I turned on my desktop and suddenly had no Wi‑Fi. In Device Manager, the Intel Dual Band Wireless‑AC 8260 shows "This device cannot start (Code 10)." It's an expansion card plugged into the motherboard. I've already shut down and restarted the computer, but the problem remains. Could this mean the card has failed and needs to be replaced?
4 Answers
The driver may be corrupted. Download the newest driver for the Intel AC 8260 from Intel’s official support site, uninstall the adapter in Device Manager, and select the option to remove the driver package if offered. Restart the computer, run the downloaded installer as administrator, and restart once more.
Open Device Manager, expand Network adapters, uninstall the Intel wireless adapter, and then use the option to scan for hardware changes. Windows should detect it again and reinstall a driver. If possible, download the correct driver first so you can install it manually afterward.
A quick workaround is a cheap USB Wi‑Fi adapter. It won’t diagnose the original problem, but it can get you back online if the internal card is dead.
Try moving the wireless card to another compatible motherboard slot. If it still shows Code 10 there, the card itself may be failing.
Deleting the adapter and adding it again fixed it. Thanks!