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Network adapter problem

Muahahaha

Laptop slowed up significantly after a windows 10 update a week ago. Downloaded Firefox (was using Chrome) and that worked well for a few days but then yesterday my WiFi icon vanished off the taskbar and I can't get it back (in Control Panel it is greyed out, can't even toggle it).

Have scanned for malware and nothing. Have gone through tons of network adapter resets and reconfigs using 15 troubleshooting steps but no joy. Have tried doing an entire W10 reset but that fails too, it won't complete. Same with trying to uninstall the update using system restore and it won't complete that either.

It looks like it's for the computer repair shop but they're closed till Monday. Anything else I can try in the meantime? Might uninstalling and reinstalling W10 work?

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degsie

Does device manager show up any issues?

You haven't mentioned if the laptop has an ethernet socket. If it does can can try hard wiring to your router to see if that works.

You could also try rolling back the wireless card driver.

Bigmac1euro

Click start menu
Type system restore
Select restore point from before the trouble you had.
See if that works.

Muahahaha

Went into device manager and then Network Adapters which are Realtek and Qualcomm. Rolled back the Qualcomm but the option to do this on the Realtek is greyed out and can't be clicked. Uninstalling it not an option as I've no internet connection to download a new one.

Tried system restore too but that gives an error message. Same as Windows reset. Have also restarted Windows Explorer but no joy there either.

It's bizarre, all the usual troubleshooting steps either won't work or it won't let me click the final step, it's always greyed out. Is there any other nuclear option I could try? Is it possible to do an entire uninstall and then reinstall of W10 without the need for internet or a USB key?

newmember2

The icon is gone but you still have a wifi connection? Device manager says everything is working OK for the wifi adapter? There's a keyboard combo or button you hadn't realised disables the wifi?

Muahahaha

Got it sorted, the Reset PC option finally worked for me at the fourth time of asking and after an hour or so of that running and rebooting the Wifi icon and function came back. Not sure what it was as lots of the troubleshooting steps I did from tutorials online could not be completed due to options being greyed out. The network adapter didnt show up in many menus, was almost like it had vanished.

Anyway the laptop itself is still a bit slow. Was thinking of uninstalling Windows and going with Linux Ubuntu. Would that typically be expected to give a better performance than Windows, it it right to say that it has a lot less processes running in the background and less bloatware and thus more CPU to work with?

Johnboy1951

Muahahaha wrote: »

Got it sorted, the Reset PC option finally worked for me at the fourth time of asking and after an hour or so of that running and rebooting the Wifi icon and function came back. Not sure what it was as lots of the troubleshooting steps I did from tutorials online could not be completed due to options being greyed out. The network adapter didnt show up in many menus, was almost like it had vanished.

Anyway the laptop itself is still a bit slow. Was thinking of uninstalling Windows and going with Linux Ubuntu. Would that typically be expected to give a better performance than Windows, it it right to say that it has a lot less processes running in the background and less bloatware and thus more CPU to work with?

I suggest you use the Linux distro of choice on a LiveUSB stick to ensure all would work well for you.

The main differences in 'perceived speed' in Linux are due to the different Desktop Environments used, in addition to the number of background processes you run. Although I must say that recent releases/updates to the KDE5 Plasma desktop environment have speeded that up considerably.

You should get a very good idea of speed using a fast USB device with a Live install on it.
If satisfactory you can then install from that same USB device.

Muahahaha

Thanks Johnboy, I'll go ahead and follow your advice. Had been meaning to make the leap of faith to Linux for a while now so might as well give it a go in the hope of getting some improvement in speed. And at least I can test it first before jumping in.

Johnboy1951

Muahahaha wrote: »

Thanks Johnboy, I'll go ahead and follow your advice. Had been meaning to make the leap of faith to Linux for a while now so might as well give it a go in the hope of getting some improvement in speed. And at least I can test it first before jumping in.

