Solved Win 11 can't detect my motherboard Wi-Fi (& Bluetooth?)

Jose Hidalgo · Apr 10, 2024

Hi everybody

This one is driving me nuts.

In my brand new rig, I have an Asus TUF Gaming B650M-Plus WiFi motherboard, and a fresh Win 11 23H2 install with all the latest updates.
Everything has been working smoothly since february or so.
I hadn't used the Wi-Fi until now, Ethernet is fine for me.

But now I have bought a Bluetooth gamepad. This required me to connect the external Wi-Fi antenna to the motherboard (since apparently it handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth). Which I did. Now that the antenna is connected and the PC is rebooted, I have noticed a couple of problems.

Problem 1 : no Wi-Fi

I can't see the Wi-Fi option anywhere, it just doesn't appear next to Ethernet on the taskbar or in the settings :

and

In fact, the Wi-Fi adapter doesn't even appear in the Device Manager !

It doesn't appear next to Ethernet in the Network Control Panel either :

In the BIOS, Wi-Fi controller and Bluetooth controller are both Enabled.
In Win 11, the WLAN service is enabled, I have checked via services.msc
The network troubleshooting utility doesn't show anything. It can't even say that Wi-Fi doesn't work, since it can't even detect the Wi-Fi in the first place.

Problem 2 : no Bluetooth either

As you can see, the Bluetooth controller seems to be detected in the Device Manager, the Bluetooth option appears (on the taskbar and in the settings) and can be enabled (it also appeared previously before the antenna was even connected, so nothing has changed). But it doesn't detect anything.

Using another PC (an old Win 7 laptop), I can detect all my Wi-Fi networks and my Bluetooth devices without issues. So the problem really lies with this new Win 11 rig.

Problem 3 : can't install the drivers ?

I have tried downloading the latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers for my motherboard, here.
But those drivers just won't install

It should be trivial, right? But when I click on AsusSetup.exe, UAC asks me if I agree, so I agree, then... nothing happens. Absolutely nothing.

I'm lost here

Thanks in advance for your help!

andrew129260 · Apr 10, 2024

I know you said windows is up to date, but have you tried updating the bios?

Are you sure the antennas are connected properly?

I saw this model of motherboard may require the armory crate software to be installed to have them show up.

hsehestedt · Apr 10, 2024

Try opening Device Manager and select the option to show hidden devices like this:

If you now see a greyed-out instance of the WiFi and Bluetooth adapters in Device Manager. The below image shows where you should see these. Note that they are NOT greyed-out in my instance:

If you see greyed-out instances of these, select them and DELETE them. If offered an option to uninstall the driver, do so.

Now try to install the drives once again to see if it will now work.

Jose Hidalgo · Apr 10, 2024

I see indeed plenty of greyed out instances : 5 in the Bluetooth section, 1 in the Network adapters section. Should I delete them all?
But still no Wi-Fi at all ! Nothing.

NormanF · Apr 10, 2024

Delete them all and reboot Windows and see if your devices are detected and drivers are installed.

If that doesn't work, you may have to do a clean install of Windows.

hsehestedt · Apr 10, 2024

Yes, you can delete them. Again, my suggestion is to remove the driver if it offers that option. There is no need to reboot. You can do either one of these after deleting those greyed out instances:

1) Right-click on the name of your computer at the top of the device tree and then select "Scan for hardware changes". Note that if you removed the driver it may find the bluetooth and WiFi adapter but may show an error because the driver is not yet installed. In that case, simply install the drivers then (one for bluetooth and another for the WiFi adapter).

2) You can try skipping right to installing the drivers. I personally prefer to do it as #1 above. That method seems more reliable.

Jose Hidalgo · Apr 10, 2024

I have deleted all of them. I didn't see any option to remove the driver. Now it looks like this:

Unfortunately, scanning for hardware changes shows no additional devices. It's like the Wi-Fi is not detected at all.

Installing the drivers "kind of works". Here's what it shows:

For Wi-Fi: mtkwl6ex.inf: oem15.infwas successfully installed on 0 device(s)
For BT: mtkbtfilter.inf: oem16.inf was successfully installed on 0 device(s)

These messages are displayed almost immediately after clicking on "install", which makes me think that no actual install is taking place.

----------

I should mention an additional problem. I don't know if it's related, but since the beginning, Device Manager is also showing this:
("Other Devices" > "PCI coding/decoding controller / Network controller / Unknown Device / Unknown Device")

I don't know what that is, and I don't remember it being there a few weeks ago.
I have no PCI cards for the moment. Only an M.2 SSD that works perfectly.
My Ethernet also works perfectly, so I don't understand that "Network controller" issue.

hsehestedt · Apr 10, 2024

This is a desktop system, right? Bluetooth requires a USB connection if that bluetooth adapter is on a PCI-E card. If your bluetooth is on a card, make sure that you have the USB connection seated firmly.

In looking at issues others have reported, I see that sometimes people recommend completely removing power from the system. In other words, unplug the system and allow it to sit for a few minutes before reapplying power.

I know that you had said that you already checked your BIOS, but does your system also have any sort of hotkey that might disable bluetooth? I know that this is more typical of laptops, but I'm running out of ideas and just listing all the things that I can possibly think of.

hsehestedt · Apr 10, 2024

One more thought: I had an MSI motherboard years ago where the WiFi and Bluetooth was on a small module that plugged into the motherboard. That module had the antenna connections that stuck out the back of the case. But I remember that module coming loose on me once and I had a bit of difficulty reseating it because it had a very small connector. To reseat it properly while the motherboard was installed in the case was not easy, but that might be something that you want to look for.

