Surface Pro wifi issue

[carpoj]

Just got my 128gb on Sat. Opened it, set up account, wifi personalization, every thing went fine with that. Then, before installing any apps I go to Windows update and install all 15 "important" updates. After install it says my Surface has to be restarted. Well after restart I have no wifi. My wifi adapter isn't even showing up under Network and Sharing. No option in Settings to turn wifi on just Bluetooth and Airplane mode. I then go Device manager it has a Marvell AVASTAR 350N. I updated driver and still nothing. I then go to Services and find the WLAN Service. I stop and restart that service then reboot. NOW WIFI IS BACK I thought... I went on thinking everything was fine until a couple of hours later something needed me to restart Windows I did just that and NO WIFI AGAIN. I follow the same steps as before and now wifi works again. I become curious and played around and after every restart my wifi is not working not even showing up in Network connection in "network and sharing center" but if I go restart WLAN Service and reboot there it is. This doesn't happen if I shutdown the Surface just "restart".
So now I contact MS and right off the tech said this was a hardware issue that my Surface would have to be replaced. The Tech didn't even do any test or have me do anything. How did he know it was a hardware issue? Has this happened before? Anyway MS wants me to send them my Surface and when they receive it they will ship me out another one. I don't want to wait 2 weeks until they receive these in stock so I ask "how long will it take" he tells me 5-6 days and I should have my new one. I don't believe him since MS stores wont have them in until March 1st.
Anyone got any ideas. Could this be a hardware issue? Or is it something I could fix software?

 

[bosamar]

That's a tough choice to make. Try playing with it for one, two, three days, and if unsuccessful, ship it back for another.

 

[souldier]

That is strange indeed. I had something similar happen to me last night when I was trying to connect another windows 8 tablet on the same wifi. Maybe it is just coincidence though. One thing I suggest is try using your surface pro at another place on a different wifi. If you experience zero problems, then it must have something to do with the network. Try various scenarios and keep trouble shooting to find out if it is a problem with the software, hardware, network, etc. If it continues, then exchange it because that's not normal

 

[dleuen]

Do other wifi networks show up (neighbors) or is it just yours that doesn't show? From your description it sounds like the adapter is totally disabled. But my guess is it is a software issue. Seems like if the adapter was dead, it would remain dead.

 

[carpoj]

No wifi shows up. As you said it seems as though the adaptor is dead. But when I go to services it is running I just have to stop and restart the service then after restart wifi shows back up. But if it was a software issue then it was originally messed up when MS installed the OS and before the recovery partition was made, because even doing a complete reinstall doesn't help.

 

[Linwood]

It's windows, so treat it like a PC. Look to see that those services are set to auto-start, then if they are stopped they almost certainly (but not quite certainly) logged an event in the system or application log (probably system) when they stopped, or failed to start. Reboot, look to see they/it is not running, check the logs, there may be a clue in there what is happening.

It's conceivable it's hardware, of course, but it could be some combinations of apps or software, something about that wifi that's interacting with the driver and causing the service to stop. It's probably more fruitful to see if you can find a clue before sending it back, as it might be easily fixable.

Take what you find, google (forget "surface" just look for the error) and see what shows up. Worse that happens is you waste and hour, best is you aren't without for 2 weeks (or longer).

 

[J515OP]

Also try a refresh and if that doesn't work try a reset. These will fix many issues and if not then you can still return it.

 

[ArnoldC]

Microsoft Surface support don't ask too much questions. They just want to make owners happy, so replacing one is easy.

 

[Mercutio]

Hi!

I have the same issue.
I buy my Surface Pro a week ago in Canada. I'm back to France (where the Pro is not yet released), and yesterday the wifi drop.
I try to press the wifi icon, nothing append. Like carpoj, my wifi adapter isn't even showing up under Network and Sharing. No option in Settings to turn wifi on just Bluetooth and Airplane mode.
I need to restart to get Wifi back.

The strange thing is that just before it begin to start i let me surface alone, and i was back, it had restart saying it recoreved from an error...

I send the error to microsoft.

 

[Sin]

Have you tried turning airplane mode on and then off again?

 

[Mercutio]

Yes, i turn if on and off several times.
But i only have acces on this page to turn it on/off:

http://t.co/CqncEvwDxX

 

[tonyz3]

Are you sure you have gotten all the proper MS updates. I had this issue twice a while ago. Out of nowhere my wifi toggle was gone and i had to restart to get it back. A few days later same issue. Than we had updates and i have not had this happen since. I would also check your device manager thru the DT and see if all the updates and drivers went thru completely- look to see if anything has a yellow triangle next to it. Because it is a new device you might have had something not stick.