I have a brand new machine an ASUS TUF706HM-ES76. Turned it on, did the initial set up on the 12th. It updated the Windows 10 OS, and within 4 hours of turning it on the Wi-Fi pootered out. After that the Wi-Fi basically WOULD NOT WORK! I tried the bios reset and all that and nothing really worked. If I jumped through hoops, reboot, reset bios, finish boot, let Win10 reset the Network and reboot again, the Wi-Fi "MIGHT" work when it rebooted.
It would only last until I turned the machine off, then on the next start up, no Wi-Fi. At this point I had exhausted everything, though I had learned a bunch of things.
- I did NOT want to upgrade to Win11, so learned that with Win10 Home you can to do a regedit to lock it down to a specific rev version. That can be found here:
https://www.howtogeek.com/765377/how-to-block-the-windows-11-update-from-installing-on-windows-10/
It is a fairly simple edit and the only thing you have to do is take your time and follow the simple instructions.
- I learned that you can make a boot/Win10 install drive on a USB stick. Did so and promptly FUBaRed (Foul Up Beyond Repair) the OS and it would not even load up. Win10 was trying to fix itself and wanted me to enter the "BitLocker Drive Encryption recovery key". If you are unaware of what the BitLocker key is, you can find the info on your computer under Settings>System>About>BitLocker settings. It is a good idea to have this info on hand anyway. Another thing is if you reinstall Win10 you will have a NEW BitLocker key.
I entered the key and let Win10 do it's thing to repair itself. In doing so, it downloaded the original ASUS install setup from ASUS and completely redid the system as it was when it was first started. Went through the obligatory setup and wha-la had the original install setup.
At this point I need to state that the bios had been upgraded to version 312 previously and it was still version 312. Win10 came up and ran and the Wi-Fi worked. Win10 at this point is version 20H2 again, and the Wi-Fi is working like a champ.
I went in and locked the machine down (registry edit step 1) to version 20H2. No automatic upgrades now. Good thing as well, because it would have pootered up again.
- Another good bit of info from R.Manotch, is that there IS a way to turn off automatic updates by going to "Setting>System>About>Advance System Setting>Hardware>Device Installation Setting" and selecting NO. Apparently this also shuts off the updater.
- Next trick is to find a way to allow Win10 to do updates individually and as you want. I found some good info here:
https://maxedtech.com/how-to-uninstall-block-or-selectively-install-windows-updates/
There are 4 options here for ways to stop or shut down the installs. The one I found the most interesting is the "WAU Manager" it is a single exe program. It doesn't even have an install, you just need to place it someplace on your computer, and then make a shortcut/link in your start menu. Set it to run as admin and go. It works quite simply and strait forward. The one thing that is a little scary is when you select the "Update Windows Now" button. It actually DOES NOT update yet but instead takes you to the update LIST. You can then select what you want to be done. There was another thing that it did the first time I used it. It set up a Win10 Pro group permission to prevent the automatic updates. So far I have gone through the updates (that are currently allowed) and been doing them one at a time. I can recommend that program and it is a free download with a place to send a donation. Well worth the download and I am going to send some $$ to the guy as it is quite worthwhile.
As this is getting quite long, I am going to leave it here. All of this can be found by doing internet searches. you just need to ask the right questions I guess. As someone completely new to Win10 I am probably digging into it more than most people would right off the bat. As to the updates, I am going to keep adjusting things and doing incremental updates until I find the one that trashes the Wi-Fi. Who knows, maybe it is just the fact that Win10 tends to cram a bunch of updates together and then does a reboot. It might be nothing more than that it would be fine if done one at a time. I will know more soon, but for now am quite pleased that I have prevented the Wi-Fi loss that many folks have been fighting with and have been able to learn a bit about the OS in the process.
You rarely learn much when it all works smooth as silk. When things mess up is when I learn the most and learn much more than just what is needed for the fix.