Windows 8.1: WiFi dropping and/or "Limited"

Anonymous
2013-10-20T17:01:27+00:00

Since installing 8.1 Pro, I'm having issues with WiFi dropping internet connectivity and always showing "Limited" when clicking on the system tray icon.  When I troubleshoot the problem using the system tool it is always the gateway that is faulty.  I have uninstalled/reinstalled the device drivers several times, installed the newest drivers directly from Intel, restarted the computer, etc.  I can restore connectivity by turning WiFi off then back on, but the connection will drop at what seems to be random intervals.  My applicable system specs are as follows;

Lenovo Y510P  Laptop

Windows 8.1 Pro

Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230

Apple Time Capsule router w/newest firmware

Needless to say this is quite an irritating bug that didn't exist prior to the update to 8.1  I hope this can be resolved quickly. Thanks!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-01-06T06:50:35+00:00

    Dear Annanya,

    I have done this with my Samsung laptop using Windows 8.1 and voila the WiFi is connected to the internet again. What is causing this please as there are no relevant driver updates from Microsoft?

    Regards,

    Benoit Le Roy

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-01-06T07:30:39+00:00

    Think yourself lucky, if it was me I would try to go back to Win 8 with a reinstall.

    Derek

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-01-06T12:50:34+00:00

    For all of you with Intel Wireless adapters.

    I ran the utility on this page:-

    http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect/wireless

    And for the first time it detected that there was a newer version of my driver.

    I have the Intel Centrino wireless-N105 adapter.

    I downloaded and clicked on the exe file and within a few seconds the new driver was installed.

    Hope I'm not tempting fate but I have not had any dropouts for 4 days either from boot up or from sleep mode.

    This driver is not a dedicated Windows 8.1 it says for Windows 8, but its worked for me and I hope it works for all of those with Intel drivers.

    The driver covers multiple Intel adapters but the utility will detect the one you have. 

    I really hope this helps you all.

    Acer Aspire E1-571

    Intel Corei5

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-01-06T16:19:22+00:00

    I finally resolved my issue with the wifi dropping under windows 8.1. I found that Dell had another version of the 1601 a/g/n/ac atheros driver. I loaded that, and now the system has been running for 5 days without dropping the wifi. So apparently Microsoft changed something from Win8 to Win8.1 requiring manufacturers to rewrite their drivers. 

    The whole reason that I moved to Win8.1 is because I have a 3200x1800 display and a 1920x1080 external display. win7 and win8 both do not allow for multiple dpi resolutions, forcing the windows dragged from the laptop display to be huge (size wise and font wise) on the external display. That can easily be fixed on the external display, but when dragging it back to the internal display, everything became microscopic. Win8.1 fixes this by allowing each monitor to have it's own dpi scaling.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-01-06T21:49:20+00:00

    Spoke too soon. My wifi is now dropping again. It was better for a couple of days though. Now I'm back to the same issue, waiting for the wifi to respond.

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