Disconnected Network Adapter

Topic

Just transitioned from SURFACE Pro 4 to Pro 7. On the target machine, the network adapter for my Wi-Fi is showing in Device Manager as disconnected. No information on how to do that??? Driver is installed and current. HELP!!!

 

D. Eager

Replies

Some things to check:
Is there an external WiFi on/off switch or F-key WiFi off combination?
Under Network & Sharing – adapter properties, is the WiFi card disabled? Status of the Wifi connection (turned on)?
In the Action Center, is Airplane Mode turned on?
Have you joined the network with the correct SSID and entered the correct password?
Is there an Ethernet connection? Sometimes that will turn off WiFi connections.

No known switch.

No Wi-Fi entry in Network & Sharing.

No airplane mode.

Can’t join the network as no networks are listed.

No Ethernet.

Thought I sent this reply earlier, but don’t know where it went???

Check locations shown in screen shots. The Control Panel shot shows my Ethernet – yours should show WiFi Adapter.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Kirsty

I keep entering replies here but they never show up in the thread. Anyway, here’s the second attempt.

When I access Control Panel I don’t see a Network & Internet item.

If I go into Settings, I see a Network & Internet item. Under that category, I see only the following: Status, Dial-up, VPN, Data Usage and Proxy. Under Status, it says “Not Connected.” Troubleshoot doesn’t work.

When I access Control  Panel>Network & Sharing Center, I see: “You are not connected to any networks.” If I click on “Set up a new connection or network” I see: “Choose a connection option” with choices: “Connect to the Internet, Set up a new network and Connect to a workplace.”

Connect to the Internet>Next results in: “Windows did not detect any networking hardware.”

Set up a new network>Next results in: “Choose the wireless router or access point you want to configure.” “It might take up to 90 seconds for unconfigured devices on your network to appear.” Waited 3 minutes and nothing appeared.

Device Manager has only 8 WAN Miniport items listed. At one point the hardware I’m trying to connect, Marvell AVASTAR Wireless – AC Network Controller, was found under View>Show hidden devices. Was unable to permanently unhide it. Then I made what was probably a big mistake of deleting it, in the hope it could be reloaded. Dumb move since I have no Internet connection. When it was available, it showed that the driver was installed and was current.

Really stressing out…

doneager wrote:

When I access Control Panel>Network & Sharing Center, I see: “You are not connected to any networks.” If I click on “Set up a new connection or network” I see: “Choose a connection option” with choices: “Connect to the Internet, Set up a new network and Connect to a workplace.”

That is not what the arrows are pointing to in the second screenshot.

In Device Manager, if there is no listing for “Network Adapters,” your WiFi card may be missing in action.
Click on Action->Scan for hardware changes. If it shows you a choice for network, follow the directions.

Ultimately, the latest drivers I found on the MS Catalog 9/24/2019 are here.

Forgot to mention that clicking the Notifications icon at lower right of screen displays only: Tablet mode, All settings, Connect and Network. No Wi-Fi or Bluetooth icons.

I just typed a response to you last post but it has again been lost. When I went to submit it, I got the I’m not a robot thing. Maybe I wasn’t signed in??? Signed in and input apparently lost. Don’t know how to recover my work. Spent a considerable time on it and I’m reaching my breaking point. Have to calm down before I try to re-construct and re-enter…

If you get the “I’m not a Robot” thing, you are not signed in.
Before you sign in, open Notepad and copy your input to it.
Then sign in and copy it back into an entry box.

Every time you leave a page, you lose any entry.
That’s why your message disappeared.
(How do you suppose I know that?   )

OK, signed in now. I’ll try to re-construct what I lost.

Sorry I made the mistake re the Control Panel instructions.

When I open Control Panel>N&SC>Change adapted settings, it displays an empty folder.

In Device Manager>Action, I get Help, no Scan.

Can’t get the driver from Catalog since I have no Internet on the target Surface. I could also get the driver using my Driver Genius app if I had a connection. Is it possible to download the driver to a USB flash and transfer it from the old machine to the new?

Just to reiterate from my initial post on this issue. The initial problem with the Device Manager entry for the Network adapter was that it was “Not Connected.” No info on what that meant or how to connect the device. The driver was reported as current.

