To repair or to use a dongle: Defective Wifi Chip

[Saudate]

Good day Techspotters!

My laptop's WiFi chip recently started malfunctioning and disappearing from Device Manager. There are times that the WiFi works for half a day before the connection becomes limited and disappears from the system tray (the toggle in Win10 and also in Device Manager). It's an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265.

Reformatting my PC and installing drivers from the manufacturer's website did not solve the problem. Windows Update also did not help. The wifi chip is listed in Device Manager (Show hidden devices option) but it is greyed out.

Is it worth replacing the chip or should I just buy a WiFi dongle? My laptop is also out of the warranty period.

Thanks!

 

[DelJo63]

I would have recommended a driver update - - but you did that already :sigh: Win/10 has a habit during an Update pass of regressing that driver, so verify the one now installed is STILL the one you installed. If not, reapply that driver.

 

[jane21august]

Buy a new WiFi dongle because the repair charge will cost the same as the new one.

 

[captaincranky]

"Is it worth replacing the chip or should I just buy a WiFi dongle? My laptop is also out of the warranty period".

Replacing a non-socketed IC in today's miniature PC boards is quite an adventure. You need tools specific to the layout of the chip, and an instant's too much heat applied when reinstalling, can fry the replacement.

So, as long as the failed Wi-Fi chip isn't affecting the functioning of the rest of the machine, I'd say a dongle not only is the way to go, it's pretty much the only way to go. Especially considering you'd have to surrender the laptop for repairs, which either means you need implicit trust in the integrity of the repair service, or you have to move all your data off the machine before taking it to the shop.

 

[PCTEACHER05]

Not all laptops have soldered in chips, especially older laptops (made before 2009). That's more of a tablet thing. Older laptops (most major brands: Acer, Dell, HP, Asus, etc.) typically have a WLAN chip which is more of a miniature circuit-board (a bit larger than a postage stamp). This WLAN board typically only costs $10-$15 US on ebay or similar site. However, some laptops have an easy-access panel that can be removed by an average home user with nothing more than a jeweler's screwdriver. If the WLAN board is accessible through the bottom case panel, it's a 15-minute job. But, quite a few laptops have this WLAN board on the bottom side of the Motherboard or sandwiched below the Motherboard and the CPU heat-sink assembly and the keyboard way underneath everything inside the laptop case. This usually means a complete teardown which can take from several hours to a couple of days to take apart the laptop and get to the connector where the WLAN board can be removed and replaced. Almost the entire cost of the repair is the labor; typically $100-$120 or so and a $15 part. So, you would have to pay a Tech $115-$135 or so to make this repair. Name brand Wi-Fi dongles such as Cisco/Linksys or Netgear run a fraction of that; about $35-$50 US. In the case that your laptop has a deeply hidden WLAN board, the dongle replacement method is definitely the cheaper way to go.
Some folks hate having to remember to plug/unplug the dongle when they leave home to travel with the laptop and insist on replacing this WLAN board. Cost of a new Dell laptop is $225-$250 for entry-level laptops. Therefore the cost of a WLAN board replacement is about 1/2 the cost of a brand new laptop. Unless you are willing to camp out in line for 3 days at Best Buy during their Black Friday sale when that same laptop goes on sale for about $159. If you have an expensive laptop; say more than $900 when you bought it new, a $100+ repair might be worth to have the convenience of not having to remember to take that Wi-Fi dongle along with you when you travel.

Good luck!
PCTEACHER05