Marcus Vinicus · Apr 10, 2024

Asus has a page about this issue. Perhaps one of these solutions may help.

[Motherboard]Troubleshooting-How to fix Motherboard WI-FI connect problem | Official Support | ASUS USA

Jose Hidalgo · Apr 10, 2024

First of all, thank you all for helping. Much appreciated!

Yes, I had already checked that Asus page. They assume that at least the Wi-Fi icon is showing somewhere, which isn't my case so I can't even go through their troubleshooting

This all makes me think of a hardware issue:

- Maybe my antenna isn't connected like it should. So, a couple of questions:

Is there something else to do, besides screwing the two connectors? I have never done this before, so maybe I'm doing it wrong!
Are the two connectors numbered/ordered in some way, or can any of them be screwed in any of the two back connectors?

I wish the antenna had at least some LED or indicator that it's physically connected. Currently I have no way of knowing that.

- And maybe my Wi-Fi module isn't plugged correctly into the motherboard. With that said, here's a hi-res picture of my motherboard. I don't see any Wi-Fi module. So maybe now it's integrated into the motherboard, so there's no way it could be plugged incorrectly. That would lead back to an antenna issue, right?

BamaInArk · Apr 10, 2024

You have no special wifi module attached on that motherboard. It is a permanent soldered part. The antenna's that connect on the back will not cause the wifi to simply not work. I have seen wifi work even with no antennas connected. Of course shorter range signals.
I'd be curious is the wifi is not "On" within the bios/UEFI? The wifi and bluetooth hardware should be detected regardless of any Windows drivers installed. If the hardware is not detected then drivers won't matter.

One other thing I just thought about is have you installed ANY AMD chipset drivers? Go to AMD and download the latest Chipset drivers for your motherboard and install them. Sometimes the hardware requires the chipset drivers to work correctly.

Jose Hidalgo · Apr 10, 2024

Thanks!

Yes, I also thought Wi-Fi and Bluetooth would work (with a shorter range) even without the antenna connected. I'm surprised that Wi-Fi doesn't even show as a device, or in Windows taskbar. And I really can't afford to reinstall Windows completely and lose all my painful customizations.

For the record, even in an elevated command prompt, netsh interface show interface only shows the Ethernet interface.

Like I said previously, in the Asus BIOS, Wi-Fi controller and Bluetooth controller are both Enabled. Is there something else I should check?

I have BIOS version 2214. It's not the latest one, but it's one of the latest ones, as can be seen here. The two latest versions are mainly for support of the new Ryzen 8xxx processors. Wi-Fi operation shouldn't be a problem with any of those versions.

BamaInArk · Apr 10, 2024

I added an edit to my above post. Did you install the AMD Chipset drivers after you installed Windows? For an AMD system after you install the OS the VERY next thing you should do is install the AMD Chipset drivers. Preferably install the latest ones provided by AMD themself vs the vendor supplied ones as the vendor eventually stops updating them.

steveg · Apr 10, 2024

Are your sure you have realtek wifi/bt chip and not mediatek? TUF GAMING B650M-PLUS WIFI｜Motherboards｜ASUS USA

Jose Hidalgo · Apr 10, 2024

@BamaInArk : thanks! You mean this, right? I don't remember installing them (is there a way to check if they're installed?). Anyway, I can download the latest version and try. Let's hope it solves everything!

EDIT: I guess I can confirm that the AMD chipset drivers are NOT installed yet in my rig. I have followed this tutorial (see method 3, via the Device Manager). Sorry for being an AMD newbie!

@steveg : I guess I have a Mediatek chip, because the drivers I downloaded from Asus site for my motherboard are labeled as this:
DRV_WiFi_MediaTek_All_SZ-TSD_W11_64_V330713_20221214R
DRV_Bluetooth_MTK_All_SZ-TSD_W11_64_V19300257_20221214R

BamaInArk · Apr 10, 2024

Jose Hidalgo said:
EDIT: I guess I can confirm that the AMD chipset drivers are NOT installed yet in my rig. I have followed this tutorial (see method 3, via the Device Manager). Sorry for being an AMD newbie!

If you download the official Chipset Driver from AMD all you have to do is double click the downloaded file. It is a self-executing file and it will install all the proper drivers.

Jose Hidalgo · Apr 10, 2024

OK, so I have installed the official B650 driver from AMD, and rebooted.

It seems to have somewhat improved things in the Device Manager:

As you can see, now there's only one problematic device within "Other Devices" (instead of four previously).
A "Network controller" apparently:

Code:

PCI Bus 8, device 0, function 0.
PCI\VEN_10EC&DEV_B852&SUBSYS_54711A3B&REV_00\00E04CFFFE88520100

Apparently that device needs its installation to be pursued. There is a Kernel-PnP error code 400.
Maybe there's yet another driver that I haven't installed. But which one?
EDIT: an Internet search says it should be a Realtek controller. But so far my Ethernet controller has been working perfectly. Could it be that it's been working with a generic driver but it needs a specific driver to perform better?

And still no Wi-Fi for the moment.