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
    2014-01-10T00:48:01+00:00

    Ohh nooo!

    While restart and running Sony Vaio care Updates the Intel adapter was update to 16.6.0.8 version.

    Now I have the same issue, loosing the signal and switching to limited with my iPhone 5 hotspot :(

    I will reinstall old driver again :( So this issue seems to be a Intel driver issue.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-01-10T04:25:36+00:00

    i read a post saying that the problem is actually CISCO's and suggest to download driver for Win7 which will not attempt to trigger the faulty firmware, can anyone confirm this?

    http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/acb4b6f4-0808-4534-b31a-75fd5c075f76/secure-wifi-connection-issues

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-01-10T04:36:05+00:00

    Are you running 32 bit or 64 bit?

    I just bought two identical Cisco network adapters, (AE2500) one for my wife's computer (32 bit) and mine (64 bit); on mine, it works perfectly, but not so on my wife's.

    I was assured by someone in the "chat window" that the adapters would work on my two computers here.

    On the strength of that recommend, I bought two. Later talking to the tech people at Cisco, they told me that only the 64 bit of Windows 8 & 8.1 have the correct driver. So now I am faced with the unpleasant choice of buying a new CD from Windows, or else buying a new and more extensive windows 8/8.1 compatible adapter.

    So it seems that your adapter may be incompatible, with your version of Windows 8. If you have a Windows CD with 8 on it,  it may be a better thing to make yours a 64 bit machine, It will be faster.

    CAVEAT

    Before you do that burn a DVD and BACKUP  BACKUP  BACKUP

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-01-10T04:45:46+00:00

    i just got mine, a day before. 

    it's a notebook, Samsung Ativ book 6, came with Win 8 pre-installed, and i haven't install anything.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-01-10T14:09:30+00:00

    Mine got fixed by a Microsoft engineer. He spend about 2 hours on my machine.

    In fact he pointed me to following hardware requirement for installing Windows 8.1

    http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/system-requirements

    “To install a 64-bit OS on a 64-bit PC, your processor needs to support CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, and LAHF/SAHF”

    This would result in different drivers being supported for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 (and even different Wifi adapters on the same machine not being supported.

    f.ex. For my Acer Aspire E1-571 there are Windows 8 drivers for network adapters from Broadcom, Atheros and Intel. For Windows 8.1, only the Atheros adapter has a driver supported by Acer. (see http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/drivers )

    My machine has an Intel adapter. But - if I got it correctly - he had it fixed by

    1. Keeping the last Intel driver (15.10.5.1 31-Oct-13 , I believe the date is important here)
    2. Right-click ‘Command prompt’ > Run as an administrator: ‘netsh int ip reset C:\resetlog.exe’
    3. turn off the “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” in the network adapters power settings pane

    Looks like a mixt of all solutions I’ve seen before. The PC is steady since 4 hours (including 3 reboots). But I’ll keep you updated if would change its mind.

    The date on my driver is indeed 31-Oct-13 and still working.

    Is yours still stable?

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