Windows Wireless Driver Problems!

[keetongu2]

Hi all,

I have a Lenovo Ideapad Z510, running on Windows 8 64-bit.

When I bought it, I had trouble connecting to one particular wi-fi connection. The laptop worked fine with other connections, but it didn't work well with this one connection (that my other laptops could use no problem).

It would basically connect and work well for a while and then suddenly stop working. And then I would have to reset my adapter for the connection to work again. So I looked online and saw that a lot of people had problems too. I tried all the fixes - changing the power, the DNS, rollback, resetting the TCP/IP all that. Nothing worked.

Finally I found this fix from these forums. And from that thread, there was this link to the Lenovo forums.

The basic idea of the fix was:
Boot into bios and disable secure boot.
1. Boot in safe mode.
2. Uninstall wifi driver from device manager. Be sure to check the box that says "delete ...".
3. Reboot and let windws 8 install it's own wifi driver.
4. Connect to internet by supplying the ssid and passphrase.
5. Disable bluetooth.

So I tried it. First I booted in safe mode and uninstalled my wireless adapter (Broadcom something) from Device Manager. Then I rebooted my laptop.

But there's no Windows 8 wifi driver being installed? The link said that it would auto-install, but I'm not getting anything. And now I don't even have a wireless adapter, and can't get it back. I tried to boot into bios and disable secure boot (because I skipped this step the first time), but nothing's happening.

Please help. I'd like to find a way to complete this fix (I'm stuck on Step 3), and I have no idea how.

Side note: When I uninstalled the wireless driver, I checked "Delete software" as instructed

 

[ectech]

Hi keetongu2,

Try this..

1) Boot Windows into normal mode.
2) Open device manager > right click "Network adapters" & select "Scan for hardware changes"
3) Windows should detect the wireless card & install the appropriate driver.
4) reboot
5) try connecting the to wireless network

If that doesn't fix the problem please download the Lenovo drivers from here.. http://download.lenovo.com/consumer/mobiles/wlan150w8164.exe

 

[chev65]

I was trying to help the last time this problem came up and I really couldn't believe the hoops that this so called secure boot makes people jump through in order to do the most basic of tasks like installing a driver.

If you read, he had to restart up in safe mode after uninstalling the first driver, I assume safe mode with networking, then reinstall the driver in safe mode, although normally you just need to start up for Windows to install drivers, this secure boot may be the reason why you have to install the driver in safe mode as well.

 

[keetongu2]

I was trying to help the last time this problem came up and I really couldn't believe the hoops that this so called secure boot makes people jump through in order to do the most basic of tasks like installing a driver.

If you read, he had to restart up in safe mode after uninstalling the first driver, I assume safe mode with networking, then reinstall the driver in safe mode, although normally you just need to start up for Windows to install drivers, this secure boot may be the reason why you have to install the driver in safe mode as well.

Sorry to be a bother, but not all of us are so computer-savvy. I didn't even know what a 'wireless driver' was until today.

I managed to get my wireless driver back by using System Restore.

So wait: you're saying that I should go into safe mode and uninstall my wireless driver (but not delete the software). And then reboot in safe mode with networking, to allow Windows 8 to automatically reinstall the same driver again?

 

[chev65]

About the secure boot, no bother at all, I was referring to the link that you posted where the poster replied back about having to disable secure boot and go into safe mode just so the driver could be uninstalled which is crazy. This problem has come up before with a similar model laptop.

I'm wondering why disabling secure boot and booting up in safe mode was required just to uninstall the old driver and install the Windows one, might be a secure boot deal which I'm not entirely sure what it does with drivers.

Long as it works, and I'm glad you reported back in because everyone with Lenovo Z580 and Windows 8 seems to have these types of problems. Let us know if the Windows driver holds up.

Often times there is a connection software which is part of the actual driver package although the connection software can be problematic so should also be uninstalled. You really only want the driver package that Windows 8 installs in most cases.

In your case it may have helped to install the new driver in safe mode after uninstalling the original driver and connection software, I'm not too sure with this secure boot how it works.

Although I can't imagine why Windows didn't install the new driver on boot up you can always go to Device Manager, Open up Network Adaptors and right click the wireless adaptor, scan for changes" which should install the new driver.

 

[keetongu2]

Alright, so I tried the instructions again.
- I disabled Secure Boot
- I started up in Safe Mode, I went to Device Manager
- Uninstalled my driver (but didn't check 'delete driver software'), and then refreshed for it to reinstall itself
- Restarted my PC

But still, the problem remains. It connects fine to my network. But then after a while, it'll just stop working. I try to go into the Network and Sharing Center to disable the network, and when I enable it, it works again. But now, the connection speed is really slow. Literally my download speed went from 1MBps to 100kbps.

And then it'll randomly stop working, even though my other laptops use the connection just fine. Did I mess up when I tried the fix and do something wrong?

 

[chev65]

Alright, so I tried the instructions again.
- I disabled Secure Boot
- I started up in Safe Mode, I went to Device Manager
- Uninstalled my driver (but didn't check 'delete driver software'), and then refreshed for it to reinstall itself
- Restarted my PC

But still, the problem remains. It connects fine to my network. But then after a while, it'll just stop working. I try to go into the Network and Sharing Center to disable the network, and when I enable it, it works again. But now, the connection speed is really slow. Literally my download speed went from 1MBps to 100kbps.

And then it'll randomly stop working, even though my other laptops use the connection just fine. Did I mess up when I tried the fix and do something wrong?

You will definitely want to remove the connection software, I already mentioned the reason for this. Windows has it's own way of connecting with it's own drivers.

 

[keetongu2]

So when I uninstall my driver, I should check 'delete driver software'? The last time I did that, I tried selecting 'scan for hardware changes' but nothing came up. Windows never gave me a prompt either. I had to use System Restore to get my old driver back, because I couldn't even use wifi at all.

Sorry if I'm a little confused by this.

 

[chev65]

So when I uninstall my driver, I should check 'delete driver software'? The last time I did that, I tried selecting 'scan for hardware changes' but nothing came up. Windows never gave me a prompt either. I had to use System Restore to get my old driver back, because I couldn't even use wifi at all.

Sorry if I'm a little confused by this.

I'm confused as well because Windows certainly should be installing this driver for you. And the connection software is not required as Windows has it's own method for connecting to networks.

After removing the old drivers and rebooting you should connect to the internet using a Wired connection, Windows can use this connection to install the new Windows driver.

Although the driver in the link should be working for you, maybe the Windows version works better I'm not sure.

WLAN Driver (Intel, Atheros, Broadcom) for Windows 8.1 (64-bit) - IdeaPad Z410, Z510

 

[popeye]

So when I uninstall my driver, I should check 'delete driver software'? The last time I did that, I tried selecting 'scan for hardware changes' but nothing came up. Windows never gave me a prompt either. I had to use System Restore to get my old driver back, because I couldn't even use wifi at all.

Sorry if I'm a little confused by this.

You should also be able to install a known good driver using the manual method through Device Manager no matter what as long as the wireless adapter shows up with a yellow exclamation.

Have you tried running CCleaner registry cleaner after uninstalling and before re-installing? Run it at least twice