Dell Venue 8 Pro WiFi Issue

It sounds like a different issue than others are experiencing. Maybe reset the system, use simple DHCP, and go from there?

I'm happy to help if Dell is unwilling. Just send me an email.

From everything I've read, there are two issues - one where 2 or 3 MS KB updates killed wifi completely (which has been resolved by uninstalling the updates) and one where after the V8P has been sleeping over 20-30 minutes, wifi shows as limited and you have to disable wifi/turn airplane mode on then off every time you bring the V8P out of sleep.

I cant believe no one from Dell has commented on this when there is now 10 pages (on this forum, not mentioning all the others) of users experiencing this problem....

I have the same issue, (even after installing the latest WAPI goodie). Since I usually have to re-boot to 'fix' it temporarily, that may be why your "fix' worked...

I sincerely hope That Dell has an engineering liaison monitoring these forums for this sort of issue... 

On the cusp of returning this darn thing. I'd sworn off of Dell products a few years ago... now I remember why. Simply isn't worth the hassle anymore. My wife's Nexus 7 tablet is trouble and frustration free......

Thats not the same probem - there is no issue disabling airplane mode.

Is Brian from Dell monitoring this?

There are obviously issues with wifi bringing the V8P out of sleep so would be nice to hear if Dell is working on this....

To be clear, toggling "Airplane Mode" on/off has the Opposite effect on WiFi and Bluetooth; Airplane Mode ON = WiFi and Bluetooth OFF...

Most of the posts to this thread about "Airplane Mode" appear to be about being unable to (easily) turn WiFi and Bluetooth back on by toggling Airplane Mode OFF after waking from SLEEP; WiFi just REFUSES to become active again — without lots of cursing and hammering! For me this is kind-of a big deal, because — by default — WiFi remains ON during SLEEP and will run down the battery after a day or less; I want to conserve my Venue battery by using Airplane mode before putting it to Sleep. At this point, it's such a hassle to re-activate WiFi, that I've been shutting-down instead.

I haven't noticed any posts from "Brian..." for several days, so I believe that directly contacting Dell "Mobility Support" (1-800-308-3355 opt.3) is the most-reliable way to bring this sort of issue to the attention of "Somebody Who Cares..." in Dell Engineering. At this time the level-1 techs aren't yet  familiar with the various issues affecting Venue products, so you need to be patient while they attempt to prove YOU are doing something very-wrong or stupid (referring to many user reports in this forum may get them past that hang-up more quickly). Be certain to get them to repeat-back what they understand the issue to be, and insist on an email confirmation with a "Service Request Number" and contact info. If you don't feel that the call is going the way you want, you may insist on speaking with a Floor Supervisor or Manager.

This forum can be useful for exchanging "How do I...?" questions and accessory suggestions, but as soon as it appears that any number of users are experiencing an actual bug or defect, those affected need to contact Dell Support directly and get that issue logged. At the bottom of the Dell.com home page, you'll also find "Contact" and "Feedback" links — which are more-suitable for requesting enhancements or policy concerns, rather than reporting bugs.

Good Luck!

Same problem here....   removing the 2 "suspect" MS updates did not make a difference.   To me its a driver problem.   Dell please fix.

Update: So far so good, did a factory reset of the Venue8, which by default contained the two MS KB's plus the rollup - so I left these intact.  I immediately turned off Windows updates from auto-installing as well.  I also installed only one DELL Update - for the Wireless driver, all others not applied (bios etc).

Other things done were to assign a static ip to the venue in my router config, and also installed a WiFi repeater to boost wireless around the house.  2 days on and everything's working just fine!

I still believe some MS KB being the cause of this, but I personally cannot attribute it to http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-networking/dell-venue-pro-loses-wireless-connection-after/bc8a1426-fdb8-466d-b074-c80a06e70d76?tab=question&status=AllReplies&rtAction=1386876954382#tabs

Thanks

what works for me is just hitting "disconnect" and "connect"   limited goes away and then shows connected, voila!    kinda blows as it defeats the whole benefit of Intel's connected standby chipset feature., but I think that's the problem.

Hi Lou

The way you describe the issue fits my device exactly.  I was wondering if you've managed to find a solution other than shutting down or dis/renabling the adapter?

Thank you!

Yes, but I wish I'd thought of it sooner...

Rather than using Airplane mode to toggle WiFi, I've been turning WiFi on/off directly, and haven't yet experienced a problem turning it back on when waking from sleep. I initially avoided doing this because it doesn't affect the Bluetooth state, and the Bluetooth setting takes more clicks to get at. However, since I'm not using any Bluetooth devices routinely, I've just kept it off... 

This is not a "fix" but it is an easy work-around for me; I hope it works for some others experiencing the same problem. A real fix would be triggering a time-out to Hibernate the tablet during Sleep after an hour or-so, and before the battery drops to a critically low state.

Thanks fellas.  My device, after waking from sleep, won't turn wifi back on unless I restart the machine (not airplane - just wifi disconnect).  I wonder if my update history is different from yours, Lou?  Have you installed the infamous 'disavowed' updates?

You are right of course that a true fix would be a Dell software response to this situation - the least they could do is give us a sign they're on it...

Early on, I did use "Auto Detect..." to suggest & install 10 updates; it STILL suggested the same 10 updates when I returned, so I haven't bothered since. Dell Support stated (incorrectly) that Explorer 11 'broke' their website, but it still behaved the same (for me) when I used the latest Firefox browser... Certainly, nothing behaved worse after I applied those updates, so I don't think you should avoid them altogether. I understand that your support options are more limited overseas, so you might consider creating restore points and installing the updates one-at-a-time, then waiting a day between each... (The Version A04 BIOS update can't be uninstalled.) Once you find that updates are working OK, delete some older restore points, because they can quiclkly chew-up your storage space.)

I don't want to wear you down with extra suggestions, so please describe clearly what your symptoms are: What are the steps leading up to your tablet sleeping (are you manually turning-off WiFi? Are you manually putting tablet to sleep?)  If you manually turn-off WiFi, does it immediately refuse to turn on again, or only after your tablet wakes from sleep? Is the battery showing more than 50% charge when waking from sleep? Are you able to test with a different WiFi network and/or different band (2.4/5.0)?

Have you flashed the latest firmware update on your device? I'm not having the issues for almost a month now after the Microsoft patches were fixed - by Microsoft - and having Firmware 4 on my device.