AK3V / J3455 - Was working fine, then Wifi stopped working

[cappy2112]

Hello,

I was given one of these Mini PCs (AK3V / J3455), the boot drive was bad so I've replaced it with a small SSD and installed Windows 10 PRO.
All of the drivers seem to load, everything worked for several days.

Today when I power it on - Wifi does not come up. There are no WIFI devices in control panel.
I've looked in the BIOS, I didn't see any obvious settings that would cause wifi to stop showing up in Windows.

1. Will this MiniPC be OK with a generic Windows 10 installation? I do not have access to the original Windows image for this PC, and there are no mfgr
drivers on the MFR website.
2. Does anyone have any idea why wifi suddenly doesn't appear in Control Panel, or how to resolve this issue?

Thanks!!

[Gabe]

You can try reinstalling the WiFi driver. The drivers for the J3455 AK1/AK3 are here...



They're older, but they should still work, and they'll update via Windows Update if necessary.

You can also try Driver Booster.

If none of this works, you can always try reinstalling Windows.

[cappy2112]

Thanks- now that I think of it- I did do a Windows update, there were a bunch of Intel optional updates that went in as well.

Is there a download ink for all of the drivers for this PC?

[cappy2112]

You can try reinstalling the WiFi driver. The drivers for the J3455 AK1/AK3 are here...



They're older, but they should still work, and they'll update via Windows Update if necessary.

You can also try Driver Booster.

If none of this works, you can always try reinstalling Windows.

That Link downloaded a File which shows "AK1" drivers, I have an AK3.
Are they compatible?

[Gabe]

That Link downloaded a File which shows "AK1" drivers, I have an AK3.
Are they compatible?

Yes, they're compatible. They're for the J3455 version of the AK3 as well.

[cappy2112]

When I run the installer for Wifi, I see a spinning Wifi logo for a sew seconds, then it just goes away.
When I run the installer for BT, I see a typical progression of installation dialogs.

Rebooting after running the wifi driver installer still did not restore wifi

[Gabe]

Are you trying to install/update the driver from within the Device Manager? If not, try that. I'm on a Mac right now, so I can't give exact step by step instructions, but I believe you right click on the device in question, then select Update Driver, then choose "Browse my computer for drivers". Click Browse to select the unzipped driver pack you downloaded (make sure "include subfolders" is checked), then click Next, or whatever it says. If the driver is in there, it will automatically install.

If this doesn't work, I'd try Driver Booster.

[cappy2112]

Are you trying to install/update the driver from within the Device Manager? If not, try that. I'm on a Mac right now, so I can't give exact step by step instructions, but I believe you right click on the device in question, then select Update Driver, then choose "Browse my computer for drivers". Click Browse to select the unzipped driver pack you downloaded (make sure "include subfolders" is checked), then click Next, or whatever it says. If the driver is in there, it will automatically install.

If this doesn't work, I'd try Driver Booster.

I've installed drivers for over 20 years, I know how to do it. It's just not working on this system.

>>Are you trying to install/update the driver from within the Device Manager?
No, in order to do that you need an .inf file for the device you have a driver for as well as the driver.
The files in the BT-WIFI directory are Applications, installers to be precise. These cannot be installed from DEvice Manager, you just simply double click
on the exe and follow the installation dialogs. AS I mentioned, the installer for the WIFI just quits, like it's corrupted or for the wrong HW.
Normally an installer would tell you if the device was wrong.

However, the WIFI chipset is not even showing in Device Manager, that could be why it's not showing on the task bar.
It was there- worked for several days...

I've reset the BIOS to default, and also enabled the Network Stack (which keeps getting disabled). Nothing will bring the Wifi chipset back so
it appears in device manager. I'll try a power cycle, sometimes that will fix HW issues that reboots don't

[Gabe]

There's no need to get snippy about it. I don't have an AK3, so I'm not familiar with the drivers in this pack. The drivers available for most models on this site, including all I own, are not applications and are instead installed via the Device Manager.

Your other options are again, Driver Booster, and if that doesn't help, a clean install of Windows.

If none of this helps, the unit may be malfunctioning.

Just in case, what brand is it?

[cappy2112]

I'm not trying to be snippy or otherwise.

I think you may not be aware of the files that you sent me.

I this directory (BT-Wifi), are driver installers (applications) for BT & Wifi, as shown by their .exe extensions.

BT-wifi.jpg (21.33 KiB) Viewed 3297 times

wifi_installer.jpg (13.11 KiB) Viewed 3297 times

In order to do what you're recommending from Device Manager, the hardware MUST be present.

As mentioned, the wifi chipset is no longer visible, I don't know why. I did see it there and it is
a separate device (and requires another device entry in device manager).
The Realtek chispet shown below is for ethernet only.

ControlPanel_Ethernet-only.jpg (15.99 KiB) Viewed 3297 times

Until I can figure out why my wifi chipset is no longer showing up, no SW of any type will make Wifi work.
There simply is no way to install any driver for HW that isn't present.

it's odd that it suddenly stopped working, which implies that one of the updates is preventing it from showing here.
I have no choice but to install windows again and not do any Intel chipset updates.

>>Just in case, what brand is it?
No name, but when it boots, Guzilla is shown on the splash screen. It's possible that is the Mfgr

MiniPC.jpg (691.15 KiB) Viewed 3294 times