How to setup a WIFI connection.

I had upgraded to Win10, but it locked-up my monitor (don't ask), so I had to wipe the hard drive and reinstall Win8.1 in order to get my display to work. Before, in Win8.1 and in Win10, my internet connection was working. Now Win8.1 says "your PC is not connected to the internet" and is asking for an Ethernet connector, which I don't have. I thought Windows would automatically detect my WIFI signal. But in "connect to the internet" the only options are Broadband (PPPOE) and Dial-up. My phone detects the WIFI automatically. Why won't Windows?

In Win8.1, how can I setup a WIFI connection and get access to the internet, so I can download Win10 again? (Without an Ethernet connection, because the Router is in another room)


PS___The WIFI is currently working on this WinXP computer right next to the Win8 & Win10 PC

You have to load the driver for your WiFi network adapter.

NavyLCDR said:

You have to load the driver for your WiFi network adapter.

I tried that three times. Each time I got the install error "unsuccessful". Shouldn't Windows already have drivers for WIFI?

jhearcht said:

I tried that three times. Each time I got the install error "unsuccessful". Shouldn't Windows already have drivers for WIFI?

Not always. What WiFi adapter are you using? Sometimes the regular setup.exe method to install the driver won't work, especially if it is an older version of the driver for Windows 7 or even before. (The WiFi adapter driver I have installed on my desktop is a Vista driver). You have to extract the driver and point Windows 8 to it in Device Manager, right click on the WiFi adapter, update driver, browse my computer, and if that doesn't work then Let me pick from a list of device drivers, have disk.

When the computer was new, with Win8.1 already installed, I didn't have to add any drivers in order to setup the WIFI connection. The current build of Win8.1, installed from a disk, seems to be slightly different from the first. The driver downloaded from Dell was supposed to be self-installing, but it was unsuccessful.

According to Device Manager I have three network adapters : 2 bluetooth, and one Realtek PCIe GBE family controller. It seems to be an Ethernet controller, and it has a MS driver. Nothing about a WIFI adapter.

There is also a Network Controller and the status is "the drivers for this device are not installed (code 28)". If I had a network connection, I'd just click to update the driver. Unfortunately there is no information about the manufacturer or a model number. So I can't look for it on the net on my other PC. I'll contact Dell again to see if they can think of something else to try. Thanks for the help.

jhearcht said:

When the computer was new, with Win8.1 already installed, I didn't have to add any drivers in order to setup the WIFI connection.

Because the manufacturer driver, likely supplied by Dell was already installed at the factory.

jhearcht said:

The current build of Win8.1, installed from a disk, seems to be slightly different from the first. The driver downloaded from Dell was supposed to be self-installing, but it was unsuccessful.

If it is a generic plain old Windows 8.1 disk, it may not have all the drivers supplied by the manufacturer that would be included on a system specific restore disk.

jhearcht said:

According to Device Manager I have three network adapters : 2 bluetooth, and one Realtek PCIe GBE family controller. It seems to be an Ethernet controller, and it has a MS driver. Nothing about a WIFI adapter.

There is also a Network Controller and the status is "the drivers for this device are not installed (code 28)". If I had a network connection, I'd just click to update the driver. Unfortunately there is no information about the manufacturer or a model number. So I can't look for it on the net on my other PC. I'll contact Dell again to see if they can think of something else to try. Thanks for the help.

The Realtek PCIe GBE family controller is the wired Ethernet controller. The Network Controller with drivers for this device are not installed is the WiFi controller. Right click on it in device manager, then properties, details tab, under properties select hardware ids, and copy the top one that looks something like : PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8176&SUBSYS_169F103C&REV_01". Paste it into google and you can probably find the model number of the WiFi controller so you can find a driver for it.

NavyLCDR said:

The Realtek PCIe GBE family controller is the wired Ethernet controller. The Network Controller with drivers for this device are not installed is the WiFi controller. Right click on it in device manager, then properties, details tab, under properties select hardware ids, and copy the top one that looks something like : PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_8176&SUBSYS_169F103C&REV_01". Paste it into google and you can probably find the model number of the WiFi controller so you can find a driver for it.

LCDR, Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, it led me to the same driver I had downloaded from DELL. And this one too, said "install unsuccessful", with no indication of what the problem is. I'm still waiting for DELL support to suggest a new approach.

jhearcht said:

LCDR, Thanks for the information. Unfortunately, it led me to the same driver I had downloaded from DELL. And this one too, said "install unsuccessful", with no indication of what the problem is. I'm still waiting for DELL support to suggest a new approach.

Did the drivers extract themselves somewhere on your hard drive? If so, right click on the adapter that needs drivers in device manager, update driver software, browse my computer, then you can try the browse button and point it to the folder where the drivers extracted to and hope.

If that doesn't work, instead of clicking the browse button, click the bottom option for Let me pick from a list, and then browse to the .inf file somewhere inside the folders the drivers extracted to and then pick what looks like the correct WiFi adapter. You are probably going to be looking for a Win8 or Win7 or even Vista folder, or maybe an x86 or 64 folder.

Point me to the driver you are trying to install and I can try to figure out what you have to do with it.

The downloaded driver, is DW1705, which when opened says it's for Windows7 instead of Win8. Could that be why it won't install? But under View Details it says : This package provides the driver for the Dell Wi-Fi DW1705 and is supported on the Inspiron 670s running the following Windows operating systems: Windows 8.1
Here's the data from the website :
Dell Wireless 1705 Driver View details 3647_Network_Driver_T26XH_WN_10.0.0.263_A00.EXE | Update Package for Microsoft® Windows® (272 MB)
Network |
Release date 06 Jan 2014
| Last Updated 06 Jan 2014

This time, instead of clicking Install, I clicked Extract. This put a set of icons on desktop. One is labelled "drivers". I clicked that and found a folder labelled "WLAN driver". That contains three files, and one is a system file. But I see no way to automatically install it.

I don't see a .inf file anywhere. There is a Setup.exe file under the Install CD icon. Clicking that begins the install process. But then the error message : "The installer cannot run on this platform." But the downloaded file was listed under Win8.1 on the website, and is the one recommended by tech support. Under the Config icon, and parameters, it says "win7/win8/vista/XP". But it also says "os=win7".

On the website, after I select Win8.1 as the OS, a warning box says "OS not supported". But that may be because it has detected the WinXP system that I am using for the download, which I then transfer via Flashdrive. Anyway I'm confused, and the tech hasn't gotten back to me. I guess he was off on Sunday.

I'll have to wait until I get home after work to download and look at the driver. In the meantime, try right clicking on the setup program and run it in compatibility mode for Windows 7.