WiFi disabled/not showing on Win11 laptop

[The_Doman]

Couldn't find the wifi adaptor in the list under Network adaptor:


[Attachment 82116 - Click to enlarge]

It could be hidden I suppose, but why?.

If there is no WiFi device listed in the device manager, airplane buttons then won't work too of course.

May be read this here?

TenForums: Wifi adapter completely disappeared, not listed in Device Manager

It was solved by just going into the UEFI bios and then saving without changing anything?

[johns0]

Did you look in your bios to see if wifi was disabled?

[ProWo]

This is the key to activate your Wifi.


[Attachment 82148 - Click to enlarge]

[techmot]

This is the key to activate your Wifi.


[Attachment 82148 - Click to enlarge]

Tried that but doesn't work, it just turned off airplane or turns it on.

[ProWo]

If you turn off airplane, then WiFi is activated.
Turn it off and wait a minute.

[techmot]

Did you look in your bios to see if wifi was disabled?

How do I go into the bios?

[techmot]

If you turn off airplane, then WiFi is activated.
Turn it off and wait a minute.

Turning off airplane and waiting a minute does not activate wifi, nothing happens.

[ProWo]

If you turn off airplane, then WiFi is activated.
Turn it off and wait a minute.

Turning off airplane and waiting a minute does not activate wifi, nothing happens.

And with Fn+F7?

open a command window and type:
ipconfig

Post the result.

[techmot]

If you turn off airplane, then WiFi is activated.
Turn it off and wait a minute.

Turning off airplane and waiting a minute does not activate wifi, nothing happens.

And with Fn+F7?

open a command window and type:
ipconfig

Post the result.

Pressing Fn+F7 together does nothing only F7 on its own turns on/off airplane mode.

Tried the ipconfig in a command window, it says:

Ethernet adaptor Ethernet 2:

Media State Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix

[ProWo]

Turn off airplane mode with F7.
Open device manager, action, search for changed hardware.
Check, if the wifi adapter is added.

[techmot]

Turn off airplane mode with F7.
Open device manager, action, search for changed hardware.
Check, if the wifi adapter is added.

Where does it say action and changed hardware in device manager?.

[ProWo]

Turn off airplane mode with F7.
Open device manager, action, search for changed hardware.
Check, if the wifi adapter is added.

Where does it say action and changed hardware in device manager?.

Click on your computer name (the top entry) and then click the Monitor Icon above.

[techmot]

Turn off airplane mode with F7.
Open device manager, action, search for changed hardware.
Check, if the wifi adapter is added.

Where does it say action and changed hardware in device manager?.

Click on your computer name (the top entry) and then click the Monitor Icon above.

I've no idea sorry

[ProWo]

Turn off airplane mode with F7.
Open device manager, action, search for changed hardware.
Check, if the wifi adapter is added.

Where does it say action and changed hardware in device manager?.

Click on your computer name (the top entry) and then click the Monitor Icon above.

I've no idea sorry

Open device manager, left click on the top entry in the device list (should be your laptops name).
Above appears a monitor icon (like a tv, on the right).
Left click this icon.


[Attachment 82164 - Click to enlarge]

[techmot]

Turn off airplane mode with F7.
Open device manager, action, search for changed hardware.
Check, if the wifi adapter is added.

Where does it say action and changed hardware in device manager?.

Click on your computer name (the top entry) and then click the Monitor Icon above.

I've no idea sorry

Open device manager, left click on the top entry in the device list (should be your laptops name).
Above appears a monitor icon (like a tv, on the right).
Left click this icon.


[Attachment 82164 - Click to enlarge]

I clicked on the monitor icon at the top right in device manager but all it does is a very quicky scan, that's it. I must be doing something. I do wonder whether a VPN I have installed (Windscribe VPN) may be causing the problem.

[ProWo]

I do wonder why a VPN I have installed (Windscribe VPN) may be causing the problem.

That could be...
Ask her support.

[techmot]

I do wonder why a VPN I have installed (Windscribe VPN) may be causing the problem.

That could be...
Ask her support.

I don't know what else could be the problem as I've check device manager and done everything suggested but the wifi adaptor still doesn't appear under Network adaptors.

[october262]

I do wonder why a VPN I have installed (Windscribe VPN) may be causing the problem.

That could be...
Ask her support.

I don't know what else could be the problem as I've check device manager and done everything suggested but the wifi adaptor still doesn't appear under Network adaptors.

connect your laptop to an Ethernet cable - check with windows update and see if it'll reinstall the wifi adapter.

Search for and open Device Manager.
Expand Firmware.
Double-click System Firmware.
Select the Driver tab.
Click Update Driver.
Click Search automatically for drivers.
Wait for the update to download and then follow the instructions.

[Cornucopia]

Did you look in your bios to see if wifi was disabled?

How do I go into the bios?

Lenovo support shows the way: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/cr/en/products/LAPTOPS-AND-NETBOOKS/IDEAPAD-S-SERIES-NETB...%20-%20ideapad

I still think it's somehow turned off in BIOS (UEFI or Legacy). If it is, it wouldn't show up as "disabled", it just wouldn't show up, and that's what you're experiencing, so that supports that supposition.

If you can't get it going from there, you should be either:
1. Checking w/ Lenovo support directly yourself
2. Reinstalling Windows from scratch (wiping the whole drive first - make sure you DL the whole suite of drivers specific to your device from Lenovo first, because you'll need them when installing). If this last one is too difficult for you, you should be letting a professional do it for you.


