Surface Go 2 keeps dropping WiFi

Anonymous
2020-07-01T00:39:39+00:00

I have a brand new Surface Go 2 and it keeps dropping WiFi.

I can turn it off and back on and it works.  It's totally random and doesn't seem to happen after it's up for a while.  It's mainly right after a wake from sleep.  Sometimes it happens a minute after wake from sleep or longer.

All other laptops, iPads, TV sticks, smart phones and every other WiFi device I own does not have this problem.

I've ran the Windows diagnostics, and installed the Help App and ran that but no luck.

This thing must have a bug.

And yes, I've updated windows and installed all the firmware patches in the process so don't ask that question... :)

Thanks for any advice and please let me know if you are experiencing the same issue.

Surface | Surface Go | Network

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Anonymous
2020-07-03T02:02:51+00:00

Update:

The changes below did not fix it.

I ended up getting it replaced by Microsoft and my new one is working perfect with zero drops.  I didn't change any settings on my Surface Go 2 or my router with this one.

My theory is my original Surface Go 2 overheated and the WiFi chip burned out just enough to cause drops.  Just a hunch... I had a thick case and Outlook was running for hours downloading a lot of history.  The Outlook database is IO intensive and I wonder if that caused it.  This is totally speculation but I don't know what else could have happened.  Or, perhaps it was just a bad chip from the factory. That can happen.

So if you experience WiFi drops and can't resolve it, it's probally time to replace the device.

Hope this help.

I believe I fixed it.

I don't have the LTE model so the Qualcomm driver is not present.

I do have the Surface Go M3 WiFi only model and here's what I did to turn off WiFi 6.

Device Manager > Network Adapters > Intel WiFi 6 AX200 > Properties > Advanced > 802.11n/ac/ax Wireless Model

Change Value to"3. 802.11ac"

It automatically reconnected

Since I have an ASUS WiFi router that supports AC this did the trick.

I tested speedtest.net before and got around 60Mbps.

After the change I got around 210Mbps.

So for I've had no drops and wake from sleep is pretty fast.

This looks like a bug with WiFi 6 not being backward compatible.  It works but not reliable or as fast as it should.

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-07-01T04:28:38+00:00

    Hi Chicagoland,

    Thank you for reaching out Microsoft Community. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.

    To further troubleshoot this issue, I'd like you to initially run the system file checker to check if there are some system files that are currently corrupted and its interrupting the network connection on your Surface device. To run the system file checker, kindly type Command Prompt on the search box next to the Windows icon and run it as administrator. Once done, type and enter sfc /scannow. Let it load, detect and repair those corrupted files.

    If this doesn't detect anything, you can uninstall and reinstall the network drivers in Device Manager.

    Open Device Manager

    Expand Network Adapter

    Right-click on the drivers available and select "uninstall device". If a pop-up will show up before you can uninstall the drivers successfully, please leave the box unchecked. Once done, kindly go to Settings > Network & Internet> Look for Network Reset and reset its connection completely. After the device restarted, kindly reconnect it to the network  and run the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit. 

    If this helps, feel free to mark this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to respond to this thread if you need further assistance.

    Kind Regards,

    Crest_Z

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-01T18:03:24+00:00

    I tried everything above and put it into sleep mode.  When I woke it up, I noticed the WiFi connection worked then dropped withing 5 seconds then dropped again and quickly came back after another 5 seconds. 

    I'm wondering if this has something to do with WiFi 6.  My home WiFi router and AP do not support WiFi 6.  Is there a way to turn it off?

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-02T03:05:07+00:00

    Hi Chicagoland,

    Thank you for your response.

    That could be the point of failure since your WiFi router and AP do not support WiFi 6. To further troubleshoot this issue, I'd like you to go back to Device Manager and kindly expand the Network Adapter, then  double-tap the "Qualcomm" Network Adapter driver, see its properties to check if  you can configure it based on the kind of connection your WiFi router can support. Or if you need someone who can remotely access the device and have this checked if this can be configured, you can always reach out our Microsoft Surface Support.

    If this helps, feel free to mark this post as an answer. Otherwise, don't hesitate to respond to this thread if you need further assistance.

    Kind Regards,

    Crest_Z

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-07-03T04:09:15+00:00

    Hi Chicagoland,

    That's good to know that you were able to configure it in Device Manager.  In this case. since WiFi 6 is facing issues with network connectivity, it's best to send this concern of yours as a feedback to Microsoft using the Feedback Hub app so that our engineers can do further experiment and check if there's anything to be updated just to take care of this issue.

    Kind Regards,

    Crest_Z

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