HP Notebook WiFi issues


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Hi i hope someone here can help. For some reason my daughter's HP Notebook WiFi has stop working and it's not showing up in device manager as you can see in the picture. I have installed drivers of different software versions but has made no difference. It's running the latest version of Windows 10 Pro (clean install). I know what adapter it is a Realtek RTL8723BE. Any help would be much appreciated. The HP is last then 2 years old if that helps. Model number 17-p100na.

device manager.jpg

Edited by Hassan Munir
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i'd recommend booting up a Linux Live CD such as Ubutnu to see if it picks up the wifi. If not it sounds like the wifi chip may have died on the board.

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1 minute ago, Brandon H said:

i'd recommend booting up a Linux Live CD such as Ubutnu to see if it picks up the wifi. If not it sounds like the wifi chip may have died on the board.

I'm with Brandon, could be the wireless card is bad/dead. Try a Ubuntu Live ISO.

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4 minutes ago, Hassan Munir said:

Hi both I never used Linux Live CD before so how do i go about this.

Know how to burn an ISO to a USB stick? And boot off the USB drive?

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10 minutes ago, Hassan Munir said:

Hi both I never used Linux Live CD before so how do i go about this.

1) Goto https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop and download a copy of Ubuntu

2) then download a copy of Rufus https://rufus.akeo.ie/

3) next, run Rufus and select the Ubuntu ISO you downloaded.

4) Insert a USB drive (warning everything on that drive will be formatted and remove! Disconnect any other USB drives currently connected to the PC so you don't accidentally erase them)

5) After the USB device is created, plug it into the laptop. (or keep it plugged in if you used that laptop to create the Ubuntu stick).

6) Then reboot the laptop and mash the F8 (or escape, depending on your hp laptop) once the screen goes black and you see the HP logo. Now select the USB drive from the list of bootable devices.

7) Then from the Ubuntu boot menu select live or something like that (haven't used it in a while).

8) Then it will boot straight into Ubuntu. At that point check to see if it detects your wifi.

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2 minutes ago, techbeck said:

Probably is, but make sure the WiFi card is not disabled in the BIOS.  Maybe update the BIOS as well.

If it worked before, why would BIOS turn it off?

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Thanks for everyone's suggestion. I just turned on the laptop and it's showing up would you believe it. As i spent all day yesterday trying to sort this out. I will keep an eye on it and will the follow the suggestions provided if it fails again. And thanks again for the help.

 

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2 minutes ago, Hassan Munir said:

Thanks for everyone's suggestion. I just turned on the laptop and it's showing up would you believe it. As i spent all day yesterday trying to sort this out. I will keep an eye on it and will the follow the suggestions provided if it fails again. And thanks again for the help.

 

Could be shorting out, too...

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4 minutes ago, Hassan Munir said:

Thanks for everyone's suggestion. I just turned on the laptop and it's showing up would you believe it. As i spent all day yesterday trying to sort this out. I will keep an eye on it and will the follow the suggestions provided if it fails again. And thanks again for the help.

 

It might be the case that it may have discharged itself while off. In the future, a good troubleshooting step is to turn the laptop off, take the battery out and unplug it. Next hold the power button down for 10 seconds. This discharges the Caps in the laptop. Sometimes this residual charge will prevent stuff from working normally, such as the wifi. Next put the battery back in, plug the power back in and turn the laptop back on.

 

If this turns into a normal occurrence it means the wiif card could still be bad, or you have some bad caps on the motherboard of the laptop.

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6 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

If it worked before, why would BIOS turn it off?

Maybe he was poking around in the BIOS and accidentally turned it off.  Not the first time a user has done this.  Was just another option as one of the reasons why Windows does not even see the card other than it being broken is that it is turned off in the BIOS

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I never touched the BIOS when it was not working only when I had decided to install a fresh copy of Win10 from a USB stick. And it still wasn't showing up then.

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7 minutes ago, techbeck said:

Maybe he was poking around in the BIOS and accidentally turned it off.  Not the first time a user has done this.  Was just another option as one of the reasons why Windows does not even see the card other than it being broken is that it is turned off in the BIOS


Oh, yeah, I never thought of that... OK, good point.

 

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Is there a physical switch, or button that allows the user to disable the wifi? Maybe this was pressed on accident and turned the wifi off. Older models it was literally a little switch near the palm rest, newer laptops it was a physical button near the f-keys or above them and I think the newer computers bundle the wifi switch with the "airplane" mode button. Check that out.

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42 minutes ago, Hassan Munir said:

Hi both I never used Linux Live CD before so how do i go about this.

If you have a spare USB drive I'd recommend throwing the Ubuntu ISO on there with this tool

 

https://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

 

super easy to use and works like a charm :)

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8 minutes ago, Circaflex said:

Is there a physical switch, or button that allows the user to disable the wifi? Maybe this was pressed on accident and turned the wifi off. Older models it was literally a little switch near the palm rest, newer laptops it was a physical button near the f-keys or above them and I think the newer computers bundle the wifi switch with the "airplane" mode button. Check that out.

If the physical switch was flipped, should still appear in device manager.  Same for airplane mode.

21 minutes ago, Hassan Munir said:

I never touched the BIOS when it was not working only when I had decided to install a fresh copy of Win10 from a USB stick. And it still wasn't showing up then.

Ok, just checking.  Wouldnt be a bad idea to make sure the BIOS is up to date anyway.

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1 minute ago, techbeck said:

If the physical switch was flipped, should still appear in device manager.  Same for airplane mode.

not true on all laptops. HP especially has had physical wifi switches that actually powered off the wifi chip on their laptops so this is actually good to check. (remembering my sisters Vista HP Laptop had this)

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Just now, Brandon H said:

not true on all laptops. HP especially has had physical wifi switches that actually powered off the wifi chip on their laptops so this is actually good to check. (remembering my sisters Vista HP Laptop had this)

huh, maybe certain models then.  Have not seen this myself.  Good to know.

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40 minutes ago, techbeck said:

Maybe he was poking around in the BIOS and accidentally turned it off.  Not the first time a user has done this.  Was just another option as one of the reasons why Windows does not even see the card other than it being broken is that it is turned off in the BIOS

Oh the hardware wifi switch is engaged somewhere on the laptop.

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