I recently got an idea pad 3 15ada05 and have been trying to connect it to the wifi but it’s not working. It is not appearing on device management. I have even downloaded the driver for it, but it still won’t show up when I press show hidden devices.

Welcome to the Community Forums @MoonPopsicle,

I can share you this generic troubleshooting step for a possible workaround on the wifi issue on your device.

You may follow these steps and see if the machine can find and connect any available network.

Step 1: Network Reset.

- Right click the Windows icon in the bottom right and select "Settings"(cogwheel) or search for it.

- Select the "Network & Internet" Icon.

- While in the "Status" tab, scroll down until you find "Network Reset"

- Click this and continue, then perform a computer restart.

- Find your network and connect to it (You will have to type in the password (SSID/Key) again to connect)

- Make sure you tick the box that says "Automatically connect to this device" or similar

Step 2: Disable Automatic Hardware drivers update.

- Right click the Windows Icon, select the "Search" Function.

- Type "Control Panel" and select "Small icons" or "Large Icons" in the "View By" top right.

- Click the "System Icon"

- Navigate to "Advanced System Settings" -> "Hardware"

- Click "Device Installation Settings" and Select "No"

** This will prevent Windows from interfering with the drivers of your WLAN and device in future Windows updates.

Step 3: Uninstalling Device + Drivers.

- Right click the Windows icon in the bottom right and select "Device Manager"

- Navigate to the "Networks Adapter" tab and drop it down.

- Right click the "Wireless Network Adapter / WLAN device" and select "Uninstall Device"

- Tick the box "Delete the driver software for this device" if prompted.

- Perform a restart of the computer, then run/install the drivers provided on the Support Page (you can download the drivers for wifi on a separate computer if the laptop cannot connect to the internet, save it to a flashdrive then move the driver to Lenovo PC)

- Just plot in the serial number for your device and hit enter, might have to hit it twice. Then head to Drivers & Software

- Right click the file and select "Run As Administrator"

Step 4: System board updates.

Also make sure you have the newest BIOS, Chipset, Serial I.O and Management Engine Interface drivers for your device:  

You can find and install the newest drivers from the Lenovo Support Page

Just plot in the serial number for your device and hit enter, might have to hit it twice. Then head to Drivers & Software then the BIOS and Chipset section

**Note: Make sure the AC adapter is connected and that you have at least 30% battery charge when performing this update.

Reference/source of troubleshooting: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-IdeaPad-1xx-3xx-5xx-7xx-Edge-LaVie-Z-Flex-Notebooks/Qualcom-Atheros-QCA61x4A-Wireless-Network-Adaptor/m-p/5033985 

Hope this helps.

Let us know how it goes so we can further advise.

Regards.

Dex

Thank you so much for replying with this advice but sadly I can’t get much use out of it. 

The wireless network adapter isn’t showing anywhere. It’s as if it doesn’t exist. I’ve installed it and still nothing. It doesn’t appear in device manager at all. I don’t know where it went. 

Even when I troubleshoot the laptop it says nothing is wrong. Everything is up to date. I have no clue what to do. 

Hi

To supplement the excellent answer given above by @Dex_Lenovo 

Change the name of the attached file to 0toF.BAT and run it as ADMIN.

Then start at number 1 and work your way thru, posting results please.

4 and 5 particularly.

If in doubt please ask.

Hi @MoonPopsicle,

Thanks for the response, if that is the case that the wireless network adapter is not even showing anywhere, try opening the Device Manager again. Click on View tab then click on Show Hidden Devices. Check the wireless network adapter if this is grayed out but visible after clicking on show hidden devices. It would be good if you can share us a screenshot how does it look and if it has error code.

If there is no more wireless network adapter visible after that, then perhaps try performing a full system reset on the machine. The full reset will technically restore all the system settings back to defaults and will reset and restore all the drivers as well. It would be advisable that  you may need to back up all necessary files first before deciding to go with reset.

Regards.
Dex

Hi,

Thanks for sharing this in the thread.

Regards.