Weird broadband/wifi issue

[technodup]

I have two laptops, one about 5 yrs old, the other just under a year. The newer one has developed an issue whereby on start up it connects to wifi, can browse the web but only for around five minutes (almost exactly every time!) before it starts giving cannot connect to webpage/no internet type messages and the connection drops.

At first I thought it was the broadband line, but I've had Openreach out who installed a new box and said the line was OK. Which makes sense as the old one I'm typing this on is working on the same wifi just fine. My next thought was wifi drivers or something, but the new machine works perfectly on wifi in other houses so I can't see how it's the machine at fault.

As there's no LAN port on the new one I bought a LAN to USB adaptor to see if that improves things. It seems to work but it's slow almost as if it's constantly connecting and disconnecting.

Any bright ideas?

[parabolica]

A dodgy network chip/adaptor would be my guess; same thing happened on my HP Spectre a few years back, just before it starting have many other issues. I uninstalled and reinstalled drivers but no fix.

If it’s still in warranty I would get in touch with whom ever you bought it from.

Edited by parabolica on Saturday 28th May 10:31

[bitchstewie]

See if you can still ping your router when it does it.

That might help a little to work out whether the issue with the computer or the router.

If you haven't done so suggest check for firmware updates for the router and laptop and driver updates for the laptop.

[Captain_Morgan]

If it only affects this one laptop & not other devices like phones & tablets it’s likely the laptop.

What happens when you connect to another wifi network?

If it works on another network okay then try deleting the network instance on the laptop, reboot & recreate it.

[Magnum 475]

Is it a Dell?

My work laptop is a Dell, and does this with every WiFi network it connects to. My boss’s Dell does exactly the same. Drove me mad when I first got it, spent ages on WiFi config - but the fact that it was the only device with a problem caused me to give up and just use a wired connection.

[technodup]

Captain_Morgan said:

If it only affects this one laptop & not other devices like phones & tablets it’s likely the laptop.

What happens when you connect to another wifi network?

If it works on another network okay then try deleting the network instance on the laptop, reboot & recreate it.

It's fine on the only other wifi network I've tested it on. Everything else (3x phones, 1x laptop are fine on my wifi. I'm convinced it's the laptop but not sure I'm confident enough to delete the network (Intel Wifi 6?) and start over. It's still under warranty and isn't riddled with pron so I think it's going back to Currys

Thanks to all

[S6PNJ]

Can you try it on a friend or neighbours wifi and see if it also disconnects after 5 mins? Might rule out the wifi and determine if it's the laptop / software / hardware. In network settings, is the 'allow this device to go to sleep' enabled? If so, switch it off and see if that helps.