Recently, Microsoft released some new driver updates for several Surface devices, but some surface owners report that they are unable to connect to Wi-Fi networks using the 5GHz band after installing the update. What causes Wi-Fi connections issues? How to fix it? MiniTool has the newest information about this issue.
Surface Driver Update Triggered Wi-Fi Connection Issue
Recently, Microsoft released some Surface driver updates. However, many surface users are complaining about the new Window update. Why complaining? What happened?
On July 31, Microsoft released the firmware update for AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network Controller, aiming to improve Wi-Fi connectivity. However, some Surface users reported that they have trouble in connecting to 5Ghz Wi-Fi networks after installing the update.
A user from Reddit has shared his experience. Let’s see what he experienced.
I updated the Wi-Fi driver to “Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. – Net – 15.68.17013.110”, and after that update, I can’t connect to a 5GHz Wi-Fi connection, I can only connect to 2.4 GHz. when I try to connect to the 5GHz, it says: “Unable to connect to this network”. Uninstalling the wifi driver, and restarting the device did help me get the 5GHz connection back to my Surface book, but when I decided to try to install the same driver again, and try to connect to 5GHz again, the same “Unable to connect to this network” appears. Does anyone have this issue?Reddit
He is not the only one who encountered the error “Unable to connect to this network” after installing the updates. There are other users reporting similar issues on the Reddit thread, Microsoft Answers and the Feedback Hub.
Some users said that they can still connect to networks using the 2.4 GHz band. While other reports online stated the Wi-Fi failed completely at both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.
The update included two new drivers: the “Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. – Bluetooth – 15.68.17013.110” driver for Bluetooth and the “Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. – Net – 15.68.17013.110” driver for Wi-Fi.
And the problems seem to be caused by the new driver, “Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. – NET – 15.68.17013.110”, which was also installed on many Surface machines running the version 20H1, the beta of Windows’s next version.
It is said that the first-gen Surface Laptop, Surface Book, and the 5th gen Surface Pro are affected. But Microsoft has also released the same update “Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. – Net – 15.68.17013.110″ drivers for the following Surface machines:
- Surface Pro 6
- Surface Laptop 2
- Surface Book 2
- Surface Pro 4
Well then, is there a solution for the Wi-Fi connection issues caused by the new Windows update?
How to Fix the WiFi Connection Issues Caused by the Driver Update
According to the Microsoft Answers forum thread, some users reported that they were able to repair it again by rolling it back to the Wi-Fi adapter driver 15.68.9127.58. You can roll back Windows update by following the steps in the recommended article to fix Windows update problems.
Microsoft has not acknowledged the problem and there is no solution provided by them. So the current solution to this Wi-Fi connection issue on Surface devices is to downgrade the driver for the Marvell AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network Controller to an older version via Device Manager.
If you are receiving “Unable to connect to this network” errors when attempting to join 5GHz networks after installing this update, try this way to downgrade it.
The End
The new Windows update for Surface devices causing Wi-Fi issue is not so widespread and only some users have encountered this issue. And if you are using Surface machines, you’d better not install the latest Windows 10 updates if you are afraid of encountering the same issue.