Dell Venue 8 Pro WiFi Issue

Nice work Auri - thanks for the info.  This re-enabled my wi-fi. 

Thanks!

I just want to confirm I am having the same issues with my two new Dell Venue Pro 11's . I have fixed the issue temporarily by not installing the 7595 Microsoft update and re-installing the WiFi driver. I seriously hope Dell has a driver update very soon. This is beyond ridiculous.

Thank you.  This also fixed my venue8.  I worked fine for a day then was dead to the world.  I tried a number of things unsuccessfully before finding this post.

I reset the machine back to factory settings.

I went to support/dell and installed latest firmware/bios and dell updates.  these all seemed to worked fine.

I made a restore point then tried to run the Windows updates that the MY DELL app told me were urgent. 

This killed the machine

Note:  make sure you change the default PC SETTINGS  > UPDATE AND RECOVERY' > Choose how updates get installed > to NOT automatically update windows. 

Sure glad I did not buy this tablet for my mother.

I uninstalled KB2887595 and rebooted and didn't have KB2903939 installed, however when I attempted to download Adobe Photoshop (a 460MB file), experienced the same WiFi issue as before. It dropped out in the middle of the download. The WiFi shows on but doesn't show any available signals (and there are a dozen in my area.) Nothing but a full reboot brings it back.

So that doesn't seem to have fixed all the WiFi issues. :-\

Was this before you installed the windows update or after?

I have a case opened with Dell Support for last 10 days and have been in constant touch (every other day talking to them). As of yesterday when I I talked they confirmed that they are aware of these 2 update causing the issue and are working for a fix.... no ETA

Suggest that the more calls to tell about this issue to Dell Mobility Support (1-800-308-3355 or Mobilitysupport@dell.com) will have fire under the belly... call Dell support if you have not already and have a case opened for the issue.

Thanks

I too have had a few issues with wifi not working after restarting or waking from sleep mode.  I just went in to my device manager, disabled the wifi card and turned it back on and it worked just fine again.  This has only happened once and it happened after I updated the driver butit was a simple fix in the mean time.

By the way, Dell claims they will have this fixed and a patch released within a week of today (12-11)

I found this reply on your blog.  "

in my case,KB2903939 was killing my wifi, i found out something new. i followed your steps and then i installed KB2894029 ; this update appeared in my updates ( for some reason its not yet in microsoft.com), after this update, i installed KB2887595 and finally KB2903939 again with no problems at all, and now everything is working fine, sometimes it didnt even turned on again, and now its fine. i saw you posted in dell , you should try this.

maybe KB2894029 its the update needed to get this fixed, but since everybody has no wifi, it’s imposible to update.

Saludos desde Mexico"

When I checked KB2894029 it was related to Windows Server 2012 R2 so I went to the store and installed "My Server 2012 R2.  After that I reinstalled the offending Windows updates, KB2887595 & KB2903939 and they didn't kill my WIFI.  

So maybe the solution is to install Server 2012 R2.

I suggest turning you're tablet off while you're not using it, the WiFi on mine stays on for a long time. I installed windows updates first while setting the tablet up, then the WiFi driver, then the bigger driver package dell released. I admit there is a driver problem, I hope dell provides an update soon to fix it. I wouldn't be so hard on dell for this issue, there aware of it ad trying to fix the problem I'm sure. I got an iPad air thinking it would be better that this dell venue 8 pro because it cost more, let me tell you something, the iPad air has way more issues than the dell venue 8 pro and apple is pretty much ignoring all the angry and disparate users asking for an update to fix the issues. I'm glad dell cares about its users while making a profit, unlike another company that just cares about the profit coming in and pays no mind to all the valid complaints from its users. I'm glad people are being positive here trying to figure this out, again I hope dell helps us out with an update. 

Actually there are 2 windows updates that breaks the WiFi connection on a dell venue 8...removing those updates and hiding them on windows update will bring back WiFi to normality

Dell support was useless to help and I found about this just after amazon shipped a replacement device

Dell should work with Microsoft to fix the problem between the WiFi driver and those updates

Details.

Update for Windows 8.1 (KB2903939)

Download size: 27.0 MB

You may need to restart your computer for this update to take effect.

Update type: Important

Install this update to resolve issues in Windows. For a complete listing of the issues that are included in this update, see the associated Microsoft Knowledge Base article for more information. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

More information: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2903939

Help and Support: http://support.microsoft.com

____________________

Update for Windows 8.1 (KB2887595)

Download size: 103.2 MB

You may need to restart your computer for this update to take effect.

Update type: Important

Install this update to resolve issues in Windows. For a complete listing of the issues that are included in this update, see the associated Microsoft Knowledge Base article for more information. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

More information: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2887595

Help and Support: http://support.microsoft.com

I've got both those updates installed and my WIFI works fine.  But, I also have the Server 2012 R2 installed.

Are you saying you installed Server 2012 on your Venue Pro, or are you talking about a KB update for Server 2012?

Can you link to that update so I can take a look? I've heard a couple people mention it, but we shouldn't be installing patches for OSes that really aren't meant for Windows 8.1 on the Venue Pro tablet device.

Thanks and Best,

-Auri

TURN OFF Automatic Windows Updates!!! New Dell Venue 8 PRO last week. Start-up was fine but let Windows Auto-Update. Then the problems started. Lost Wi-fi (as mentioned in above posts) on an Auto-Update. Re-installed the base system. During that installation, received error messages like BAD_POOL_CALLER and BAD_POOL_HEADER and MEMORY_MANAGEMENT....  Big clue that Windows update packages software are bug ridden and sloppy in these updates. Re-installed base system at least 3 times. Finally restored to out-of-box state.

Not accepting any updates until other Dell Venue users report success with wholesale successful installations of Important, Recommended, and Optional Windows updates...or.....Microsoft can state they have fixed the problems (which I will rely on Dell users to confirm).

Microsoft has rushed to get 8.1 onto the Dell Venue 8 PRO and users are paying the price of huge amounts of time investment undoing Microsoft's sloppy code.