Scott

[techmot]

Did you look in your bios to see if wifi was disabled?

How do I go into the bios?

Lenovo support shows the way: https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/cr/en/products/LAPTOPS-AND-NETBOOKS/IDEAPAD-S-SERIES-NETB...%20-%20ideapad

I still think it's somehow turned off in BIOS (UEFI or Legacy). If it is, it wouldn't show up as "disabled", it just wouldn't show up, and that's what you're experiencing, so that supports that supposition.

If you can't get it going from there, you should be either:
1. Checking w/ Lenovo support directly yourself
2. Reinstalling Windows from scratch (wiping the whole drive first - make sure you DL the whole suite of drivers specific to your device from Lenovo first, because you'll need them when installing). If this last one is too difficult for you, you should be letting a professional do it for you.


Scott

I don't cherish the thought of having to reinstall Windows and start from scratch. If it has been turned off in BIOS then why did it do that when all I did was shut down?.

[Cornucopia]

Dude, who knows what happened at this point.


Scott

[The_Doman]

I don't cherish the thought of having to reinstall Windows and start from scratch. If it has been turned off in BIOS then why did it do that when all I did was shut down?.

The problem is known with more (lenovo) Laptops.
Even possible the adapter just died.

You tried the steps to go in bios as mentioned earlier?

TenForums: Wifi adapter completely disappeared, not listed in Device Manager

It was solved by just going into the UEFI bios and then saving without changing anything?

Yes reinstalling you want to avoid unless as very last option.
In this situation i would make a backup image first or use another scratch SSD/HDD to test a clean install, but i can understand that is not an option to do for many.

You can try a USB boot Linux/WinPE and see if it detects/enables the Wifi?

Instead of a Linux boot disk there are also many Windows WinPe Rescue USB's to recover and copy your data to a safe place.
A good well known and now legal one is of course the Hirens BootCD WinPE version.

Hiren’s BootCD PE

There are sure lot's of Windows WinPE based rescue/recovery USB's available.
But the best WinPE for me is still Sergei Strelec's WinPE
But the legality of all the included programs of many of those WInPE's is of course dubious.

[Cornucopia]

Another thing you could try would be to get an external network adapter (USB-->wifi and/or USB-->ethernet). Those always come in handy, even if you get your original working again.


Scott

[cholla]

Even possible the adapter just died.

That is what the problem was when my laptop wifi quit.
My laptop is not a Lenovo though.

Another thing you could try would be to get an external network adapter (USB-->wifi and/or USB-->ethernet). Those always come in handy, even if you get your original working again.
Scott

I had one of those that was an antenna also.
I used it for a while when the wifi internal card was failing.
It plugged in the USB port but it was not very well made & a bump did it in.
I have another one that I use for my HTPC.
It can be used on my laptop if I need to test it.
The new internal network card only took about 10 minutes or less to install.

[ProWo]

Try all this solutions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mp3ImCs3d4&themeRefresh=1

[techmot]

I tried the first option in the above video by clicking on device manager and clicking "check for hardware changes", and the list under Network adaptors showed the Network adaptor but it appeared greyed out. But it didn't fix the problem. I then rebooted up and did the same again but this time, after clicking check for hardware changes, the wireless adaptor wasn't listed. i haven't tried the other options because it seems to complicated to do.

Can anyone tell me how I get into the BIOS as I haven't a clue how to do this.

[ProWo]

Can anyone tell me how I get into the BIOS as I haven't a clue how to do this.

Read the manual for the function key to enter UEFI. Could be F2, ESC, F9 or others.
Shut down your laptop. Wait until all lights are out. Then press the start button and then the function key several times.
If you have the correct key, you enter the UEFI.
Go through the various menu items there, but be careful and do not change anything. Only when you find a menu item for WiFi or Wlan and this is turned off, then turn it on, go to exit and confirm save and exit.

[The_Doman]

Can anyone tell me how I get into the BIOS as I haven't a clue how to do this.

You can do this also from within Windows itself:
TenForums: Boot to UEFI Firmware Settings from inside Windows 10

Don't accidentally change settings you not know about.
First try as suggested in that earlier link:

It was solved by just going into the UEFI bios and then saving without changing anything?

[techmot]

Here's a WiFi note referring to your model on Lenovo website:

https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/us/en/products/laptops-and-netbooks/1-series/1-11igl05/81...reless-network

Also on some Lenovo's the WiFi symbol on the keyboard is an airplane symbol.

According to the model specs, pressing F2 after powering ON after shutting down should get into the BIOS, but for some reason it's not doing this on my Lenovo, it just goes into the startup and log-in screen. I've seen a video with the same model and it's supposed to be F2 and nothing else. I've gone into safe mode and possibly the BIOS as well on my older laptops many times (Acer and Toshiba Satellite) using the appropriate function key, and I've never had a problem getting into it by pressing the key until it appears.

Yes on my machine there is an airplane symbol, but it doesn't turn on the wifi just turns on or turns off airplane mode.

[ProWo]

According to the model specs, pressing F2 after powering ON after shutting down should get into the BIOS, but for some reason it's not doing this on my Lenovo, it just goes into the startup and log-in screen

Press Fn+F2 together after powering on.