New Network Card, No WiFi

A two-hour call with Dell convinced them that my network card was failing, so the next day a tech installed a new card. No matter what I have done, no matter what a support agent did during a four-hour phone call, this new card will not find my local WiFi network, it will not even find a network I set up in the DSL modem.

I finally convinced Dell to provide, on a one-time basis, a second card, but today, they cancelled the order on the blatantly incorrect basis that our ISP was at fault. I had the ISP check, no problems found. My wife's computer is connected to WiFi, as is the printer; as part of my testing, I disconnected the router from the DSL modem, and could still print from her computer. (Why a DSL modem with WiFi and a router? I had the router set up when the previous DSL modem failed, so set up the new modem and connected it to the router, rather than entering all the MAC addresses, etc., in the new modem.)

I have read numerous ways of fixing the problem. While I am not sure of everything that the agent on the four-hour call did, I believe that she did some of the tricks of refreshing various Windows components, etc. I have run out of things to try, have more or less exhausted the on-line suggestions, etc., and have sent a detailed email to Dell outlining why it appears to me that the only thing that does not work is the new card's ability to find and use WiFi.

Next, other than applying my ten-pound sledge hammer? I even started Windows in Safe Mode with Networking, only to find that the WiFi card cannot be loaded there-and on, and on, and I'm tired, frustrated, and any assistance offered would, of course, be appreciated.

EdTittel said:

If you can, try rolling back to a restore point or backup before KB3201845 appeared on or about 12/9. There's a bug in that update which kills DHCP for many users, and causes weird networking problems -- like yours -- for others. You may have to hold off on updates for a while, but at least you'll be able to access the Internet/network. You can always revert back to a more current restore point or backup should you need to do so, so make one of each right away before you start the rollback process.
HTH,
--Ed--

Thanks, but according to this, the first article my search found:

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001048.htm


DHCP is enabled, and, of course, I did not encounter the update problem, given that the older WiFi card was working yesterday from around 0600 t0 around 1200 local, when I stopped and shutdown as I expected the tech to arrive shortly.

EdTittel said:

Rats! Sorry this offers no relief to you. Hope you find a solution. Please do let us know how your tech visit turns out, and best of luck.
--Ed--

I don't know how this will turn out: I finally convinced Dell, yesterday, to provide a second new card; this morning, again blaming the ISP, they cancelled.

The mystery and major frustration continues: Shortly after I posted my previous message, I lost internet connection, and had to run two different troubleshooters. The second one said that I had no IPV4 (or whatever it is, I'm too confused by all the problems to remember, that is my feeble excuse.) At any rate, it stated that it could fix the problem by a restart which would do several things, so restart it was, and internet connection was re-established.

The saddest part of this was that, when I tried, yet again, to access our local Wifi for the first time in many attempts, it said that is was connected and working, but promptly failed. Mega Sigh.

An email from Dell states that my case is being reopened; apparently my proof (for so I consider it,) was convincing.

A phone call from a local UPS supervisor said that drivers have been instructed, again, not to leave packages unprotected in the rain. At this time of year, it should be snowing here, not raining, but I don't know with whom to lodge a complaint.

If you get a chance, run this script on the computer and upload the log created on the desktop. https://windowsforum.com/threads/net...mation.223812/

Neemobeer said:

If you get a chance, run this script on the computer and upload the log created on the desktop. https://windowsforum.com/threads/net...mation.223812/

I ran it several times, it never created a file.

You may need to right click on the script > properties and select unblock.

Neemobeer said:

You may need to right click on the script > properties and select unblock.

I don't see anything about unblock in properties. I did, however, run the script as admin, which ran much longer than when simply clicking on it. That still goes rather quickly, of course, but I did see more than one instance of something to the effect that what was called for could not be done, and when the script ended, it still did not create a file.

The only network I have is the Ethernet one created by my plugging into the DSL modem in order to get on-line in the absence of WiFi.