, download every network driver and test them out. 

Usually the ones missing their repsective hardware won't install. So no worries there.

[paulyron]

5 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

When you get the network running, you can download all the other drivers from teh dell website with their automated tool.

 

The USB Wifi Dongle may need its own drievrs as well, so I wouldn't get my hopes up to get that running, if you don't have a driver ready...

 

The modem being far away, well it is a laptop for crying out loud ^^ if it was a 60 pound big tower full of drives I would say "yep too far away" but a laptop... seriously? 

 

The best option, if the modem is too far away, download every network driver and test them out. 

Usually the ones missing their repsective hardware won't install. So no worries there.

 

Are you saying if I have ethernet cable to connect to modem with this dell xps laptop, I would not need to download every network driver?  Or I still have to do this?

 

But if i plan to use another computer to download these drivers... my dell desktop is what im using... then I enter my service tag on the site.  Then which drivers do I download?  There are so many of them.  That is what I'm confused about here.  

[Anghammarad]

9 minutes ago, paulyron said:

 

Are you saying if I have ethernet cable to connect to modem with this dell xps laptop, I would not need to download every network driver?  Or I still have to do this?

 

But if i plan to use another computer to download these drivers... my dell desktop is what im using... then I enter my service tag on the site.  Then which drivers do I download?  There are so many of them.  That is what I'm confused about here.  

if you download on another machine to a usb stick, download ALL Network drivers, if you want to get the network running. 

 

Then try to install them. The right one will stick... 

 

Please read what I'm telling you... it is all here from nearly the start, you are asking over and over... 

[paulyron]

21 minutes ago, Anghammarad said:

if you download on another machine to a usb stick, download ALL Network drivers, if you want to get the network running. 

 

Then try to install them. The right one will stick... 

 

Please read what I'm telling you... it is all here from nearly the start, you are asking over and over... 

 

 

Okay so I see you could manually see which drivers there is.  So when I click on network for category... it shows me 7 number of drivers

 

 

 

But only in two of these... has the words THIS PC next to it.  

 

 

 

So that has mean these are the two drivers I need to install right?

 

 

 

Names of it are

 

 

Killer 1650W/1650X/1435/1435s/1535 Wifi Controller Driver

Dell Wireless 1820A/1830 Wi-Fi Driver   THIS PC

Dell Wireless 1820A Bluetooth Driver      THIS PC

Killer Control Center Application

Intel 3165/7265/8260/8265 Wifi driver   Popular Urgent

Killer Wireless AC 1535 and 1435 Bluetooth Driver

Itel AX200/ax201/9260/65060/9462 etc Bluetooth UWD Driver Popular Urgent 

 

 

 

So download both of those THIS PC drivers to flash drive... then plug the usb to the dell xps and run these two programs to see if it solves the issue?

[paulyron]

I then notice you could click on the 

 

Show downloads for only THIS PC -  My Dell Service Tag Number

 

 

When you click on category for all... it has a total of 31 number of drivers.  If you change it to network, its only two drivers and its the ones i posted above.  So first download those two drivers for the network... then see what happens.  Then do I download the rest of these later on?  Again I want to make sure my wireless works.

[paulyron]

I downloaded those two files.  Plugged my usb in.  As I am copying the file to the usb flash drive, i get message

 

 

Are you sure you want to copy this file without its properties?

The file ........ has properties that can't be copied to the new location.

 

 

Yes Skip Or Cancel?

 

What do i click on here?  So my usb doesn't support it?