Windows 8.1: WiFi dropping and/or "Limited"

I've actually gotten some stable wireless connectivity recently!! (IKR?) Here's what I did, pretty much in order ...

• Removed all networks using the NETSH command: netsh wlan delete profile name="ProfileName"
• Disabled the laptop's ability to power down the NIC
• Checked "Connect Automatically" when setting up the new connection

These 3 items didn't seem to make much of a difference, but I think they contributed so I mentioned them. What I think helped the most was the next piece ...

• After connecting to the wireless network, do NOT enable sharing between PCs and/or devices within the network. (For more information about file/media sharing, visit http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/support).

Once I stopped sharing, my connection stopped dropping. I've tested this theory on 2 different networks and it's been stable so far (knock on wood!!).

Good luck! I hope this gets resolved soon.

I have the same problem with my Sony Vaio Pro 13 and the iPhone 5S hotspot not working.  The hotspot works fine with my MacBook Pro.  Also, The Sony Vaio worked fine with my Previous phone hotspot-a Galaxy 4S.  I've spent sever hours on the support line with Sony and could not fix the problem.  I read one of the replies about the problem only occurring when the laptop was not plugged in on battery.  Sure enough this was my problem to.

I finally found a fix.  I relates to the power setting.

Go to control panel

Hardware and sound

Power Options

Edit plan settings

Change advance power settings

Go to Wireless adapter settings

Power saving mode

Go to On Battery and change it to Maximum Performance

Hit Apply and you are good to go.

I struggled with this for a long time since getting my iPhone.  I hope this helps someone else.

NICE JOB Seth.  Just bought a Samsung ATIV 9 plus (a real doll baby I ms say).  I am road warrior and use Ipad Personal hotspot for internet w my laptop.  Great connectivity, no internet, Win 8.1. On a 64 bit machine.  Changed wireless driver from Intel to the Microsoft version 16.0.0.62.  Bam.  Works flawlessly. Thanks much!

I just bought a  1400$ Lenovo Yoga 2 pro a week ago and everything was fine when I had windows 8.1. Then I had to install 8.1 Pro to run Hyper V with Visual Studio 2013 to do some programming and now the wifi network shows ''limited''. Can't access web pages anything and ALL  my other devices at home work perfectly fine. 

I did try to change the Network  drivers in the Device Manager but it didn't change anything. I really don't know what to do next.

Marc,

As far as testing goes you can run the internet diagnostics function and review the log to see what the cause is.  My log had 50% dropped packets, difficult security handshakes and blamed the router for not resolving the DNS. You can also turn off security for a test. On my router I can configure guest access separately so I set up a temporary non secured SSID the problem should go away if it is driver/router based. Third you could try to get off AES security although that does cost speed.

My suggestion is to determine the maker of the tcpip chip set through device manager and update it to the most current version from the Mfg website. It might not install automatically on check for updates. Once  that is done check for router firmware updates. When the two were in sync my problem went away and the connection went much faster.

Doing all the above fixed my Windows 8.1 update issue but caused my old Roku to fail on AES, started to get slow blank screens and not authorized for Netflix. I already had a new Roku 2 so I installed the more current one and the problem went away.

Overall I think there are two basic problems in this thread resulting in the different answers.

1. Some people do not want the internet connection to go down at all. The power management and TCPIP settings seem to fix that by leaving the adapter on and not allowing the connection to time out.
2. There is also a driver version issue related to security protocols especially WPA2-AES that does not exist in WPA-TKIP. This seems to be fixed by driver and router firmware to get the latest standards.

Hope this helps!