Fixed: Acer laptop WiFi stops working as soon as I plug it in and starts working when I unplug

Ambyjkl

Estimable
Feb 16, 2015
8
0
4,520
I am using an Acer Aspire V3-371-59YR laptop. Processor: i5 4210u, RAM 8 GB, WiFi adapter: Qualcomm Atheros AR5BWB222, Windows 8.1.
Whenever I connect to a WiFi network, it always shows "Conneting to the network is taking longer than usual". Honestly, there is nothing unusual about that. It shows me that warning EVERY. SINGLE. TIME! But the internet works just fine. The problem arises when I plug in the laptop. The wifi suddenly stops working, mysteriously. Sometimes it disconnects completely and shows me a yellow triangle with an ! sign on my network icon. When I try to connect to the wifi again, I get the "Cannot connect to the network" error repeatedly. Sometimes I let a page to load and immediately plug in to see the response and the page loading just haults. If I unplug immediately after that, the page load magically resumes (BTW it is impossible to connect to Wifi while my laptop is plugged in. I need to disconnect and reconnect the adapter plug while connecting to the network and this sometimes works). I have tried uninstalling drivers, reinstalling, switching between the drivers made for the adapter by microsoft and qualcomm, updating the drivers, messing up the power settings, reseting my adapter, toggling airplane mode, setting "enable downloads on metered connections" (even though my network is unmetered). I have tried with various routers and networks, tried changing WPA2 security to WEP, disabling it altogether, restarting the computer, doing all sorts of stuff I have been able to find online, but no fix ;_;. This is definitely a software bug in Windows 8.1 or in the driver as nothing else works. PLEASE HELP. PLEASE! I am stuck!

Update 1 March 28:
I have applied some patches provided by acer and have also updated my bios. Now I am going to try again. Let's see.

Update 2 March 28 (after few minutes):
It seems to work for now. Maybe I fixed it, maybe.

Update 3 March 28 (after few more minutes):
It works now, YAY! But I still get "the connection is limited" and "connecting to network taking longer than usual". Any help?
 

Im Spartacus

Estimable
Mar 25, 2015
339
0
5,210
Try this if you've not done so already,
Go to control panel, select power options and which ever plan setting selected change plan settings then select everything in to never turn off. Don't forget to save changes. See if it works.

 

Im Spartacus

Estimable
Mar 25, 2015
339
0
5,210
If above fails to fix try following

1. Right-click on the wireless network icon next to time/date
2. Select 'Open Network and Sharing Centre'
3. Click 'Change Adapter Settings' on the left
4 Right-click 'Wireless Network Connection' and go to properties or manage network connections then click properties.
5 Uncheck all the boxes except for 'Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)
6. Click ok
If you change anything by un-ticking boxes you can always put it back if unsure. just note what you've done.
 

Maciek1986

Estimable
Aug 12, 2015
1
0
4,510
Had similar problem. I've started blindly checking wifi properties. I opened device manager -> right click on AC 7265 wifi -> properties -> advanced settings -> and i've changed the value from auto to 20 MHz in both 802.11n (2,4GHz and 5.2Gzh) channel width. I'm not sure what it does but i solved my wifi problems. Try this, you can always change it to auto if it doesn't work.