View Full Version : Laptop constantly drops Wi-fi
I have a Lenovo Thinkpad W520 Windows 10, and it constantly drops Wi-fi. The signal goes out, I lose work, then the wi-fi symbol goes out. It usually takes about 60-120 seconds before the wi-fi comes back and the page loads again and I can continue working. I figured it was my old router/modem being old so I replaced them. Now, instead of having to manually turn the Wi-fi off and on, it will reset itself automatically, but it still does it about every 15 minutes. It's very annoying and is slowing down my productivity.
I looked up a few things on-line and this seems to be a common problem with machines that have Window 7,8, and 10, and there seems to be a few different options, but there doesn't seem to be anything that consistently works for everyone. The only thing I've tried so far is turning off the option to save power in the network configuration.
I thought I'd turn to the experts on here for help. I'd prefer to set this laptop on fire, but I can't afford a new one at the moment and wouldn't know what to buy anyway. Any help to tide me over? Other than this one issue, I have little problems with my current machine.
I have a Lenovo Thinkpad W520 Windows 7, and it constantly drops Wi-fi. The signal goes out, I lose work, then the wi-fi symbol goes out. It usually takes about 60-120 seconds before the wi-fi comes back and the page loads again and I can continue working. I figured it was my old router/modem being old so I replaced them. Now, instead of having to manually turn the Wi-fi off and on, it will reset itself automatically, but it still does it about every 15 minutes. It's very annoying and is slowing down my productivity.
I looked up a few things on-line and this seems to be a common problem with machines that have Window 7,8, and 10, and there seems to be a few different options, but there doesn't seem to be anything that consistently works for everyone. The only thing I've tried so far is turning off the option to save power in the network configuration.
I thought I'd turn to the experts on here for help. I'd prefer to set this laptop on fire, but I can't afford a new one at the moment and wouldn't know what to buy anyway. Any help to tide me over? Other than this one issue, I have little problems with my current machine.
Does it drop wi-fi everywhere or just at your home? Did you upgrade your router with a personally bought router or did you have your internet provider upgrade the router?
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Does it drop wi-fi everywhere or just at your home? Did you upgrade your router with a personally bought router or did you have your internet provider upgrade the router?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Also, have you checked to make sure your running the most current drivers for whatever wifi device is installed on your laptop?
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Sounds like the kind of problems I used to have with Century Link.
Also, I’ll have to look it up but there’s an app that lets you see a graphical representation of all of the WiFi signals where you are. There were about twenty of them in my home and a large portion of them kind of overlap each other. Made some setting adjustments in my router and now I’m not competing with everyone else’s signal and my internet works great.
Not sure if any of that helps you. I’ll try and find the name of that app. Might be after Christmas though.
Also uninstall IBM Access connections - or whatever WAN/LAN switching software may be installed. Garbage.
If you need to easily switch network connectivity, I recommend Net Profiles Mod. For those that know what I'm talking about, it's also the only one that will work with VMNICS. It also works with Virtual Box.
Did you check wireless encryptions?
When my HPQ laptop went to crap, I took over my mom's old window 7 Dell laptop as a backup. It was having serious internet issue. It will work for 30 second,and not work work another 30-45 second of down/upload. I try to get into win7 and re do entire thing. Read lots of troubleshooting online and change the setting on laptop and wireless router etc.
After all that troubleshoot, I tried the encryption side. I changed it from AES to TKIP , and it works well. [facepalm]
Try changing to another channel on your router. I had issues with channel congestion from the neighbors, my machine would drop wifi, then search for and reconnect to my network. The problem went away when I moved from the default channel.
Experienced this when I first downgraded to 8 from 7. Will see if I can find the batch file I made to force the process to work. Was netsh wlan something or other as the main feature in the shindig. Oddly, it stopped doing it on its own and even more oddly, I was able to have no issues with a bridged VM on the same otherwise crappy WiFi connection.
