Wifi Adapter Disconnects on HP Envy X360 13?

[Emberstone]

Hey there. I just purchased an HP Envy X360 13 with Ryzen mobile in it, and there's a slight quirk I haven't been able to resolve. Occasionally, the system will boot with no wifi adapter detected. When this happens, it won't even show in the Device Manager as Windows considers it to be completely disconnected. I learned this by enabling Show Hidden Devices in there, and it reappears greyed out. When checking its properties, Windows says it isn't connected. Shutting down (not a restart) seems to resolve the issue every time on the next boot, and wifi functionality resumes as normal. My wifi adapter correctly shows in the Device Manager and gives proper connectivity.

 

I've tried updating the driver through my HP Support Assistant utility to get the HP recommended driver.

I've tried using the Intel update utility afterward to get an even newer version of the driver.

I've tried disabling fast boot in order to get a cold boot each time, to no avail.

 

My wifi adapter in this machine is an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265, if that helps. I've tried Googling, but I can't seem to find anyone with this exact same issue. Wifi works fine, but it seems like every other time I boot the computer, I have to shut it down and boot again fresh in order to get my wifi back.

 

Any ideas?

[iamdarkyoshi]

I've had nothing but issues with the 726x series wifi cards. I'd suggest replacing it but HP likes to lock out "unauthorized" wifi cards...

 

Might be worth trying to RMA it.

[Emberstone]

2 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

I've had nothing but issues with the 726x series wifi cards. I'd suggest replacing it but HP likes to lock out "unauthorized" wifi cards...

 

Might be worth trying to RMA it.

I was hoping it wouldn't have to go that far. I got a unit with basically a perfect display (no dead pixels, no uniformity issues, no backlight bleed), and I fear my luck would run out if I swapped units.

 

I seem to have incredibly bad luck with laptops. Something is defective every time I buy one. Usually the display.

[iamdarkyoshi]

2 minutes ago, Emberstone said:

I was hoping it wouldn't have to go that far. I got a unit with basically a perfect display (no dead pixels, no uniformity issues, no backlight bleed), and I fear my luck would run out if I swapped units.

 

I seem to have incredibly bad luck with laptops. Something is defective every time I buy one. Usually the display.

What happens if you disable fast startup?

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-windows-10-fast-startup

[Emberstone]

2 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

What happens if you disable fast startup?

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-windows-10-fast-startup

Nothing changes. I've already done this, as is noted in my OP.

 

I noticed something in the startup tab of my Task Manager: HP Radio Manager. Googled it, and it seems to be a controller for a hardware wifi switch, which my laptop does not have. It doesn't even have a function key shortcut for one beyond airplane mode, which is entirely different.

 

So I disabled that and will try rebooting several times.

[Emberstone]

9 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

What happens if you disable fast startup?

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-disable-windows-10-fast-startup

(Sorry for the double post.)

 

Update to my last post. I stopped HP Radio Manager from loading at startup, and I seem to have wifi enabled on startup after four cold boots. Might not be 100% proof of it being fixed since I don't know the root cause, but I'll update the thread if the situation changes.

[iamdarkyoshi]

2 minutes ago, Emberstone said:

(Sorry for the double post.)

 

Update to my last post. I stopped HP Radio Manager from loading at startup, and I seem to have wifi enabled on startup after four cold boots. Might not be 100% proof of it being fixed since I don't know the root cause, but I'll update the thread if the situation changes.

Those wifi cards need all the stars aligned to work properly.

 

Hopefully it stays working.

[Emberstone]

4 hours ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

Those wifi cards need all the stars aligned to work properly.

 

Hopefully it stays working.

Nope. It failed to work upon booting again. Worked after a shutdown and then restart.

 

I've noticed a bit of a pattern, though. If the laptop has been sitting turned off for an hour or more, when turned back on it will almost certainly fail to show my wifi adapter. Like residual electricity on the board or something is helping to get the wifi card "jumpstarted."

 

Additionally, if it won't show unless it is fully powered down rather than simply restarted, this is sounding more like a hardware problem, isn't it? Since PCIe devices require a full shutdown before the computer will recognize them.

 

Contacting HP support now.

 

Edit:

 

I talked to an HP tech support person through their chat app which also allows for remote access, and he adjusted some console parameters for the wifi driver as well as updating to a newer BIOS version than what was being provided through the HP Support Assistant. Once again, I haven't had any issues with the wifi immediately, but I'll give the system an hour or so to sit like I did a little bit ago before I check again. If I can leave it be for like two hours and it still shows wifi, then I can probably call this resolved.

[Emberstone]

Yeah, even after the HP dude messed with it, it still disconnects. Something is wrong.

 

Edit: I did some googling in general about PCIe cards not being recognized on a cold boot, but are available after a warm boot. Turns out, it's likely due to the chipset not giving the wifi card the needed delay it needs to fully turn on by the time the system can boot, resulting in a missing device.

 

So this likely isn't dead hardware. This is just a badly made card matched up with a BIOS that doesn't play nicely with it. If this is the case (which seems likely as this is pretty widespread with Intel Wireless AC adapters according to my Google), an RMA won't make a shread of difference unless the other model I get uses a different wireless adapter. I bet the Australia model Hardware Unboxed reviewed used a Realtek adapter or something as he didn't have any issues.

 

I'm going to try something a little bit whacky. I'm going to add a POST delay to the boot sequence via the BIOS. I wonder if that will give the card time to kick in before Windows starts booting, but that will have to wait until I wake up as I'm getting pretty friggin tired.

[Emberstone]

Adding a BIOS delay didn't make a difference. It probably isn't the proper kind of delay then.

 

Well, I'm fucked.

[iamdarkyoshi]

46 minutes ago, Emberstone said:

Adding a BIOS delay didn't make a difference. It probably isn't the proper kind of delay then.

