My Acer Nitro V 15 connects to Wi-Fi, but Windows cannot access the internet. The Wi-Fi adapter fails to obtain an IPv4 address through DHCP and assigns itself a 169.254.x.x address instead, with no default gateway. The same thing happens on both my home network and my phone's hotspot, while my other devices work normally. The DHCP Client service is running and set to Automatic. I have already tried a network reset, ipconfig release/renew, TCP/IP and Winsock resets, forgetting and reconnecting to Wi-Fi, disabling and re-enabling the adapter, and reinstalling the MediaTek MT7920 Wi-Fi 6 driver, version 3.4.0.1182. What should I check before resorting to a complete Windows reset?
3 Answers
Try booting the laptop from a Linux live USB and connecting to Wi-Fi there. If Linux receives an address and can browse normally, the wireless hardware is probably fine and a Windows configuration, driver, or third-party service is the likely cause. That gives you a much clearer reason to repair or reinstall Windows rather than assuming the adapter has failed.
A static address can help confirm what is happening, but it is mainly a workaround and must match the network you are connected to. You would need to set an address in the same range as the router or hotspot, along with the correct gateway and DNS servers. Since a phone hotspot uses a different address range than your home router, one static configuration will not work for both. Also check that the adapter is set to obtain its IP address and DNS automatically afterward.
Because the problem occurs on both your router and a phone hotspot, the issue is probably on the laptop rather than with either network. A 169.254.x.x address means DHCP failed, so check for software that could be interfering with networking: VPN clients, third-party antivirus or firewall software, virtual machine adapters, and network filter utilities. Temporarily uninstalling or disabling those is more useful than repeatedly resetting Winsock. It may also be worth installing the Wi-Fi driver supplied specifically by Acer, or trying an earlier driver version instead of only reinstalling the same one.
The router’s address pool or a MAC block could explain one network, but they would not normally explain the exact same DHCP failure on a phone hotspot. Testing another network is useful here because it points more strongly toward Windows or the laptop’s networking stack.