It's not a network issue, because when my laptop goes out, everything else on my network is fine, so I know it's specifically the laptop. Also, when I looked it up, many other people were having the same issue, across multiple brands of laptops.
One of the three "fixes" I've found was to install the latest drivers (which makes sense since this hasn't always been the case). I haven't done that yet. I wanted to run it by everyone here since there are a lot of networking people and if it is a known issue, I thought I'd be able to cut out some trial and error. Thanks everyone so far.
NeedMoreAmmo
12-24-2017, 00:41
I would check the power settings to ensure that it is not turning off wifi after a period of time. A quick google can show you where to find that for your particular OS. Typically, if not in the general power/sleep settings, it can be found as one of the settings for the wireless driver.
Changing the wifi channel on the router, as mentioned above, is also great advice, as is uninstalling vendor provided wifi "helper" programs. All you really need is the driver.
It could also be a heat related problem. Wifi cards are usually located in a part of the laptop that dosent get the best airflow. They are cheap on ebay and relatively easy to replace. If your signal strength is low perhaps the 2 or 3 connections to the card are flakey. Youtube a vid on how to check or replace the card.
At least it's not blue screening. Wifi cards love to do that when they mess up.
Merry Christmas!
Searched through my email to see if I had done the smart thing and send myself the commands that worked. Unfortunately hadn't but I did find this chat transcript with a buddy:
So weird occurrence with the computers yesterday... both XXXXX's and my laptop wouldn't get online. BUT iPad could and iPhone could, so router issue was out. Also, could ping, tracert, etc. Reset winsock and Netsh whatever...
no dice
But here it gets weirder
I was able to access internet from my laptop through VM using NAT
the winsock reset had worked for a while... but the VM solution always worked.
Which leads to the question: why?
I'm wondering if it's a HIPS issue and if VM somehow bypassed HIPS, but I dunno how much of the hardware and networking features of the host are shared with the VM. Would be an interesting lab if able to be consistently re-created.
Are you using Norton AV or something? Might try turning that off to test, or otherwise looking at logs to see if it's blocking outbound traffic.
Also, I’ll have to look it up but there’s an app that lets you see a graphical representation of all of the WiFi signals where you are. There were about twenty of them in my home and a large portion of them kind of overlap each other. Made some setting adjustments in my router and now I’m not competing with everyone else’s signal and my internet works great.
Not sure if any of that helps you. I’ll try and find the name of that app. Might be after Christmas though.
The app I use is Wifi Analyzer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer&hl=en
The router we have from Xfinity sucks for wifi. I resorted to running ethernet cable to the more demanding devices (desktops, smart TV, gaming console, etc.); I realize this isn't an option for all. It doesn't help that our router is on the top level of the home and most everything is below/downstairs from it... last time I read up on this topic, as a general rule, it's best to have the wifi hotspot low, and the devices above/higher.
Wifi routers are definitely not created equal.
I've already changed the power settings, and I'm not using Norton anti-virus. I'll probably go through the steps to update the drivers next. I don't think it has anything to with the router channel since nothing else drops.
So you’re running not running a 3rd party AV, just Defender?
Hmmm, it appears so. I thought I might have had MacAffee on here, I just knew it wasn't Norton. Sorry, I thought you were specifically asking about Norton.
Wow. No shortage of hits on Google for "Thinkpad W520 drops wifi" going back to 2011.
I've also used the Android Wifi Analyzer app for many years to find the best channels for my gear within my home and in dealing with neighbors. Sure would be nice if the neighbors understood that 1, 6, and 11 are the only channels that don't overlap on 2.4GHz.
This is Lenovo's troubleshooting guidance: Frequently drop or intermittent wireless connection Window 7, 8 and 10 (https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht502846)
68Charger
12-24-2017, 14:54
Good suggestions so far, I'll add looking at event viewer on your laptop, see if there are any events that coincide with when it drops... could provide a clue if the wifi "card" is resetting, or if the software or drivers are crashing.