 

Well, I'm fucked.

You could try replacing the wifi adapter with one made for the machine, slight chance that its just a faulty adapter 

[Emberstone]

24 minutes ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

You could try replacing the wifi adapter with one made for the machine, slight chance that its just a faulty adapter 

Do you know if the wifi adapter can be replaced in a system like this? It's pretty small. There are two visible screws on the bottom (not phillips; star-shaped), but I'm not sure if there are others hidden beneath the rubber feet.

 

Since this is a newer computer, I can't find a disassembly guide.

 

Also, I checked out the system builder for this model on HP's website, there are indeed two different network adapters available. I'm not sure what the other one is as it's unbranded, but the other one is the more expensive Intel one. (I actually bought this at Best Buy since HP isn't shipping out new ones until mid-September, so I didn't have that choice).

[Emberstone]

On 8/19/2018 at 2:32 PM, iamdarkyoshi said:

You could try replacing the wifi adapter with one made for the machine, slight chance that its just a faulty adapter 

Well, an update. I shipped the computer out to an HP repair center on August 21st and got it back earlier today.

 

It was returned to me as "no trouble found; no parts replaced."

 

And now that it is back in my hands, miraculously the wireless adapter has begun missing from the Device Manager again on cold boots, until I restart. I wasted two weeks for nothing, and now I can't even return the computer to Best Buy because it's out of my 15 days (despite being told it would only be a 5 day repair). I even spoke personally to the "repairman" who serviced my computer, and he couldn't see what is wrong despite my explicit instructions in reproducing the issue, which work each time for me (let the computer sit for 1+ hours, then try booting it).

 

When my warranty ends, I'm just going to replace the card myself. Screw dealing with companies. In the meantime, I just hold the power button down immediately after turning it on, to shut it off quickly, then turn it back on. That workaround fixes it each time at the cost of a 5-10 second longer startup time.

 

I'm at a loss as to why HP never experienced this with my unit. I know the distinction between "not connecting to a network" and "no wireless card at all." And this is clearly the latter when the issue occurs. The Device Manager says it all.

[iamdarkyoshi]

3 hours ago, Emberstone said:

Well, an update. I shipped the computer out to an HP repair center on August 21st and got it back earlier today.

 

It was returned to me as "no trouble found; no parts replaced."

 

And now that it is back in my hands, miraculously the wireless adapter has begun missing from the Device Manager again on cold boots, until I restart. I wasted two weeks for nothing, and now I can't even return the computer to Best Buy because it's out of my 15 days (despite being told it would only be a 5 day repair). I even spoke personally to the "repairman" who serviced my computer, and he couldn't see what is wrong despite my explicit instructions in reproducing the issue, which work each time for me (let the computer sit for 1+ hours, then try booting it).

 

When my warranty ends, I'm just going to replace the card myself. Screw dealing with companies. In the meantime, I just hold the power button down immediately after turning it on, to shut it off quickly, then turn it back on. That workaround fixes it each time at the cost of a 5-10 second longer startup time.

 

I'm at a loss as to why HP never experienced this with my unit. I know the distinction between "not connecting to a network" and "no wireless card at all." And this is clearly the latter when the issue occurs. The Device Manager says it all.

Very bizarre. Shame they didn't really care about helping, seems typical of HP though... 

[Jimmy McGill]

Hey Emberstone, any updates on the computer? I have the same model and it's giving me the same problem. The review page for that model on Best Buy is flooded with problems with the Wi-Fi card.

[Emberstone]

20 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

Hey Emberstone, any updates on the computer? I have the same model and it's giving me the same problem. The review page for that model on Best Buy is flooded with problems with the Wi-Fi card.

I haven't had any luck. On the latest BIOS, I will now get a black screen on a cold boot rather than booting up with no wifi, unless I hold the power button to shut down and then turn it back on. Then it functions as normal like before. Basically, instead of booting with no wifi, it just stays at a black screen unless I perform the same workaround.

 

That leads me to believe that the latest BIOS knows exactly what hardware should be found inside the PC, but when it isn't getting the wifi card to respond, it holds up the POST sequence.

 

Essentially, what I'm getting at is this particular wifi card is borked. I'd suggest doing some research to figure out exactly what other model comes in it (because you can order it with a different brand of wifi card), buying it, and replacing it with that. The wifi card is not soldered to the motherboard.

 

Alternatively, you could try buying an Intel Wireless AC 7265 on Amazon for like $15 or $20 and replacing it, to see if that fixes it. The Best Buy reviews don't mention our specific issue, just that their wifi drops occasionally (which, last I knew, was actually a software bug that eventually got fixed if they would actually run the damn HP updates on their system). So we both could've just gotten similarly defective wifi cards. Isn't out of the realm of possibility.

 

Overall, though, I'm actually pretty happy with the laptop. I'm going to replace the card myself when my warranty ends (just in case something much more noticeable breaks, like the screen, keyboard, etc.).

[Manny UX]

I've done all that too and HP replaced the wifi card with another AC 7265 model, and still did not work. I found a guy on Amazon with the same problem and he purchased a different wifi card which he claims fixed his problem. I'm looking for the site where I found it, then will post it on here.

 

[Emberstone]

On 11/4/2018 at 4:26 PM, Manny UX said:

I've done all that too and HP replaced the wifi card with another AC 7265 model, and still did not work. I found a guy on Amazon with the same problem and he purchased a different wifi card which he claims fixed his problem. I'm looking for the site where I found it, then will post it on here.

 

If you still have the issue, random update. The latest BIOS released a few days ago fixes the issue. It specifically addresses dropping WiFi cards on certain models. I no longer have cold boot problems with my machine since updating to the latest BIOS.