Win 10 - internet connection problems started

JohnB47

OK an update. After my last try (see earlier post) I did a few things on the laptop then put it in standby. Later, took it out of standby - no wifi!!! Tried everything and reset the router as a last resort. Had to enter the key but still saying cannot connect to this network. Then Chrome opened and a Plusnet tab appeared saying my router may be having problems and 'try this' etc. Just after starting the process, I noticed that wi fi had suddenly come on. What is going on!
I need this PC to be working tomorrow as we use it for business/Skype stuff. 
Is my only option to keep restarting the hub?? I can't find any other reliable sequence for getting wi fi to reconnect.
Just to repeat - both mobiles here have no problems with wi fi/internet. Just this laptop.
Any further help appreciated.

neilmcl

JohnB47 said:

OK an update. After my last try (see earlier post) I did a few things on the laptop then put it in standby. Later, took it out of standby - no wifi!!! Tried everything and reset the router as a last resort. Had to enter the key but still saying cannot connect to this network. Then Chrome opened and a Plusnet tab appeared saying my router may be having problems and 'try this' etc. Just after starting the process, I noticed that wi fi had suddenly come on. What is going on!
I need this PC to be working tomorrow as we use it for business/Skype stuff. 
Is my only option to keep restarting the hub?? I can't find any other reliable sequence for getting wi fi to reconnect.
Just to repeat - both mobiles here have no problems with wi fi/internet. Just this laptop.
Any further help appreciated.

Sounds to me that your wifi adapter is going to sleep on standby and not waking up straight away. I've seen this issue on a number of laptops, particularly Dell. You could try looking at the power management properties of the wifi adapter in Device Manager and to see if you can stop it going to sleep.

J_B

neilmcl said:

You could try looking at the power management properties of the wifi adapter in Device Manager and to see if you can stop it going to sleep.

Type 'device manager' into your search box.

When it opens click on 'network adapters' and when that 'tree' opens, double click on your wireless adapter

Then, on the the 'power management' tab, make sure that there is *not* a tick in the box that says 'allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'

And hope that fixes it!

JohnB47

neilmcl said:

JohnB47 said:

OK an update. After my last try (see earlier post) I did a few things on the laptop then put it in standby. Later, took it out of standby - no wifi!!! Tried everything and reset the router as a last resort. Had to enter the key but still saying cannot connect to this network. Then Chrome opened and a Plusnet tab appeared saying my router may be having problems and 'try this' etc. Just after starting the process, I noticed that wi fi had suddenly come on. What is going on!
I need this PC to be working tomorrow as we use it for business/Skype stuff. 
Is my only option to keep restarting the hub?? I can't find any other reliable sequence for getting wi fi to reconnect.
Just to repeat - both mobiles here have no problems with wi fi/internet. Just this laptop.
Any further help appreciated.

Sounds to me that your wifi adapter is going to sleep on standby and not waking up straight away. I've seen this issue on a number of laptops, particularly Dell. You could try looking at the power management properties of the wifi adapter in Device Manager and to see if you can stop it going to sleep.

Thanks but I've already done that, as suggested earlier. I unticked a box saying "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Also, even if I hadn't done that and the adapter was going to sleep, why can't I get wi fi working doing the usual 'Connect' procedure. When I look at the Adapter properties, when I can't connect, it always says 'working properly'. 
I just can't understand why it says 'cannot connect to this network'. 
I've just tried updating the network adapter - now when I go into the adapter Properties/Events it shows Device configured/Device not started/Driver service added, all showing the date and time I did the update. So that seems to have updated the driver OK. I wonder if that will fix the problem?
Edit: Could this be anything to do with other wifi devices? We were bought an Amazon FireStick TV for Christmas and we've been using that a few times. Unlikely? Also, a long time ago I read about interferance and the need to select a specific channel on the hub, rather than letting it do it. Any thoughts?
Also I I copied and posted the hub event log, showing when I wasn't connected and then when I was, could anyone tell anything from that?

steviebabes

If your router is similar to the BT hub 5 it is dual band but the SSID's are the same. This causes connection problems as the laptop sees the 2.4 & 5 Ghz bands as the same. Log into the router (if it is dual band) and re-name one of the bands.

J_B

steviebabes said:

If your router is similar to the BT hub 5 it is dual band but the SSID's are the same. This causes connection problems as the laptop sees the 2.4 & 5 Ghz bands as the same. Log into the router (if it is dual band) and re-name one of the bands.

Or maybe tell your PC to only use one of them?

neilmcl

J_B said:

steviebabes said:

If your router is similar to the BT hub 5 it is dual band but the SSID's are the same. This causes connection problems as the laptop sees the 2.4 & 5 Ghz bands as the same. Log into the router (if it is dual band) and re-name one of the bands.

Or maybe tell your PC to only use one of them?

That's assuming his laptop has a dual band wifi adapter?

steviebabes

J_B said:

Or maybe tell your PC to only use one of them?

If the SSID's are the same how can the PC tell the difference?

neilmcl

steviebabes said:

J_B said:

Or maybe tell your PC to only use one of them?

If the SSID's are the same how can the PC tell the difference?

I think the idea was that if the wifi adapter was dual band he could force it to just use either 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz. I do this on mine to stop it connecting at 2.4Ghz.

steviebabes

neilmcl said:

That's assuming his laptop has a dual band wifi adapter?

The OP said 'The driver I have is Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160. It's what came with the laptop. I'l not do anything about that for now.'.