Surface Laptop 3 - Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4A Wireless Network Adapter - Not Working

The only resolution I found was to install a driver update from Lenovo:

The driver update I installed is version 12.0.0.1159 from here: Qualcomm Atheros Wireless LAN Driver for Windows 10 (64-bit) - ThinkPad E470, E570, E475, E575 - Lenovo Support US

This resolved the issue though I did have to re-install one more time as a Windows Update appeared to break wireless again. The good news is re-installing the updated driver actually resolved the issue this time.

I did find other driver updates including within the Microsoft Update Catalog but I was unable to get the driver installed. Drivers can be found here: https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=Qualcomm+Atheros+QCA61x4A  be sure to sort by Last Updated descending to get the latest. Again, I was unable to get this driver installed. So perhaps better instructions from Microsoft would help.

Even better, get the last driver into Windows Update.

Also a little surprising more people don't seem to have this issue.

Thanks for the tip on getting the newer driver from the Lenovo website. This issue with the wifi going out has bugged me since I got this Surface notebook 2 years ago. Sometimes I had to disable/enable the adapter 10 times a day to get it working gain. It's up fopr a week now and do drops!!!!! THANK YOU!!!

The device manager does not display any errors with the adapter, please see attached screenshots:

Yes, I tried this as well, but this did not help. The wifi did never work properly with the driver that was installed as standard (version 12.0.0.948). I found several discussions in other forums where people seem to experience the same problem (with Atheros QCA61x4A) with no solution, here's a couple of them.

Currently I went back to using a USB wifi adapter (Netgear), which works fine, but is quite annoying as it sticks out from the side and occupies the only USB-A port.

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/qualcomm-atheros.1342/

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/threads/qualcomm-atheros-qca61x4a-wireless-network-adapter-crashes.75540/ https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/529139/qualcomm-atheros-qca61x4a-wireless-network-adapter-problem-error-make-wifi-router-down-limited/p2

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?91740-Z270E-QCA61x4A-WLAN-Problems

Hello John,

thanks for your support. My laptop has the following configuration:

• Surface Laptop 3, 15 Inch
• AMD Ryzen 5
• Windows 11 Home 64 bit, Build 22000.348

The issue with the wirelles driver was also present under Windows 10, the update to Windows 11 just did not solve it (as I hoped for).

I foolowed your advice and tried some different driver versions from

• Windows Update, https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=QCA61x4A+windows+10
• From https://www.ath-drivers.eu/

But no change. Most drivers do not work at all, the wireless adapter hangs up completely.

With the current driver (my original problem), the wireless adapter hangs up after a couple of seconds, and can only be re-activated with a re-boot.

Changing the DNS Server did not work as well, symptoms are still the same:

• My Wifi networks are displayed
• I connect with a network
• The connection is established "Connected, Internet"
• I try to open a webpage
• Webpage cannot be displayed
• The wifi page in the control panel shows no available wifis anymore until I reboot

The problem does not occur with a LAN cable attached, or with an external USB wifi adapter.