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r/Dell • … • u/elkinm

Inspiron wi-fi switch not working and wifi keeps turning off?

I have an old but reliable Inspiron 5748 with W10 22H2 64 bit.

Starting yesterday, I could turn on wifi, but it would show a network list for a second or 2 before turning off. Troubleshooting says wireless capability is disabled, but it is unable to fix it.

I have tried the wifi switch Fn + PrntScrn for me, but it does not seem to do anything. I have verified that both the Fn and PrntScrn keys do work for other operations.

Uninstalling and reinstalling network drivers did not help, I even tried a usb adapter with the same results. A network reset also failed to make any changes.

When using Safe Mode with Networking, wifi works without issue. I tried cutting down windows services to that of Safe Mode with Networking, but it still did not work like in safe mode. I wonder if a key would be to find which service or driver that is disabled in safe mode is causing the issue.

Since the switch is controlled by QuickSet, I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it, but it did not work at any point with it installed or not. I do not know what QuickSet actually does at the system lever. Is there a BIOS switch or setting that is controls? I also could not find an applicable BIOS setting.

I found this article that mentions the switch not working with a connected monitor: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000184762/laptop-radio-wireless-switch-does-not-work-when-connected-to-the-u2721de-monitor-using-a-wired-network-connection however I do not have an external monitor. I did reinstall my graphics and monitor drivers and it did not help. I could not find which if any drivers are related to the docking station, which I don't have.

Ethernet does work, but I am still looking for a way to get wifi working. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

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