Wifi Issues on my Laptop

My laptop has been pretty spotty with my internet. It doesn't disconnect but it just stops loading stuff and overall sucks. I've reinstalled the drivers but may not have done a very good job. I have 2 other friends with the identical laptop and they don't have issues. What's the best way to completely wipe my drivers and start afresh? Any other suggestions?

Could it be malware issues or possible an issue with your router?

Router is fine as the rest of the network works fine. Malware wouldn't make sense since it did it from the get go. I've done scans too, albeit not very thorough ones.

Do you have another wireless adapter to test?

WRXGuy1 said:

Do you have another wireless adapter to test?

Click to expand...

Yeah I'll try that with my desktop adapter. If worse comes to worse I'll just get a nano receiver for it. I'll be down a USB slot, and the computer only has 3, which sucks.

If you can access the wifi card you might be able to move to a better internal model and save the USB Port. If your current WiFi card sucks with the correct driver I would head down that route.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106190

You would have to confirm that you have a mini PCIe in your laptop

Old thread, but I would try a TCP/IP reset. Google that for your OS.

Is your laptop freshly re-installed? :?

To update on this I went home this past weekend and brought a different wireless adapter back with me to use. With the wifi adapter from my desktop it worked fine. Also my 2 friends with the same laptop actually do have issues, but it's only on my home wifi. I've been using my laptop around campus and at other people's houses and it's fine, it ONLY has issues with my home wifi. My friends have the same issues at my house but everywhere else it's fine, just like mine. Any idea what's going on? Seems weird that the specific adapter in this laptop doesn't cooperate with my specific router at home but everywhere else it's fine.

Edit: I just now realized this is definitely not the right section for this. I feel like an idiot, I should know where stuff goes by now.

What router do you have?

The one that AT&T gives you with UVerse. Not sure much beyond that.

NVG-510

Unfortunately, I have heard lots of issues with Uverse setups. You may want to try adding a second router and see how the wireless reacts. I've had many clients go through hell when getting uverse to work correctly. How long have you had the modem?

johnb35 said:

NVG-510

Unfortunately, I have heard lots of issues with Uverse setups. You may want to try adding a second router and see how the wireless reacts. I've had many clients go through hell when getting uverse to work correctly. How long have you had the modem?

Click to expand...

Over a year. It doesn't have any problems apart from this. It'd be cheaper to just get a different wifi adapter for my laptop.

So it works ok with a different wireless adapter? I've reread your posts and guess I'm getting confused. When you updated the driver, did you get it from Asus or the actual wireless manufacturer? What wireless do you have? Realtek, Atheros?

Okay I'll start over.

My laptop using its default driver and a fresh clean install of the driver will basically just stop loading stuff. Downloads will grind to a halt, videos stop loading, webpages don't load, and games will disconnect. The status icon for the connection doesn't change and never says it's disconnected or has limited connectivity or whatever.

I have reinstalled the driver several times and gotten no change.

I have 2 friends that have the identical laptop and have the same problem on MY home network only. All 3 of our laptop's wifi works everywhere else. Here at KU it's fine and at their houses it's also fine. It's just my home network that gives them trouble.

Furthermore I used the USB wifi adapter that I use on my desktop (and works fine with my home network on my desktop) on the laptop. Using that adapter my internet is fine. So there is a specific error with the drivers and/or hardware of the integrated wifi adapter on my particular model of laptop. For whatever reason it just doesn't like my home network.

It's an Atheros. I updated from Asus.

What is the model laptop? Use Revo uninstaller and remove the WIFI connection software. Go to your laptop's website and download the newer version of the driver.

As John said those Uverse router/modems are a PITA and you should probably get a router just for WIFI.

-.-

I''ve already said I'm not buying a new router and that I've reinstalled the driver several times. I guess the only thing I can really do is buy a new adapter. Might look in to getting an internal one as suggested before.

Does device manager say what actual atheros card it is? I can't find anything on Asus website with the model number you listed in your sig. I would try downloading the driver directly from Atheros.

This issue resolved itself on its own over the summer. It may have been coincidence, but it seemed to happen at roughly the same time as our internet speed being increased from AT&T from their 6mbps package to their 12mbps package. There were no noticeable changes that I saw happen, it just stopped having that problem. Again, this was only on my home network with a specific laptop model. My friend that has the same laptop also said his was better too. Weird. Any ideas why?

I had tried every permutation of driver installations/techniques and nothing fixed it. I ended up using my adapter from my desktop after a while until I happened to notice it was fine on its own.

So. It came back when I returned home this weekend for Fall Break. I brought my desktop too, and it's connected via WiFi also. The entire network is fine, apart from just generally a low speed.

Same issue. Connection the to network is fine, never drops or shows missing connection or anything at all. Just doesn't load pages and will disconnect me from Steam/Skype at the same time. Then it'll start working again. Interval appears to be random. Laptop works fine on any other network including a network for 30K students and my apartment WiFi, just not my Uverse connection at home. 2 other friends have an identical laptop and had similar problems on my network only, although I think less frequently. Unsure though as I just hear about it and they're not very specific.

Things I've tried

Driver reinstall
Flush DNS via Command Prompt
Renew IP via Command Prompt
Reset Windows Firewall to default (haven't tried disabling it, might do that now)
Diagnose via Adapter Settings (works temporarily). It does say that their is a problem found with wireless adapter or access point and that it's been "fixed".
Reboot laptop (works on reboot every time, but loses it soon after)
Reboot router
Adjusted Power Settings for adapter to max performance
Disabled Ethernet to avoid conflict

No significant changes have been made to the laptop since I was here 3 weeks ago. I will admit I have uTorrent installed and that's the only thing I can come up with having changed since I was here last. I'll uninstall that and see if it helps too.

Any ideas what's going on? Seems like it's an identity issue or a firewall issue with just not letting data get passed through. I still am a noob at networking.