XPS 15, December Windows 10 Update breaks WiFi

Which generation XPS 15 and which WiFi card do you have?  And are you running the latest available WiFi drivers?

XPS 15 9550.

Dell Wireless 1830 802.11ac

I am running the latest drivers and the Device Manager tells me "This device is working properly".

I have also plugged in a Netgear WNA 1000M N 150 Wireless USB Micro Adapter. Its device driver is loaded and Device Manager tells me "This device is working properly".

If I go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network Connections, there are absolutely no devices listed. "This folder is empty".  

I have two perfectly fine wifi devices, and Windows refuses to recognize that either is present. Same thing if I remove the Netgear dongle, which was not present when the problem started.

It was only after a Windows 10 Update in December that this started. I went back and removed the update several times, and each time I did that my wifi was restored. I avoided updates for a few months, but somehow Windows forced a recent update onto my computer, and now there is no rollback option.

I have the same computer. What does Device Manager say is the driver installed for your Dell WiFi?

NOTE: The driver is supplied by Broadcom. The original driver I had when I got my system in early December 2015 was v1.519. I updated the driver to v1.555 later that month. Subsequently I updated for a final time in April 2016 to v1.566 which is the current version I have.

JohnD

Correction: The versions I had are all 1.5xx.0.0. I see the latest update indicates 1.566.0.2. I do not have this one. I am not having any issues.

JohnD

1. What version/build of Windows 10 are you currently on? [Trying to determine if the Fall Creators Update was the culprit.]

2. Go to "Settings" > "Network & Internet" > "WiFi".

 a. Is WiFi "On"?

 b. Are any of the links below that enabled ["Show available networks", "Hardware properties"] and if clicked do they give any information.

3. Go to Device Manger, open the properties for the WiFi Network Adapter (should be "The Broadcom 802.11 Network Adapter......). Go to the "Events" tab. The following events should be listed.

 a. Two "Device install requested" lines.

 b. A "Device migrated" line.

 c. "Device service added (BCMPCIEDHD63)"

 d. "Device service added (vwifibus)"

 e. "Device installed (bcmwdidhdpcie.inf)" with a status of 0x0.

4. What date shows up on these adapter event entries? It should indicate that date of the Fall Creators Update install.

JohnD

1. Windows 10.0.15063  It's Pro.

2. I couldn't tell you if WiFi is on, because there is no "WiFi".  Under Network & Internet, I have Status, Dial-Up, VPN, Airplane mode, Data usage, and Proxy.  Under Airplane mode I can turn Bluetooth on and off.

3. Under Device Manager, I have Dell Wireless 1830 802.11ac. "This device is working properly"
The Events list begins with entries from 8/2/2017. That's back in the day when all this still worked. There are 3 install requested lines, but otherwise as you say.
On 12/9/2017, when things got bad, I see three lines: The two driver services added that you name and a Driver installed (bcmwdidhdpcie.inf). To be clear, there are no Device install requested lines, and no Device migrated lines.
On 12/11/2017, There is Device deleted, three Device install request, and then "Device not migrated". This is followed by the Driver service added, etc, etc.
I would love to just copy and paste the whole thing, but there are two problems with that. First, it doesn't let me select and copy the lines. (Thanks guys) Second, that laptop has no net connection at all, so I am transcribing to another machine by hand. 
From 12/12/2017 through March 2018 we have the same repeated over and over as I tried to fix the drivers. Delete device, re-install, many times.
But thanks to you pointing out what lines I should have, I can see one common theme: "Device NOT migrated". What the heck?

Going to the real Event Viewer for this allows me to copy it. (To USB stick and over...)
Device PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_43BA&SUBSYS_00241028&REV_01\4&337d0347&0&00E0 could not be migrated.

Last Device Instance Id: SWD\IP_TUNNEL_VBUS\ISATAP_2
Class Guid: {4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}
Location Path:
Migration Rank: 0xF000FFFFFFFFF112
Present: false
Status: 0xC0000719

That seems interesting.  I don't know what it means, but it is repeated from 12/12/2017 onward.

Having looked at msinfo32 to get my OS version number, I happen to notice that my laptop BIOS got updated to version 1.6.1 on 12/11/2017.  A new BIOS and the Windows Update coming in at the same time? Ouch. 

As mentioned far above, I was able to continue to use my wifi for a couple months by rolling back the Windows Update and disabling the update service. I don't think my BIOS would be involved in that rollback. (I.e. I'm 99.9% certain of that.)

Now that Windows has somehow updated itself, and I am stuck with the update, I wonder what would happen if I go back to an older BIOS. I have no idea what version was running before the Dell update. Hmm.

Apologies for the continued noise, but I want to keep my progress updated.

On the Dell website, the 1.6.1 BIOS is listed with "Release Date: 06 Feb 2018"

Pretty interesting, considering it got installed on my machine on 12/11/2017. Did they make another release without updating the version number??

So I don't know if I should try this apparently newer 1.6.1, or just go back to 1.4.0 from the good old days of September 2017. Think I will start with 1.4.0.

Chuck,

  I am a little confused. It appears from the version build you specified that the Win10 version you are currently on is the initial Creators Update (v1703, Build 15063) from last Spring and you indicate that this is the one you are having WiFi issues with. There were WiFi issues with that as well so it could be the culprit but I doubt it. It would have been nice if you had recorded what the update was that initially caused the problem. I can make some guesses from the WiFi Event logs.

 You said your issues started last December (12/9). That is possibly when you might have gotten the Fall Creators Update (v1709) as it became available in October. There were definitely some WiFi issues with that. I had manually updated to that version in early November. I keep a log of what updates I apply and noticed no significant December updates to version 1709 until December 12th. I checked on the previous version and the only thing that came down at that time was a security update to Windows Defender. So it would make sense that a Fall Creators Update might sneak in at an off time (in this case December 9th was a Saturday).

 Normally when a new Win10 version is installed, it wipes out all Event Log entries and other event entries and starts from scratch. The fact that there are entries from last August, which is possibly when you upgraded to the initial Creators Update v1703 (although that would have been a little late), would correspond to your current OS version. So if you were able to rollback to this version, this appears to be where you are sitting. All the subsequent event entries for the WiFi might be your attempt to fix the problem although the 12/11 “could not be migrated” is obviously disturbing and is an indication that the WiFi driver could not be picked up. I am not sure what occurred then, possibly the retry of the Fall Creators Update, but at that point things got messed up.

  If you tried uninstalling and reinstalling the WiFi device and drivers and it did not help, I am not sure what else you could do. The fact that even a USB WiFi device does not work is weird. One thing you could check is see if the WiFi is enabled in BIOS. If it is dead there, it could explain why no WiFi works.

NOTE: Be careful of updating BIOS. There seems to be a rash of bricked computers after Dell BIOS updates.

JohnD

Hi Chuck
I seem to have the same problem as you do but it comes from much prior date.
I don't even know if its a hardware or software problem.
Basically, my wifi will disappear every time I update Windows.
When I turning off my laptop and get this option "update and turn off" I know there will be no wifi once I turn it back on.

I figured out how to make it work again every time but I'm not completely sure why.  Here is what I have to do:

1. Turn on the computer and there is no wifi;

2. Press the sleep button (quick power button press) to put it to sleep;

3. Turn the computer back on (it gets stuck on Windows blue logo and no swirling dots underneath;

4. Do a HARD turn of holding the power button for a few seconds;

5. Turn the computer back on and the wifi is there again.
So, I know what to do to get the wifi back on but I have no idea why it works or how can I fix this for good.
Maybe this procedures that I do tells something to people with a deeper understanding of the OS.
Try this with your computer an see if it works.