Wow. No shortage of hits on Google for "Thinkpad W520 drops wifi" going back to 2011.
I've also used the Android Wifi Analyzer app for many years to find the best channels for my gear within my home and in dealing with neighbors. Sure would be nice if the neighbors understood that 1, 6, and 11 are the only channels that don't overlap on 2.4GHz.
This is Lenovo's troubleshooting guidance: Frequently drop or intermittent wireless connection Window 7, 8 and 10 (https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/ht502846)
I came to post the link in the above post. It was the one I found earlier. I just wanted to run it by everyone to see if there is one of those options to try first, or one to avoid. I've already done the power management thing.
The event log is a good idea, but I don't know how to check that.
Do you have a google chromecast or home device on your network, with a TP Link router? I came across issues on my own network, and there is apparently a bug...
http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/chromecast-wifi-issues-1202665282/
Method 1 of resetting TCP/IP stack seems like something to not do if you aren't aware of how to set it back. I'm not a fan of changing configs when I have no idea how to undo it if everything goes bad.
The settings it will change aren't absolutely necessary, but I'm reminded of the scene in the Goonies where one dude wants to move a rock and Martha Plimpton's character says, "God put that rock there for a reason." Default settings are often not a bad thing.
I'd try Method 7 first, and then once you do it, if it works, change it back to 802.11n and see if that works.
Question -- does this work on any other wifi? Have you tried making your phone a hotspot and see if that works?
I can't make my phone a hotspot. The computer worked fine when I got it, but I've not had it on any other WiFi since this issue has started. Should I just go to the hospital or a Star Bucks or something and hang out for an hour to test it?
Great-Kazoo
02-06-2018, 17:46
I can't make my phone a hotspot. The computer worked fine when I got it, but I've not had it on any other WiFi since this issue has started. Should I just go to the hospital or a Star Bucks or something and hang out for an hour to test it?
I'd suggest taking a hammer to it, but we know what happened last time you used hand tools.
If my months of bragging about not working were not all catching up to me at once right now, I would.
Thank you for the help everyone. It seems that changing to the secondary channel on my router has alleviated the issue.
Thank you for the help everyone. It seems that changing to the secondary channel on my router has alleviated the issue.
As in, forcing it to broadcast on 5 instead of 2.4?
As in, forcing it to broadcast on 5 instead of 2.4?
...or moving the 2.4 b/g/n off the default setting of channel 6?
Right, but the idea of a second channel is what confuses me in his statement. There’s multiple channels. So I’m trying to interpret what he means.
Ummm, my understanding of this stuff is below your lowest expectations. My router comes with two different "channels" when you first set it up. A main one, and a second one that Name_5 that is supposed to be faster but with limited range. I was using the faster one before I upgraded my modem and router, but since I work in the room furthest from the router, my signal was low. At some point I switched to the main signal, which also has everything else in the house as well. Laptop started dropping signal, I didn't connect changing channels with the problem and bought a new modem and router (which I needed anyway), and stayed on the main channel.
If that doesn't make sense, i can't explain it any better without first increasing my knowledge of the subject, which I'm currently unwilling to do.
There is an app for your phone to see the channels are in use. When I had issues a few routers back I found it was because all the neighborhood traffic was on simething like 6 and 3. I switched to 11 and done.
But I thought new routers did that automagically now days.
There is an app for your phone to see the channels are in use. When I had issues a few routers back I found it was because all the neighborhood traffic was on simething like 6 and 3. I switched to 11 and done.
But I thought new routers did that automagically now days.
Probably the same app I mentioned in post #4.
Now that my signal doesn’t overlap twenty others my connection is 100% better.
Probably. Nursing a cold, only 80% coherent today.
This is where I would pitch the Ubiquity gear , but too pooped today.
Irving, check out these graphics:
2.4Ghz vs 5Ghz
https://www.metageek.com/inc/images/landingpages/dual/dualbandwifi.png
The channels are 1-11 on 2.4Ghz, w/ 1,6, and 11 being non-overlapping.
