crwdns2936637:0crwdne2936637:0 crwdns2853008:0crwdne2853008:0 crwdns2861143:0crwdne2861143:0

A wide range of repair guides and support for the consumer-grade laptop computer line by Toshiba.

crwdns2934591:0978crwdne2934591:0 crwdns2934593:0crwdne2934593:0

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

Why is the WLAN driver disabled and greyed out with wifi missing?

I am helping a friend fix his computer but I have been battling with the problem for over 5hours.

It's a Toshiba Satellite laptop, model P50-C-11v

The wifi icon is not displayed on the taskbar.

It is not found when searched for.

No WLAN driver. Once downloaded and installed, it doesn't appear.

I have gone to gpedit.msc to enable and disable the “remove icon…”, and reverted to its initial stage. None could fix it.

I have gone to services as an administrator to start the WLAN manager, WLAN Autoconfig, and wifi manager, and restarted the system, to no avail.

I went to bios settings, entered advanced settings and security, I couldn't find anything related to wifi or WLAN there which is not enabled. I saw LAN and it's enabled.

I solved a similar problem on a Lenovo system through the Bios settings, I enabled the i/o port access under security there but I am finding it hard to solve the same issue on Toshiba.

Running Windows Update Assistant did not solve it.

Resetting the system did not solve it.

I went to device manager and selected show hidden drivers. I found the WLAN driver there. I scanned the network adapter for hardware changes, reset the system but still can't find the wifi or WLAN connection in the system.

I need help here please.see photo

Laptop model: Toshiba P50-C-11V.

....... OS: Windows 10 pro version 21H1

Update (06/28/2021)

Block Image

Block Image

Here are some photos

@jayeff @tomchai

crwdns2934089:0crwdne2934089:0 crwdns2934093:0crwdne2934093:0

crwdns2934109:0crwdne2934109:0

crwdns2853045:0crwdne2853045:0 crwdns2853046:0crwdne2853046:0
crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 1
crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2933315:03crwdne2933315:0

crwdns2934221:0crwdne2934221:0
crwdns2931211:0crwdne2931211:0 crwdns2931215:0crwdne2931215:0 crwdns2934225:0crwdne2934225:0
crwdns2934057:0crwdne2934057:0

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

Hi,

What is the status of the WLAN adapter in Device Manager > right click on adapter entry > Properties > General > device status box?

Does it say that this device is working properly?

If so, try resetting the network stack (not sure if this is what you meant when you said that you "reset the system")

Type cmd in the Windows search box on the Taskbar and then click on "run as administrator"

In the Command window, type the following commands one at a time and then hit Enter after each command

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /renew

netsh int ip reset

netsh winsock reset

Yes there is a space before the / symbol in some of the commands

Then restart the laptop and check the WiFi

crwdns2934105:0crwdne2934105:0

crwdns2853045:0crwdne2853045:0 crwdns2853046:0crwdne2853046:0
crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 1

crwdns2944067:010crwdne2944067:0:

@jayeff Initially when we checked the drivers using drivers updater, we discovered the adapter and some others were outdated. So we updated them. But the Realtek WLAN adapter was hidden, and we selected show hidden adapter and scanned for hardware changes. This too didn't resolve the problem. I suggested resetting of the winsock in the cmd by typing “netsh winsock reset” and pressing Enter. This restarted the system but didn't fix it.

So I will tell him to try your suggestion for resetting the winsock. Please stay in touch for my feedback. Thanks.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@CEO CEO

Did you check the status of the adapter in Device Manager as I suggested, you didn't say?

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@jayeff it says "this hardware device is not connected to your computer, code 45. To fix this problem, reconnect the hardware to the computer".

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@CEO CEO

You may have to open the laptop and check that the WLAN card is securely inserted or perhaps it may be faulty.

I'm not sure if your laptop even has a removable WLAN card or if the WiFi IC is mounted on the motherboard. I've been looking at images of P50 motherboards but can't see a suitable socket for it on the board.

In any event you'll soon know because there should be antenna cables plugged into it or the motherboard as usually the antennas are in the lid behind the LCD screen and come down through the hinge to the motherboard area.

If there is a removable WLAN card the make and model number should be shown on the card. Use that information to find suppliers for a replacement

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@jayeff someone experienced this in Lenovo, and tried every procedure on the internet, did lot of scanning, used Windows Update Assistant, etc but could not. I was able to resolve it from the bios. But I can't find how to resolve this in the Toshiba bios settings.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

crwdns2934275:05crwdne2934275:0

crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

Forget about the driver, does the device itself appear in the device manager?

If there is no device, why would installing the driver help?

crwdns2934105:0crwdne2934105:0

crwdns2853045:0crwdne2853045:0 crwdns2853046:0crwdne2853046:0
crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 1

crwdns2944067:04crwdne2944067:0:

@tomchai please what do you mean by if the device itself appears in the device manager? I don't understand that. I said the WLAN driver appears in the device manager but at first it was hidden until I made selected show hidden drivers, but still not working.

@jayeff remember I said some computers are faced with this issue nowadays due to Windows update. It's like there's a bug with Windows after update.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@CEO CEO the driver does not matter if the device itself isn’t connected to anything. If there is no device, no driver or OS level operation can get the Wi-Fi to work.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@CEO CEO

Try rolling back the update and check if it works then.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@jayeff okay. I actually suggested he does a system reset, he said he had done it but no wasn't solved.

@tomchai do you mean the system might not have an inbuilt wLAN card?

Again, remember I said someone experienced this on Lenovo and he tried all there was, likewise I tried lot of procedures but to no avail until I went to the bios settings to resolve it. Do you still think the inbuilt wLAN card (hardware) might be missing from its place?

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

Some Toshiba laptops from ~2010 and newer have a WLAN whitelist that isn’t honest about its presence like the IBM and HP ones before they gave up on it. Is the card a Toshiba specific card with the right FCC ID? If not, that’s what they like to use a lot of the time to see.

Try another card that’s super obviously not from Toshiba (think like pulling a card from a Dell or HP, and putting in the Toshiba) and see what it does - if it happens then, it’s a WL issue most likely. If not, the card may be defective.

crwdns2934105:0crwdne2934105:0

crwdns2853045:0crwdne2853045:0 crwdns2853046:0crwdne2853046:0
crwdns2889612:0crwdne2889612:0 0

crwdns2944067:02crwdne2944067:0:

Thanks @nick . I discovered in the device manager, under network adapters, there's no WLAN adapter but once an external USB wifi is plugged in, it shows but doesn't work still.

Now let's forget about the external USB, why doesn't the device manager have a WLAN driver? Why does it refuse to install the right adapters downloaded and tried to be installed?

Even when you go to searchbox and type wifi, you won't see any result of a wifi being a component of the system.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

@CEO CEO Yeah not a WL issue in that case - it's probably a issue with the install of Windows. See if he's okay with erasing the laptop and doing a reinstall; rule out software early since it even refused one that isn't tied to the UEFI firmware.

You may also want to try another card and see, but it may need a reinstall.

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

crwdns2934285:0crwdne2934285:0

crwdns2934229:0crwdne2934229:0

CEO CEO crwdns2934231:0crwdne2934231:0
crwdns2936625:0crwdne2936625:0:

crwdns2936751:024crwdne2936751:0 1

crwdns2936753:07crwdne2936753:0 6

crwdns2936753:030crwdne2936753:0 21

crwdns2942667:0crwdne2942667:0 993