So, since I originally had a good driver but the device was not connected, will re-installing the driver have any effect on the not connected issue?

I hope this covers everything in the lost message!

Regards,
D. Eager

doneager wrote:

Can’t get the driver from Catalog since I have no Internet on the target Surface. I could also get the driver using my Driver Genius app if I had a connection. Is it possible to download the driver to a USB flash and transfer it from the old machine to the new?

Absolutely. put it on a USB stick and transfer it to the PC.

There is a possibility the network card is bad, of course.
If the driver doesn’t solve the issue, you could buy a USB WiFi adapter to give you a connection. They are cheap, the size of the mini transmitters for a WiFi mouse.

One thing I didn’t ask – it the Surface 7 under warranty?
If so, you should be able to get a replacement if the card is bad.

Surface is BRAND new. Had only a few weeks. Been working on transitioning stuff from old Pro 4.  So far, it seems everything was moved successfully, except for this Wi-Fi and the Bluetooth problems. Even though under warranty, I don’t see how I could be without it for how ever long it would take to get repaired. Very upsetting if it turns out to be bad hardware out of the box!

Regarding the replacement of the driver, I found it in the catalog, same version as was on old machine. Downloaded to old machine. It is a ZIP file that went to my downloads folder. Not sure what to do with it now to get it over to the new machine. Should I extract it before copying over? Once it is over, either extracted or not, where does it need to be pasted?

Copy the .zip to a Flash drive/USB drive and then copy it from there to the 7.

I can copy ZIP file from Downloads folder on old PC to flash drive. No problem. To where should I copy it on the new one? Once it’s there, what should I do with it?

Sorry!

I looked at USB Wi-Fi adapters on line. I need a USB-3 unit. They are priced all over the place for like $15 to $100+. Any specific recommendations should I end up having to go that route?

If you end up needing a USB wifi adapter, I’ve had good success with Panda Wireless. I wasn’t sure which of their products to get, so I emailed customer support asking for a recommendation. After describing my situation they came back with a couple recommendations. I wound up with a PAU06.

I’m not affiliated with Panda in any way, and I’m sure there are other good adapters out there.

PKCano,

I have found another thing that’s not working on the new PRO 7. No touchscreen. Only shows in Device Manager as hidden. I’m beginning to think these problems may not be hardware, but a bad migration of Windows 10 Pro (1909) from the PRO 4. I moved the OS using Macrium Reflect 7, along with all files and apps, which was NOT the way we previously discussed. It seemed to work OK as the PRO 7 shows the correct build.

I have a 1909 Pro ISO on my old machine which I could transfer to a USB flash drive and transfer it to the PRO 4 to replace what’s there. Would you recommend trying this or is there a better solution? If you think this will work, I’d like to send you the procedure I’ve written to install the OS using an ISO to see if is correct. I have not been able to transfer the Windows 10 Pro license to the PRO 7 since no Internet on it.

Don E.

doneager wrote:

I’m beginning to think these problems may not be hardware, but a bad migration of Windows 10 Pro (1909) from the PRO 4. I moved the OS using Macrium Reflect 7, along with all files and apps, which was NOT the way we previously discussed. It seemed to work OK as the PRO 7 shows the correct build.

Yes, well, that is probably the problem. That is the reason I suggested you use the other method.
Build has nothing to do with it. When you migrated the 4 to the 7, you migrated all the 4 drivers and did away with the correct drivers for the 7. I don’t believe, now that you tell me that, that there is a problem with the 7’s hardware. I think the problem is, that the 7 is trying to use the 4’s drivers to run the 7’s hardware. If the hardware is not the same, there you go.

