Cannot connect to wifi after upgrade to Windows 10

I had always expected a few glitches after doing an in-place upgrade from Win7 to Win10 (v21H1) on my Samsung RF511 laptop (which is a few years old but in theory capable of handling Win10). After sluggish boot-up and touchpad issues (raised in separate posts), this one is about wifi connection.

The problem is simple. No wifi. Ethernet (which uses a Realtek adapter) works fine, so my internet connection as such is good. When trying to make a wireless connection, the laptop running Win 10 "sees" the wifi link. The router is a Netgear, again not the latest model. It has WPA password-key protection. But running Win10 now, the laptop "can't connect".

The laptop has a Broadcom 802.11n network adapter. With Win7 before the upgrade, the wifi connection worked fine. When dual-booted into Linux Mint on the same machine, the wifi connection still works fine. This suggests that both the Netgear router and the Broadcom adapter hardware are operating properly. The only thing that has changed is the upgrade to Win 10.

I have run the Win10 wifi troubleshooter. I've done the standard steps it asks (switch the router off and on again...). It says there is a problem.... but offers no suggestions for how to solve it.

I have looked at the network adapter properties/drivers. The driver is v.5.100.82.95 which appears to date from 2011. It is said to be working properly. Windows Updates offers no more recent version, and trying 'update driver' in Device Manager brings the message that the installed driver is the right or best one.

The Broadcom support website is hopeless, but I did find, download and install a more recent driver - v.7.5.340.0 dated 2015. No solution - the wifi still will not connect.

A laptop that can only connect via ethernet hard-wiring is not very useful. So what else can I try in order to get a wifi connection?

Hello Denis... and thanks for those suggestions.

Just one key point to flag up. We're not talking Lenovo. A week or few ago I did indeed upgrade my Lenovo T430 laptop from Win7 to Win10, and had to seek advice in this forum on one or two things (in that case, I needed to be sure about activation as the laptop was a second-hand ex-corporate machine). I also added an mSATA SSD, and it's dual booted with Linux Mint. Broadly speaking, everything worked out pretty well.

Now I'm engaged in upgrading what has been my main daily computer.... a Samsung RF511 which I bought new in 2012 (doesn't seem that long!). It's dual boot as well, but configured slightly differently and with more OEM software and other apps that I have added over the years.

The in-place upgrade from 7 to 10 means - as I understand it - that all the drivers which worked in Win7 were retained. One or two software programs which were not compatible with Win10 were removed by the upgrade-installer (inc the Bluetooth adapter which had been OEM). I had expected that once Win10 was installed and running, Windows Update might offer or recommend more recent drivers where necessary, but none are listed....

Unfortunately the Samsung support site and community is nowhere near as useful as the Lenovo one - which is one reason I'm looking to this forum. The two immediate glitches (which are not fatal) are the fact that the touchpad won't scroll in some Win10 apps - and I have recently seen (in a separate forum thread) what the cause is. It's to do with Microsoft redesigning some important apps using UWP. Nor sure whether updating driver to newer version will help: that remains to be explored.

The other issue (this thread) is that wifi won't connect. I'll look into your ideas for tracking down alternative drivers - and then maybe the radical surgery of replacing the adapter. Problem is, the existing adapter works fine under Linux Mint dual booted on this very Samsung machine. And since I use Mint as much or more than Windows, I'm reluctant to tamper with the wifi adapter for the sake of getting Win10 to connect, if that risks messing up how Mint works with the existing setup. I just don't need Win10 so badly that I'd be willing to disrupt my Mint install which works fine....

So - on we go. I think it's what they call a learning curve!

More fragments of information from searching the internet.

When Win10 first came out (back in 2014-15?) Samsung laptops simply couldn't cope. Installation of Win10 simply hung and wouldn't complete. It seems that the Broadcom wireless adapter was a problem. There are some YouTube videos which show that if the Broadcom adapter was physically removed, then Win10 would install. But reinstating the Broadcom adapter after that was not helpful. Wifi simply didn't work.

There was apparently a similar issue with Qualcomm wireless adapters in some Samsung models too. And the impression from the many forum posts is that neither Samsung nor Microsoft were bothered to do anything to address the problem.

The solution mentioned in several forum posts - and this echoes the @Try3 approach - is to abandon the Broadcom adapter completely and insert an Intel N-7260, but with one of the terminals (#51 - Bluetooth) taped over! Not clear if there are other makes or models of adapter that would be equally good or better.

Not exactly an encouraging picture. Makes me think I should bin Win10 on this laptop and just run Linux on it. Much less faffing around! But I might do more research on the Intel card (or others) first, just to see what the alternatives are.

Hello (again!) @Bree, and welcome to another discussion I've launched about how to deal with Win10-related glitches.

Thanks for your suggestions about finding alternative Broadcom wifi drivers. Your explanation - that Device Manager doesn't go looking for driver updates but just checks what's already available within the computer - is useful.

In the wake of the Win7 to Win10 upgrade on this Samsung machine, I have needed to check if updated drivers were on offer for the wifi adapter and also (see separate thread) for a Synaptics touchpad that wouldn't always scroll. I turned to Windows Update. But in neither case did it offer more recent drivers for either the wifi or the touchpad.

The Microsoft Update Catalog is a source and reference that I wasn't previously aware of. It's useful, but tedious to search through especially where there are long lists, because you have to look at the details of each individual entry to discover whether the driver is for Dell, Acer, Toshiba, Samsung or whatever (the search function doesn't enable that kind of granularity).

In this particular case you've kindly done that for possible alternative Broadcom drivers for me. Thanks. The one you've highlighted is v.7.35.295.2. I had already found a similar option - there is a typo in my earlier post which you quoted, as the option I found was v.7.35.340.0. (I had typed just 3 instead of 35). The numbering suggests that is perhaps a slightly more recent version of the one you have flagged up. When I tried that one, it didn't work..... I do wonder whether it's worth trying the one you have identified: the problem seems to be more fundamental than just the driver-version.

I have the impression - from the many posts on various forums , and YouTube videos - that the Broadcom wifi adapter just won't work with Win10 - in Samsungs, and perhaps also in other models of laptop. The only solution seems to be to physically replace the adapter itself with an Intel 7260 or other alternative. Tedious but not impossible, and not terribly expensive. I'm pondering whether to go down that road.