Windows 10: Windows 10 Dell Inspiron 5030N not recognizing TP LINK WN823N USB wifi

Hi all.
I posted on the Windows 7 forums a short while ago: absolutely great feedback there - helped me create a Windows 7 and 10 ISO for some old computers we have.
We now have three PC's working: 1 new tower (windows 10) and two old DELL laptops, both of which where on their last legs!
One of them (this Dell Inspiron 5030N) was my daughters old one from several years ago. I was very close to sending it to recycling as it was barely responsive towards the end. However, my younger boy has started to 'play' on computers and I thought it might be a good idea to see if I could somehow make it just about usable.
To cut a long story short, I created a Windows 10 ISO and completely refreshed the machine. Suprisingly it works rather well (btw - I had to reflash the BIOS to A02 - similar to the other DELL I 'brought back to life').
The only issue is the internal wifi adapter: this runs quite slow - same with the other DELL laptop. I purchased a TP link TL WN823N and that works a treat (we use another one for the new PC tower). Yesterday I tried it in this DELL 5030 machine and again, worked a treat (from 65mps to the 144mps speeds the other machines have).
Youtube videos stall at this speed on this machine, hence me wanting to bump the speed up.
The internal wifi is named as Qualcomm.

However, since that first attempt, the laptop lost the recognition of it and it simply will not reconnect to the laptop.
I've installed (and reinstalled etc) the TP link official drivers (from both the web and disc) and Realtek drivers (which run the TP link USB on the other machines).
Occasionally when it's connected I'll get a message suggestintg the device has malfunctioned so cannot be read (I can't post the exact message as it only appears now and again when the TP link is inserted). This occurs on both of the TP link adapters - they work flawlessly on the other machine and the USB ports on this DELL 5030 work with every other USB device plugged in.

I'm at a loss what I can do next? It won't show in device manager despite attempts to refresh etc

Many thanks folks - apologies if I've missed any info.

:)

 

TP-Link WN821N wifi adapter not working on windows10

Try another version of TP-LINK like TL-WN823N. It is
compatible adapter for windows 10.

 

No Wifi on a Windows 10 machine - Was working, then all of a sudden it's gone (not upgrade or VPN related)

The USB Ethernet adapter ... such as Dual-band Wireless USB Network adaptor by Linksys ... or TP-Link TL-WN823N .... or etc etc.

 

Since inserting the USB TPlink dongle this morning (and deleting the old TP link and realtek drivers) this has now appeared in Device manager: earlier it just listed two entries, both for Qualcomm.

 

Anyone have an inkling as to how I can attempt a fix on this?
I've reinstalled/installed (ever clean reinstalling Windows 10) but simply cannot get the TP Link wifi adpater to be recognised (windows, occasionally, will state the last device has malfunctioned - this is with either of the two adapters that both fully work).

In saying all that, even though the built in adapter runs at 65mps (via status) rather than the 144mps the others run at using the Wi Fi adapter, the speed is only marginally slower (e.g. from 40MBS to 32MBS)....

Cheers!