You can fight the drivers and see if you can straighten things out. You need to get a list off the web or your documentation of the 7’s hardware. Then you need to go through Device Manager and see if it matches you list. If not you need to get the right drivers and install them.
OR
You will not have to take the 4 back on line. But you can start over.
Here’s what I would recommend is:
+ Restore the 7’s image from before you began.
+ Transfer the Pro license key to the Surface 7. That will give Win7 1903 Pro on the Surface 7. You hopefully will not have to activate again if you have already activated the the Pro license on the 7. BUT, you may have to go through MS to transfer the license (again).
+ After transferring the license, use Group Policy on the Surface 7 Win v1903 Pro to control the upgrade to v1909 Pro. You can use TargetReleaseVersion = 1909. It should guarantee you get v1909 (instead of v2004 or v20H3). This can be done through Windows Update.
+ Once you are on v1909 Pro on the Surface 7, you can reinstall your programs and copy your data over from the Surface 4 offline.

PKCano wrote:

I am no a fan of “moving” programs. I’m not sure you can do this with out problems. Copying the data should be a piece of cake.

I was assured by Macrium tech support that the drivers, etc. would migrate with no problem. I guess they were wrong. I am unaware of any significant differences in the hardware between the Pro Pro 7, but there might be some. I went with the Macrium solution to avoid having to re-install all the apps and data. I was advised that it was not possible to transfer everything except the OS, so I chose what seemed to be the easy way out. Live and learn!

So, what to do now?

I have the Macrium image from the Pro 7 before any changes were made to it on a USB, so should be able to restore it using Macrium.

I have NOT transferred the Pro license to the Pro 7. I should be able to complete that step.
I think I can complete the upgrade to 1909 Pro as recommended.
The final step is the problem. I don’t know specifically what I’ll have to do to transfer all programs and data. Can I create an all files and folders backup (less the OS-related folders) on the Pro 4 using a USB and Macrium to get the apps and data, then restore that to the Pro 7?

If that won’t work, is there any shortcut for the apps? Can transfer the data by just doing a copy of C:/Users/<my id> to a USB, then pasting it to C: on the Pro 7? I think you recommended that before.

Mod Edit for HTML

Don’t worry about the programs and data until you get the rest going. That is the last task on the list above. Get the license transferred so you have 1903 Pro, then the upgrade to 1909 Pro done. Come back for help with the programs and data.

I did a quick comparison between Device Manager and Belarc Advisor. I only found four items that are in Belarc but not in DM. But there are many things in DM that aren’t in Belarc. Not sure what that means. Matching up what’s installed with what’s supposed to be installed might be too hard.

Before doing anything else, can we try to recover the missing Network Adapter that I erroneously deleted and see if that will at least get back Internet on the Pro 7? As I mentioned before, I have downloaded it from the Catalog to the Pro 4. I can copy the ZIP files to a USB and try to move them to the Pro 7, but I don’t know where to copy them. I also don’t know what to do with them once they’re copied. I just spent $60 for a USB Wireless Adapter, which I don’t want to unpack if I don’t need it so it can be returned to Best Buy.

Create a folder on the 7’s desktop
Copy the .zip to that folder.
If it’s a self extracting .zip, it may install the drivers.
If it’s not, extract it into the folder where the .zip is and let us know what files are there.

Thanks, but never mind. I have restored the OS on the Pro 7 to 1903 Home. Will be proceeding with your recommended steps tomorrow. I’m burned out for today!

Don E.

I have run into my first question on upgrading Windows on the Pro 7 to 1903 Pro from Home.

Went to System>About and found the link to change the Product Key. Clicked it and entered the key. Did not work. From what I’ve read elsewhere, I may need to de-activate Pro on the old machine first. Is this the case? If so, this raises another issue. I still am using Outlook on the old machine for email since I had on Internet on the Pro 7. You advised not to connect to the Internet after de-activation. Therefore, it would appear that I’d be incommunicado. Would transferring Office 2019 to the Pro 7 first solve this issue? I had already moved the license over there since Office was migrated by the Macrium image installation. But with the re-set done last night, I’m sure that’s gone.

By the way, do you think it might be a good idea to start a new thread for this process? We’re long past the network adapter issue and this one is getting really long.

You already have that Topic started here.
Let’s move back there.
I will be back online in about 4 hours.
Let me see, in the meantime, if I can come up with another approach.

Assuming you have restored the 1903 Home on the 7. Does the WiFi work on it now or had you already deleted the controller?

Moved over to the other thread with subject updating from Home 1903 to Pro 1909.