Wifi adapter upgrade on XPS 9550

@Imponderabilius  I installed an Intel 9260 into an even older XPS 15 9530 that I had and it worked very well.  Since then Intel has launched the AX200 if you want support for 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6).  But do NOT get the 9560 or AX201.  Those are variations of the 9260 and AX200, respectively, that rely on CNVio, which is a capability that has to be built into the CPU that you're using and basically involves the CPU having certain WiFi components built directly into it.  The 9260 and AX200 are "self-contained", meaning everything necessary is built onto the card.

I'm surprised you currently have a 3160 though.  I don't remember Dell ever selling the XPS 15 9550 with that lower-end WiFi card.  My XPS 15 9530 came with an Intel 7260, so I would have expected the 9550 to come with something like that or an 8200 Series card.

Thanks for your reply, I've already ordered 9260.

Yeah, I bought the laptop refurbished "like new" on amazon. Bastards must have replaced some components before reselling it... (e.g. ssd was a no-name which died immediately and only then did they replace it with a Toshiba drive...). I wonder what else was removed...

Hi there,

I wonder if I may piggyback on this post since it links directly to something I recently wanted to achieve.  I have a Dell XPS 9550 (windows 10) and I recently tried upgrading the wifi chip to an Intel 9260.  All went ok with the install and it recognised the card.  I then downloaded the drivers from Intel (via ethernet). But when I went to view the networks list, the wifi was off and when I went to turn it on manually, it wouldn't turn on. I would click the wifi on button (next to aeroplane mode) and nothing would happen.  I had to reinstall the Killer chip and it all worked fine then! Urghh

I am very much an amateur and didn't think I needed to change any other technical settings. Might I have missed something obvious?

Grateful for any help or guidance.

Thanks 

Make sure you uninstall the Killer drivers completely, and then shut down and swap the cards.  Then install the drivers for the new Intel card.

You can create a big mess if you leave the original drivers in place before you upgrade the hardware.

Thank you so much for the very quick reply.

I assume I have not yet made a mess since it is working fine back with the Killer board.  I assume it would be wise to download a copy of the Killer drivers to a USB in case, after deleting them, I still can't get the Intel board to work!  

Your response was very helpful, may I trouble you to let me know how to ensure I remove all the things (Killer drivers only?) that could cause a problem prior to the new Intel hardware installation?

Sorry to be a pain and thanks again for the quick response.

Having a backup is a good idea.  There should be a Killer control center in your add/remove programs - uninstall that and you should then be ready to upgrade the network adapter.

Hi There,

So, I too have had BT issue connecting my Logitech MX Anywhere 2S mouse, after it had been working well with my XPS 9550. It might have been a MS update that caused the problem, but can’t be sure!

Did all the driver updates, Driver Power Mgt “Turn Off”, driver reinstalls etc.. even did a full reinstalled of Windows 10 with no success and the result was around 5pm the BT mouse connection fails as BT is somehow turned off (not every day, but no patten) and looked for any maintenance programmes running that might be causing the issue, deleting anything that might be a possibility, but nothing obvious. The solution is to run BT Trouble Shooter and it resets the “BT radio” connection and I am back in business.

So have bought the Intel Model AX200NGW - WiFi 6 M.2 Module AC 3000Mbps Network Adapter with Bluetooth 5.1 Wireless Wi-Fi 6 Card 2.4G/5Ghz 802.11ax MU-MIMO for Laptop PC with Windows 64 bit

Before I installed it, I did the following

• Uninstall existing BT Mouse – Setting > BT and Other devices
• Uninstall Drivers – Device Manager

1. BT – Remove all BT drivers
2. Network adaptors – Dell Wireless 1830
3. HID – BT Low energy

• Ran CCleaner Professional to clean out registry 
• Ran Advance System Care Pro to clean out registry 
• Replaced Wi-fi card
• Ran CCleaner Professional and Advance System Care Pro to clean out registry
• XPS 9550 connects to Intel Support Assist via Ethernet connection
• Ran Intel Support Assist, download AX200 drivers
• All working fine
• Reboot XPS 9550, BT driver issue, BT mouse not working
• Reinstall BT driver, all good.
• I reboot again and still issue with BT Mouse not connecting, so run Windows BT Trouble shooter, it resets BT radio and presto all good, UNTIL I reboot the XPS 9550 and need to run Windows BT Trouble shooter again to reset the BT radio. So this is the current work around, leave XPS on 24 x 7 or after rebooting XPS 9550, run Windows BT trouble shooter.

Can you PLEASE HELP OR do I purchase and older Wi-Fi XPS 9550 compatible card and if so which one???

Was there anything special that you had to do when you put the 9260 in the 9530 XPS? I am currently trying to get the new card to replace the 7260. Did toy have to preload the drivers for the 9260?