Good day!
This bug specifically in Windows 11 — on laptops with AMD processors, I noticed.
The Issue
On Windows 11 laptops with AMD processors, the Wi-Fi adapter sometimes suddenly reports No Wi-Fi networks available — even though the router and ISP are fine, and phones connect normally.
Trigger
Often happens right after an ISP (Internet Service Provider) hiccup, a brief disconnection, or when waking from sleep. Instead of reconnecting, the adapter seems to freeze and stops detecting SSIDs (Service Set Identifiers) entirely.
Cause
It's a quirk of Windows 11 combined with AMD-platform Wi-Fi chipsets (often MediaTek or Realtek). The adapter gets stuck in a bad state, so Windows thinks no wireless networks exist.
Workaround
Instead of installing "latest" drivers and getting confused, we can do this:
- Check the router first — use your phone to confirm other devices can see/connect to Wi-Fi.
- Shut down the laptop.
- Bloody remove (unplug) all the peripherals: USB, HDMI, VGA, and so forth.
- Move close to the Wi-Fi router. Please bring the laptop too. Not just you moving closer to the router.
- Turn the laptop back on near the router.
- If networks still don't appear, wait for a bit — 5 minutes top, then restart once more.
We can call this method as close-range boot. It reliably resets the adapter and forces it to see SSIDs again.
⚠️ This bug can sometimes make the laptop to freeze (hang). 🤦😵💫
Don't worry, be calm about it. The steps above will resolve it.
Footnote for SSIDs' Disappearance
An ISP outage shouldn't make SSIDs disappear. What's happening is usually one of these:
-
Driver bug/state lock on MT7921/RTL8852AE after link loss or sleep, leaving the radio idle with "no networks" until reset.
-
Power management / Modern Standby (
S0ix) power-gates theNIC(Network Interface Card) and it fails to wake or rescan properly. Disabling "allow the computer to turn off this device" often stops it. -
Less often, your router jumps to a
DFS(Dynamic Frequency Selection) channel after a hiccup. DuringCAC(Channel Availability Check - radar checks) theAP(Access Point) stops beaconing, so networks vanish for 60 seconds (up to 10 minutes on some channels/firmware). That hides the SSID from every client, temporarily.
"SSIDs' disappearance", like they were all abducted.
Oi, ransom. Bring a bag of chocolate bars. Lavatory. 5. No trousers.
🤔 That's a bladdy bizzare demand. 5 what, exactly?
Related Wi-Fi Bug
On Windows 11 with AMD, there's also this odd Wi-Fi bug.
When the current network loses internet, I switch to my phone's hotspot, all fine, but once the original Wi-Fi comes back and I switch back to it, the system sometimes just hangs. Not always, but when it does, well...
We can try the close-range boot method above to resolve it.
Actually, this post is not fixing or patching the bug, but repairing the unwanted outcome of the bug. Hm. 🤔
Right? We didn't...
- Dig into the repository like a gremlin.
- Find that line of code holding everything hostage.
- Realise it was a race condition from six months ago.
- Refactor the plonker logic knowing the hardware awkwardness. Switch the "r" with a "z" there, that should do it. Uh-huh.
- And finally commit with a message like "fix: prevent hang when switching networks 🥳🎉"
- Only to get
failed test. 🤦
That is all. I hope it is useful. See you next time. Cheers! 🙂
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