Dell Venue 8 Pro unable to connect to WIFI

Yes, Bremann75, it is a bummer because in most other ways it is a great device.  However, with only the 1 micro USB, it is difficult to even use an ethernet adapter and not enable the wifi which rather defeats the purpose of a tablet anyway.  I think you've made a wise decision and hopefully Dell will find a solution in the near future and then you can buy a Venue 8 Pro.  Until then, please don't put yourself through what you can see so many of us have put up with.

Venue11Pro5130, were you able to get the new adapter to work?

Bummer, was close to ordering a Venue Pro 8 5000, and now am re-thinking that decision. It looked like the best value I could find anywhere, but if the wifi doesn't work, that's a huge deal killer, ***. guess the tablet search starts again, can't afford a ipad that's actaully usable, and most other tablets out there only have 16gb or 32gb and don't run full Win8.1

For me, I wanted a computer in tablet form rather than a tablet alone--the DV8P meets that aim well, allowing me to run all regular Windows programs.

Mikerman, I'm happy you're a lucky one :)

Same for me the wifi does work however it does periodically crash mostly when I'm watching alot of HD video or some sleep wakes

for me a simple restart fixes the wifi but isn't a permanent fix for the problem

@ arvida66: Yes, I've been using the Cirago as alternative for the unstable WiFi/Bluetooth in the Venue Pro for a couple of days now. I decided to get this dongle, which is a bit more expensive than others, because it can replace both the built in Bluetooth and WiFi. I need both because within a week of getting the venue pro I already gave up on the lid keyboard, which was as unreliable as the wifi. Other options could have been a second dongle for the Bluetooth, with either a micro usb adapter or a usb splitter to accommodate both dongles. Getting this all in one seemed the most elegant solution.

The good news is that the WiFi issues have disappeared completely. I may be a tiny bit slower, but there are no more interruptions and freezes. The WiFi just works. Quite remarkable. My Bluetooth mouse has an occasional stutter, but on the whole performance there is quite acceptable.

The dongle installed itself, plug&play. I disabled the original Wifi and Bluetooth adapters in the device manager.

The solution is not ideal however (as far as spending money to replace something that Dell should fixed almost a year ago can be called ideal, not to mention always having a dongle sticking out of the device, even though it is quite small). The issue I now have, is that as soon as I plug in the dongle, the sleep option is disabled, in the menu as well as a non responsive power button. This is fixed as soon as the dongle is removed. This means that whenever I want to put the device to sleep, I have to remove the dongle and insert it when I want to start using it again. Bit of bore, but manageable.

However, it is definitely an improvement, now that at least the WiFi just works.

PS Those of you who posted in this forum about considering the Venue Pro: don't buy it. You will regret it. Potentially it is a fine tablet, but with the defective WiFi, it is just money badly spent. It is actually shocking that Dell is still selling it, when they know there are serious issues. It shows that they are a company which is only about profit, not customer satisfaction.

agreed I didn't have this problem with the Lenovo Miix 2 though I had other problems which made me consider trying the switch over to the dell. It's sadenning that this problem still lingers and dell appears to be doing nothing about it 

I would go for the Asus as I didn't know about that one before making my purchase

A deep discharge works in some situations; Dell has explained this situation as due to static charge build-up:

Disconnect the AC power, if connected; hold the power button down and have the tablet shut down, but continue holding the power button down; continue holding the power button down for a couple of minutes; leave the tablet alone for half a minute; start up again.

This has fixed the WiFi issue for me, when faced with a WiFi disconnect and a disconcerting "hardware malfunction" message.

@Venue11Pro5130.  Thank you very much for your comprehensive answer.  Hopefully many people can use and be satisfied with your solution. 

As you recommend, I too hope that no-one else buys the Venue and is as disappointed and frustrated as we are.

Have a wonderful day :)

@Venue11Pro5130.  Thank you very much for your comprehensive answer.  Hopefully many people can use and be satisfied with your solution.  As you recommend, I too hope that no-one else buys the Venue and is as disappointed and frustrated as we are. Have a wonderful day :)

@Mikerman  Very happy to hear that :)

MALLONS26 has the answer. This worked perfectly. Thank you so much!

I'll tell you folks my wifi story.

I bought my DVP8 a few months ago and used it very rarely up until a week or so ago.
The unit was bought basically to be used on the road as my new road warrior.

As I was getting the unit ready a few months ago I too encountered the dreaded 'intermittent wifi' issue.
That is, you try to turn the wifi on and sometimes it turns on, more often than not it doesn't.

I upgraded a wifi driver and that seemed to fix the issue... for a while.

Now that I am finally on the road I'll tell you how I have tamed the problem.
My DVP8 use on the road consists of wifi use 90% of the time.

Because the wifi activates when you re-start the machine (if you have it switched on), my solution is to simply put it in hibernate mode or do a shutdown when I have finished using the machine.

Since it takes about 15-20 seconds to startup (very fast), that delay is not a bother really, and I have the wifi ready to go all the time now.

Yes it's a workaround and yes we should be able to switch the wifi on/off whenever we want, but for now I can certainly live with this solution.

I've had my Venue Pro 8 for several months. I ran into this issue early, and have been able to recover several times using info from this string. This last time (tonight), I no longer had the offending updates, so I couldn't remove them, and disabling and re-enabling the adapter didn't help. Mikerman, your solution did the trick for me this time. It is ridiculous that we have this issue. Who wants a tablet that you can't rely on to connect? About all that leaves you is the camera. I just bought two new laptops, and made sure they were not Dell, specifically because of this issue. I'll use this tablet for as long as I can keep it connected, but when it gets too hard to do that, I'm buying a tablet from another company. If Dell wants to keep my business, they're going to have to hurry up and prove that they deserve it. My guess is that they don't have a clue how to fix it, and are hoping it will fade away. What they are overlooking is that they are alienating customers, and many of us provide various levels of 'tech' service to our friends and family, and we advise them on what to purchase and what to avoid. The only business model that makes any sense is to listen to your customer's complaints and fix the issue, fast. If you don't do that, you won't get a second chance.

Hope your solution works for you for a very long time.  Unfortunately, my bluetooth always cuts out in the middle of something and although it is easy to reconnect it is disruptive.  I email Dell every month noting the frequency of the disconnects and expressing my continued annoyance.  They always reply with an email to choose a time when they can call me and I state that until they find a solution, I won't waste their or my time on the phone.

Have a great day :)