5Ghz has a lot more channels, but it has less range.
By running a wifi scanner, you can figure out what the highest channel usage in your area is (that the device can pick up), and from there modify your channel usage. Ideally, it should look something like this:
https://media.boundless.aerohive.com/images/681554077_figure_2_w640.png
However, if everyone's X-Brand device is default to channel 11 or 6 or whatever, you're gonna have interference.
Try going into the admin GUI and seeing if you can change the actual channel once you place back on 2.4Ghz. If you can, you can download a scanning app and see if everyone is running a particular channel. Then just make a strength map and modify to your usage needs. Or leave it on 5Ghz and have a beer, cus you have better things to do than geek out.
Good advice in the thread.
However, most newer routers/AP are going to auto-pick the best channel and will change channels as conditions change.
FWIW, my Ubiquiti stuff has been rock solid and never any issues. That said, it's kinda prosumer and not well suited to the average Joe to setup.
Sounds like a dual band router. I have found that some of my older devices, even though they support 5GHz, to be more stable on 2.4GHz. Some routers will try to avoid other devices and select channels based on what the router sees. The problem I've found with this strategy is that the WLAN traffic at the router often looks very different than at the remote device. I've even seen some routers that will intentionally hop onto the same used channel if the other device is nearby. There's some debate as to having nearby devices sharing the same frequencies being more efficient rather than having multiple overlapping channels.
That’s a solid point about the device’s visible spectrum != router’s. Is this disparity entirely geographical or based on antenna strength? In other words, is it something which can be mitigated by conducting the scan in very close rpoximity to the device?
I’d be interested in some solid resources on both sides of that debate.
CoGirl303
02-11-2018, 10:26
I have a Lenovo Thinkpad W520 Windows 10, and it constantly drops Wi-fi. The signal goes out, I lose work, then the wi-fi symbol goes out. It usually takes about 60-120 seconds before the wi-fi comes back and the page loads again and I can continue working. I figured it was my old router/modem being old so I replaced them. Now, instead of having to manually turn the Wi-fi off and on, it will reset itself automatically, but it still does it about every 15 minutes. It's very annoying and is slowing down my productivity.
I looked up a few things on-line and this seems to be a common problem with machines that have Window 7,8, and 10, and there seems to be a few different options, but there doesn't seem to be anything that consistently works for everyone. The only thing I've tried so far is turning off the option to save power in the network configuration.
I thought I'd turn to the experts on here for help. I'd prefer to set this laptop on fire, but I can't afford a new one at the moment and wouldn't know what to buy anyway. Any help to tide me over? Other than this one issue, I have little problems with my current machine.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180211/86df7f93cb6bd3cde9742e8847bbe2db.jpg
Ever since I got rid of my PC's and switched to MAC, my computer issues have dropped exponentially.
I bought a mint condition rarely used 2012 Macbook Pro over Black Friday for $650. I replaced my 2010 version which had a faulty graphics chip.
My 2011 iMAC 27" has been going strong w/ exception to needing a new hard drive last year.
Aside from that, no issues.
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I have PCs, and am learning a great deal from this thread. Irving, you're not the only one that has this issue with laptops!
If you can hardline in, sounds like your Wi-Fi card is dying. You can also get a usb Wi-Fi and try that if you can't run the cable.
Ever since I got rid of my PC's and switched to MAC, my computer issues have dropped exponentially.
Whatever floats your boat. I have both at home and manage both at the office. Macs have had a history of WiFi issues for as long as there have been...Macs. If you have any platform that isn't having issues, you're just not pushing it hard enough.[Coffee]
If you're trying to identify the best WiFi channel selection for your home, I'd recommend using a tool like WiFi Analyzer to perform a site survey in various parts of your home to find the configuration that works best for you. In my case, my router is located in my home office in the basement and is somewhat shielded from my neighbors. Most of my end-user devices are on the main floor of our ranch style home and are bombarded by so many networks it'll make your head spin.
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