Computer Hope
Microsoft => Microsoft Windows => Windows 10 and 11 => Topic started by: chardayec on January 06, 2018, 12:02:49 AM
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My laptop is a Windows 10 Dell, that seems to be having a hard time staying connected to the internet. Once a day I see the little yellow triangle over my internet icon. I would blame it on internet service, but there are two other computers in this house, on my floor and on the bottom floor, but no one else has experienced the same problems on their computers. A couple of times when I lost internet access I found out I couldn't print anything while it was gone. Every time I lose internet all the networks disappear, leaving me with 'no networks found.' Since November 2 of 2017, I have lost internet access 64 times, many of these were multiple times a day. I got this laptop new in the summer of 2016, but didn't start using it until September of the same year. Here's what I've tried:
A few times I have been able to 'enable wi-fi' and get it back, but I can no longer enable it now.
Every time I troubleshoot it tells me to check my ethernet cable (I do not have one. The modem is downstairs, my laptop is upstairs). When I checked for a diagnosis it said 'troubleshooting could not identify the problem.'
I've done a disk cleanup, a de-frag, and I've done a full scan with anti-virus.
I've done the ol' turn the wi-fi off and on again. I can turn it off, but never on again.
The only thing I can do is either restart my computer or shut it down and turn it back on again to get internet back. Every time I restart my computer, it will load for a few minutes, then I get the blue screen with the big frowny face and the message: "your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We're just collecting some error info, and then we'll restart for you." Every time I try shutting it down, it will go black with the fan still running for about five minutes, before turning to the Dell logo and back to the log-in. I've been having this internet problem since I got the laptop, and moreso since I moved. Sometimes it's severe, then the problem goes away for a few weeks, then it comes back. It's now worse than ever. I worry that this is something in my computer causing the problem. If not, do I just need something like a signal booster? An adapter maybe? Please help.
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I would try facotry-resetting your wireless router, and connecting to it with default wireless settings. If it is still happening, you know it's not the router config/hardware problem with the router.
If that doesn't work, I'd go to Device Manager, find your WiFi NIC, and check for a driver update.
You can also try going to Dell Support for your laptop model, and looking for updated network drivers for Windows 10.
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Too bad it's out of warranty, but the wifi card has probably gone bad. They are easily replaceable, just like RAM.
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You can pick up a USB wifi adapter for pretty cheap that are better. You can aim them whichever direction you need it. I have one and it picks up more networks than the PCI one built in.