Windows 10 wifi internet connection drops

Trojan

On a Windows 10 laptop, after boot, wifi connects and works perfectly for a period of time (10 mins or so)

The internet connection on the wifi reports as "No internet connection" when I can see that's not true (i.e. checking another device).

Troubleshooting network connections does not resolve this, it's only fixed by a reboot.

Any suggestions on cause or fix?

CatInABox

Trojan wrote: »

On a Windows 10 laptop, after boot, wifi connects and works perfectly for a period of time (10 mins or so)

The internet connection on the wifi reports as "No internet connection" when I can see that's not true (i.e. checking another device).

Troubleshooting network connections does not resolve this, it's only fixed by a reboot.

Any suggestions on cause or fix?

Is this happening with all routers? I ask because my old router used to kick my laptop off the 5Ghz band. Same kind of thing, I could restart the machine and it'd work, or more simply, swap onto the 2.4Ghz network.

Trojan

Seems to happen with a good variety of routers. In fact, switching to 2.4 didn't work, as I do recall trying that in more than one location.

NSAman

Update the firmware on the router!

Trojan

NSAman wrote: »

Update the firmware on the router!

I think all of the hotels would object

It's not the router, definitely something local on the machine.

smuggler.ie

Trojan wrote: »

On a Windows 10 laptop, after boot, wifi connects and works perfectly for a period of time (10 mins or so)

The internet connection on the wifi reports as "No internet connection" when I can see that's not true (i.e. checking another device).

Troubleshooting network connections does not resolve this, it's only fixed by a reboot.

Any suggestions on cause or fix?

"No internet connection" is not same as "not connected"

What device is serving as router/WiFi AP?

Does internet connection work OK on Ethernet( providing laptop has one) ?


Once have "No internet connection"
CMD>> ipconfig /all
What network settings you get:
IPv4
Def. Gateway
DNS
IPv6

smuggler.ie

Blindly suggesting to disable IPv6 on computer, as well on router if it supports it (F2000 as sample) and see if it makes difference.

The high horse brigade

Next time it happens run a ping to 8.8.8.8 to confirm your connection is actually down. Microsoft use a site to check connection that is on many block lists

Trojan

Sorry, should have mentioned, when it reports no internet connection, I can verify that in the browser - there's nothing available at all. Troubleshooting network connection doesn't force a fix, but reboot does.

No ethernet port.

This is happening in multiple hotels - not places I control the router. On the flip side, the fault is 100% on this machine.

advertsfox

I've seen this 100 times and it is always related to the incumbent AV (my guess is AVG or Symantec). I highly recommend uninstalling your AV (temporarily), restarting your machine and testing it again. It's usually an over protective firewall network layer of the applet (note your ping may say any IP is unreachable).

Trojan

advertsfox wrote: »

I've seen this 100 times and it is always related to the incumbent AV (my guess is AVG or Symantec). I highly recommend uninstalling your AV (temporarily), restarting your machine and testing it again. It's usually an over protective firewall network layer of the applet (note your ping may say any IP is unreachable).

It's Avast. I'm trying to replicate it with Avast running right now, hopefully that works and then I can try without the AV.

CatInABox

Trojan wrote: »

It's Avast. I'm trying to replicate it with Avast running right now, hopefully that works and then I can try without the AV.

Either way, you don't really need an AV with Windows 10, the built in one is more than adequate, and vastly reduces the number of conflicts caused.

I usually recommend sticking with Windows Defender to people, so long as you can keep Windows 10 up to date.

See this article for more: It might be time to stop using antivirus

Also, when you say Avast is running, do you mean that you started a scan? Because Avast is always running in the background. That means it'll have been running all those times that you were knocked off the Internet.

Trojan

CatInABox wrote: »

Either way, you don't really need an AV with Windows 10, the built in one is more than adequate, and vastly reduces the number of conflicts caused.

I usually recommend sticking with Windows Defender to people, so long as you can keep Windows 10 up to date.

See this article for more: It might be time to stop using antivirus

Thanks for that, interesting reading, particularly this:

The nail in the coffin, according to O'Callahan, is that software vendors rarely speak out about antivirus issues "because they need cooperation from the AV vendors." He then links to a mailing list thread in 2012, where he suggests keeping a list of the AV software that interferes with Firefox. Later in the thread, Mozilla PR swoops in and tells him to knock it off

CatInABox wrote: »

Also, when you say Avast is running, do you mean that you started a scan? Because Avast is always running in the background. That means it'll have been running all those times that you were knocked off the Internet.

No, I didn't start a scan, just left it running in the background as usual, with a YouTube playlist playing in the foreground to keep the browser busy to try to replicate the normal scenario it occurs. It's on my home wifi network and I haven't replicated the issue here before, and it doesn't seem to be playing ball so far...

advertsfox

Trojan wrote: »

No, I didn't start a scan, just left it running in the background as usual, with a YouTube playlist playing in the foreground to keep the browser busy to try to replicate the normal scenario it occurs. It's on my home wifi network and I haven't replicated the issue here before, and it doesn't seem to be playing ball so far...

So have you tested your machine again with Avast uninstalled?

Trojan

advertsfox wrote: »

So have you tested your machine again with Avast uninstalled?

No. I haven't been able to replicate the issue here at home with Avast running, so I'm going to bring it to one of the other networks where it failed previously and see if I can replicate it there, then do the uninstall, and confirm.

DeconSheridan

If its not an actual WAN network drop out (Common with Three Mobile lol) it Sounds like cross talk between your router and possibly neighbours router on same channel..

What I have done in the past;
- get a wifi analyser app, you can then see whats what.
- set your router wifi channel selection to auto then reboot router
- check analyser see if any overlap from other wifi routers

If the issue still persists connect via ethernet and speed test periodically for a while. give you an idea if issue is WAN related.

Trojan

DeconSheridan, thanks for the suggestions. The tough part is this is happening only when I'm not at home. Usually in a hotel training or meeting room (right when I need it most).

DeconSheridan

Trojan wrote: »

DeconSheridan, thanks for the suggestions. The tough part is this is happening only when I'm not at home. Usually in a hotel training or meeting room (right when I need it most).

There's you answer "Hotel Room" always bad connectivity as WiFi most likely has contention due to many on the same router, enterprise business access points like the ones for hotels have the features to throttle amount of bandwidth each user get and will disconnect you after a period also. Id use your own mobile as a wifi hotspot just use your data.

Trojan

DeconSheridan wrote: »

There's you answer "Hotel Room" always bad connectivity

I'm afraid not. It's not the external network at fault, it's the Windows laptop - confirmed with alternative devices.