Windows 8.1: WiFi dropping and/or "Limited"

If the driver works with 8, but not with 8,1 - HP to blame, not MS.

I have two wifi USB adapters ( One from Belkin and another from Netgear) which had the same limited connectivity issue. Both the adapters are Realtek based.

I read somewhere online that the issue was restricted to 11n. Now I don`t know how this makes sense , but restricting my USB adapters to work in 802.11b/g mode only, works for me. You can change this setting in the device manager .

I`ve tried all the other solutions mentioned in this post and elsewhere(including reverting to older manufacturer provided drivers) but none have worked.

So right now my working setup is : older driver( as mentioned in other posts) +  disable 11n mode in the adapter ( for me it doesn`t make much of a difference in link speed)

Some pics to help.

1.  Setting in device manager

2. Pings look normal - ( i used the ping to AP as a metric to see how my adapter performed)

3. I change the device mode back to 802.11b/g/n and this is what I see

The initial "PING: transmit failed" messages are when I`m changing the mode ( the wifi connection is disrupted during this process)

And then the typical "Request timed out" messages start popping up - just like they used to before.

In 802.11 b/g mode , Ive had ping running for quite some time now and seen no issues. Will update the thread after a few days if my fix still works. ( the driver rollback fix had similarly worked for me for a few days and then the issue cropped up again. Hence not taking this as a final solution until Im sure)

The current drivers I`m using :

Let me know if this works.

I have a question that begs for  an honest answer.  With Windows  8 and 8.1 being  such poor products,  I would like to know why Microsoft abadons fixing this final mess of an OS only to start writing windows 8.  2hat makes this company thijk that they can do any butter with a new OS when they have not had a good OS since Vista.  I hesjtate to buy a PC after all of the koney and ime I hav wastedd the last few months.  I am angry and jo4 not because of the challenge, but beca6se I have spent mon we y and time which I don' have because of my husbands unexpected death,  certainly not your program, but the fa c tthat I have lost time and money tryibg to find a way to supplement my income.  BUT everytime, I try to use this computer, I am stopped by the OS and now I stand to lose m6 home, my car, everything I own.  What do 7 do with this junk?

Thank you

Susan McGuire

Have you tried updating the router firmware? Usually when an older driver works it is because it doesn't use a newer protocol that the router isn't set up for? Similar to this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2749073/en-us

It could also be that a Bluetooth device uses the same band and with the older driver it isn't using the Wirelless N

To any one who is reading. Windows makes a SDK and WDF and the device makers use it to make their drivers. Microsoft's job is to make sure the SDk doesn't have bugs or WDF. But if the bug is in the hardware or the driver the hardware maker built then it is their fault. Microsoft gets millions of pieces of data and updates form manufactures. If there is an issue they will address it if it is the WDF or SDK but not if it is the driver.

Most manufactures like to say it is a Windows issue because that takes the pressure off them and most people accept it as true thinking that a lot of windows computers have issues which is a given because there are 100s of millions of windows devices people use with millions of 3rd party hardware and software that are broken but Windows will fail. Looking at BSOD and bugchecks we know that windows isn't usually the issue and Virus software, viruses, hardware and drivers are the main issue even though that the bugcheck will appear to fails on a windows system process the windows process isn't what failed it got a bad instruction or noticed something wrong earlier in the stack and had to shut down to protect the system