You can run it for a while from the Live media ..... it just won't remember any settings you change between boots (unless you set up 'persistence' which can sometimes be not so easy).

My main Linux install has been running from a USB attached small (60GB) SSd drive for some time ...... need time to strip the PC and stick the SSD inside

..... and functions very well.
That is a full install on the SSD (not 'live') with storage drive inside the PC.

I regularly test releases using USB ..... favourite is now a fast SD card in a USB adapter.

I hope you at least get some experience with it and maybe even see a considerable difference in use.

Try to have fun in any case

beauf

Probably one of the biggest advantages of Linux is you can decide how full fat or lean you want to run.

A full fat Linux and desktop probably needs recent hardware to run at it's best. Most of perceived speed is slow web browsing and much of that is that most websites are full fat these days. Browsers can use graphics card and cache to the harddrive. So a ssd helps there as does a gfx card.

Windows 10 is very bloated these days. Feels like you are no longer in control. Linux will give you that back. I never switch to Linux for long. Maybe I should give it another whirl.

Johnboy1951

beauf wrote: »

Probably one of the biggest advantages of Linux is you can decide how full fat or lean you want to run.

A full fat Linux and desktop probably needs recent hardware to run at it's best. Most of perceived speed is slow web browsing and much of that is that most websites are full fat these days. Browsers can use graphics card and cache to the harddrive. So a ssd helps there as does a gfx card.

Windows 10 is very bloated these days. Feels like you are no longer in control. Linux will give you that back. I never switch to Linux for long. Maybe I should give it another whirl.

IMO it is necessary to do a heck of a lot of research before you attempt to settle for any specific Linux distro.
I recall I had some 24 distros installed at one point (alongside Windows) investigating which suited me best. In the end I had whittled it down to three.
I selected the one that suited best, although at the time it was fairly new and not well known.
15+ years later I still use it (exclusively).

I recognise that very few will have the necessary, time, patience and determination to go through that many distros, but I do advise at least running live, if not installed, about that many ...... and do that without selecting what are essentially copies of the original with little to distinguish them except for a different DE.

Following the lead sheep is no guaranteed way to finding the distro that suits you best.

Muahahaha

Johnboy what lean Linux distro would you recommend just for web browsing and streaming? Not doing anything heavier than that, no gaming or heavy downloads. Its just a basic Asus netbook with a SSD.

Johnboy1951

Muahahaha wrote: »

Johnboy what lean Linux distro would you recommend just for web browsing and streaming? Not doing anything heavier than that, no gaming or heavy downloads. Its just a basic Asus netbook with a SSD.

'Lean' to me implies a 'lightweight' Desktop Environment, so I would look for releases based on the likes of

Openbox
LXDE
LXQT (replaces LXDE I believe)
Xfce
Mate
KDE5 Plasma

probably in that order.

My own preference is for one of the PCLinuxOS releases, but that is MY Preference and you need to find your own.

You can find most of the above from PCLinuxOS in these two links.

http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/64bit/
http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/pclinuxos/pclinuxos/live-cd/community/

Pay special attention to the different sizes of ISO ....... 'mini', normal and 'mega or big daddy'.
The main difference is in the number of applications included in the ISO.

Of course all apps are available through Synaptic access to the repositories.

If you have questions when you test, I strongly suggest joining the forum as it is the absolute best place to get advice about the distro, and is a friendly place to visit and ask questions.
https://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?

I don't wish to appear to be promoting one particular distro, so I suggest you also try some others like

Debian
Mint (derivative of Ubuntu)
Fedora
Suse
Ubuntu (derivative of Debian)
Solus

The difficulty is that what any one might like, is not necessarily what others will like, and without trying a whole bunch of distros you will never appreciate the choices you have.

After a while you get settled in and you adapt to the vagaries of what you are running, and get too lazy to change.
So do the research before making a decision is my advice

Muahahaha

Thanks Johnboy, thats great info, I've a lot to research