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Pending OP Response Dell Inspiron XPS 13 9310 - Wifi not working after disassembly

Jake501

Jake501

PCHF Member
Jun 8, 2024
8
0
29
#1
I recently took apart a coworkers Dell Inspiron XPS 13 9310 to apply some new thermal paste due to the fans being very loud when using it.

I wore an anti-static strap, used all the right tools to open it up, using a plastic pic with a guard to ensure i did not insert it too far when opening up the housing. I disconnected the battery during the repair. The repair fixed the fan noise, but after successfully booting back up windows will not allow me to turn the wifi on and it is not detecting the network.

Under device manager it shows the network adapter as detectable and working properly. The driver and network card is made by Killer.

I opened it back up making sure I had not damaged the antenna, network card, or anything else in that area and I had not. Other troubleshooting steps I have done:

  • Restarted the PC
  • Ran windows diagnostic on the wifi (said the wifi is not turned on, but when I hit the switch to turn it on it just immediately turns it back off).
  • Reset the network settings.
  • Tried restarting windows with only the necessary processes.
  • Tried both updating and using on drivers for the card.
For some reason the option to restore to a previous restore point of windows it not available. Complete factory reset is a last resort. What am I missing here? It seems like a software or setting issue, but happened right after taking it apart and disconnecting the battery.
 
#2
Do you have any Internet icon on the taskbar.

Have you made sure that Airplane mode is not enabled.

Do you have an Ethernet cable that you can use to connect the notebook to the Internet.
 
#3
phillpower2 said:
Do you have any Internet icon on the taskbar.

Have you made sure that Airplane mode is not enabled.

Do you have an Ethernet cable that you can use to connect the notebook to the Internet.
Click to expand...
1. The icon on the taskbar is the world symbol with a dash thru it indicating no networks connected. When I try to enable the wifi sliding button it just automatically switches it back off.

2. Yes I have turned airplane mode on and off to see if that resets anything.

3. By this evening I will, this model XPS only has two usb-c ports on it besides the charging port. So I havbe a USB ethernet port on pickup from bestbuy, and a USB to USB-c converter that Im going to use to hopefully be able to get on the internet with it. Then maybe I can search for drivers and use the more indepth troubleshooting tools.
 
#4
Jake501 said:
3. By this evening I will, this model XPS only has two usb-c ports on it besides the charging port. So I havbe a USB ethernet port on pickup from bestbuy, and a USB to USB-c converter that Im going to use to hopefully be able to get on the internet with it. Then maybe I can search for drivers and use the more indepth troubleshooting tools.
Click to expand...

Good plan if needs be but first off have you checked that WiFi is enabled in the BIOS and what about asking around to see if you can borrow a USB WiFi dongle.
 
#5
phillpower2 said:
Good plan if needs be but first off have you checked that WiFi is enabled in the BIOS and what about asking around to see if you can borrow a USB WiFi dongle.
Click to expand...
I did check and make sure wifi was enabled in bios and no luck. I asked a few people i thought might have one in their repair kit but no dice. Itll be something good for me to have so I dont need to wait next time.
 
#6
Yep handy to have but hindsight is a wonderful thing and you were not to know.

Are you sure that the WiFi is the Rivet Killer version and not the alternative Intel, if yes, see the thread here
 
#7
phillpower2 said:
Yep handy to have but hindsight is a wonderful thing and you were not to know.

Are you sure that the WiFi is the Rivet Killer version and not the alternative Intel, if yes, see the thread here
Click to expand...
Yep, definitely the killer version. I actually tried several things on that thread first, specifically the part of loading it with BIOS defaults, sadly that did not fix the issue for me. Thanks for the link though, when I found that, I was very hopeful!

If there was damage to the hardware how would windows indicate that? Device manager shows the hardware is reporting fine, but not sure if that is the case or if its a software issue that happened after having the battery uninstalled for a few minutes.
 
#8
I believe that rather than it being a NIC the device is actually a chip on the MB so no chance of a loose cable or ribbon and being that it is detected by the BIOS and Windows it would normally suggest a software issue.

Have you tried uninstalling the device in Device Manager and then restarting the computer to see if it gets detected.

Can I ask that you do not quote every reply as we have to read the full post to make sure nothing gets missed,, thanks.
 
#9
Bit of an update for new things I have tried:
  1. Tried enabling and disabling in device mangager
  2. Tried uninstalling and restarting, it did detect the device and it was visible after restart but still not allowing me to switch on wifi.
  3. I deleted and redownloaded the driver from dells website for that specific make/model.
  4. Updated to latest version of Windows 11 and most current bios update provided by Dell.
  5. Turned the WLAN controller from manual to automatically on.
  6. Restarted the PC with all non-essential services turned off to make sure nothing software related was bugging it.
However, under wifi I still am unable to turn on the wifi. Im at my wits end here... what am I missing?
 
#12
Malnutrition said:
Were you able to get a usb dongle wifi adapter to test and see if you are able to go online via that method?

Is it connecting via Ethernet?

Make sure the wifi enable button is not stuck or any trash is behind the board causing it to toggle on/off

Click to expand...
Yes I did get the USB ethernet dongle and was able to connect to the internet with it, I was able to run more troubleshooters, update the bios, and update the current drivers for the Killer Wifi card.

I also got a wifi usb dongle that worked to get it connected to wireless.

I dont think its a physical wifi-enable button, in my post Im talking about the digital one on the task bar at the bottom right. However, Ill take a closer look and make sure something isnt up with a physical button.
 
#13
OK...
Can you run this tool for me once with the new usb dongle connected, and once while trying top connect via the onboard Killer Wifi card.

Please download MiniToolBox and save it to your desktop.
Run the program by right clicking on it and selecting Run as administrator.
When the program opens check mark Select All Then hit GO
Please post the log in your next reply. Attach or copy and paste, whatever is easier for you.
 
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