intermittent wifi connectivity issues

[jbradt]

Hi all,

I don't post here much because searching tends to answer most of my questions, but I have a real stumper here.

I have a guy who has a Samsung laptop running windows 10 64 bit. He's had it for a couple of years with no issues. Now, when he connects to his home wifi he occasionally gets the little yellow triangle indicating that there's no internet connection. To be clear, he is connected to the home network, but not to the internet. This made me think that the issue was with the router, which he had checked out and the tech (TWC) said there was no issue. Not that that convinces me 100% because when he gets the issue, unplugging the router and plugging it back in fixes the issue. The issue seems to only happen on first connection... ie: after being connected, the machine never just drops the connection.

I've brought his machine home and it connected to my wifi with no issues, but again it's an intermittent issue so this is not really conclusive since I can't keep it indefinitely and check it out every day.
I've checked his machine for malware/viruses several times and come up with nothing.
The other day I was at his house checking it out and it was the first time I actually saw the connectivity issue. so I plugged in the ethernet cable and bang... total connection. Which makes me think the router is not the issue after all. So I reset his TCPIP stack. When I restarted the rig, the wifi connected perfectly. I restarted several times and each time it connected perfectly.

So now I'm stumped. If power cycling the router makes it connect, that seems to point to an issue with the router. But restarting the computer also solved the issue, so that seems to point to the machine itself... uggh.
Intermittent issues are the worst.

So I'm considering taking one of my spare routers to plug in and see if he has issues connecting to that one. But other than that, I just don't know where else to go with this issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Larry Sabo]

So I'm considering taking one of my spare routers to plug in and see if he has issues connecting to that one. But other than that, I just don't know where else to go with this issue.

That's what I recommend. For some reason, routers seem to kill WiFi connectivity to internet even though Ethernet connection remains up. I've been through the same nonsense for months and finally just threw in the towel and bought a new router. Fixed!

 

[MichaelEC]

I've seen router failing power supplies cause this. I would do what you said and take anoher router to his house and see what happens, or another power supply for his router.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I've seen router failing power supplies cause this. I would do what you said and take anoher router to his house and see what happens, or another power supply for his router.

When that happens, you lose WiFi and Ethernet connectivity. I believe he just loses WiFi access to the internet, i.e., is still connected to the network, which doesn't happen when the AC adapter dies intermittently.

 

[tek9]

Might be a Windows 10 driver issue. Had it happen to my personal (old) laptop. Before upgrading to Windows 10 I never had a problem. After the upgrade I have intermittent wifi issues but hard wired is always OK.

 

[jbradt]

I've checked the drivers and they are all up to date.

Another thiught I just had is to take an old laptop over to him so that when his machine acts up again he could try to connect with that one and see what happens.

 

[Markverhyden]

Those ISP provided AP's are really bad in my book. Given the gremlin, a problem you can't put your hands on, nature of the situation I'd just get them a PicoM2 and call it a day.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Agree with Mark...sometimes those ISP wireless gateways flat out just suck. You can see the same model work fine for some people, yet...run into 1 that just gives you little hiccups like this all the time. Could be a firmware version, could be a unique setting that the ISP tech setup, couple be a compatibility issue with the clients equipment at home (like some el cheapo laptop with those absolutely horrible atheros wireless NICs...gawd I can't stand those!). Could be a busy area as far as other wireless networks or other interference that comes and goes. Can see your symptoms supporting this one....things on "auto" for channel select, reboots have it choose another channel at it works. Until more interference comes ...and it's time to change channels again..but auto select doesn't always work well.

Try first updating the firmware...often not possible on ISP CPE but worth a shot.
Try different wireless settings....ensure security is on WPA2 AES and not old WPA or even older (but I still see it done a lot) WEP.
Try a site survey and check for competing wireless.
Try manually setting channel ...like to 1 or 11...not the common default 6 (assuming you're in the US here...edit for your country setup if necessary)

But like Mark hinted above.....sometimes is cheaper/quicker to just disable the wireless of the ISP CPE, and hang an AP from the inside of it...or better yet, bridge it (to avoid double NAT) and get a decent wireless router.

 

[omnichad]

The yellow triangle is just the canary. You need to dig deeper. Check the adapter properties to see if you get an IP address and a DNS server. It's likely that the router just responds to DHCP too slowly or not at all. Or worse, the DHCP is giving ISP-provided DNS servers that are so slow they are detected as non-functioning.

In either case, I'd agree that you should set up a better wireless router and speed-test the ISP DNS servers with a tool like Namebench. A lot of ISPs overload their DNS servers and you can point to Google DNS or something else to dramatically improve their Internet responsiveness.

 

[TurricanII]

Get the driver from Intel if it is an Intel card and not Samsung website..

I had very intermittent wifi after installing a crucial 2.5" ssd into my Samsung laptop. The ssd appeared to generate enough interference to completely kill the wifi 75% of the time the laptop was on.

Have you popped the cover to check aerial cables are still connected to wifi card?

 

[jbradt]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. Some great ideas here.

I've only been there when the event happens once, and to be honest, I didn't think to check the IP or DNS settings... don't know how I missed that.
I'm going back over there this weekend and will definitely check that out. I'll also check out the driver straight from the manufacturer... which one it is escapes me at the moment.

I did pop the cover and all the wires were connected properly.

I'll also try setting the DNS to google servers.

I'm planning to take a router and laptop with me so I can test things out properly.

 

[Altster]

Gosh you guys are just talking in circles here. The OP has already stated that the issue went away when the router / gateway was power-cycled. Time to call the ISP and request another unit. Personally, I think that wifi sucks! I much prefer a wired connection any day. But I suppose if the client wished to walk around with the unit and / or doesn't wish to run a cable to wherever he used the laptop most of the time then he will just have to make due with what he has.

 

[fencepost]

Nope nope nope nope nope, you guys are all missing the really obvious (and easy to test for) case. I'd lay odds that it's intermittent, and it stops as soon as he plugs the laptop in. When you brought it back to the shop you plugged it in before testing.

Go to Power Options, edit the power plan, Advanced power settings, Wireless Adapter Settings, Power Saving Mode and change the On Battery from Maximum Power Saving to Maximum Performance.

 

[jbradt]

And the winner is... bad router. I took a back up router that i had, along with a couple of laptops. both laptops had the same issue as the customers upon connecting. loaded up my router and everything connected perfectly.

so we got a tech from the cable company out there to replace the router and all is well.

i also found out that there may be a niche market out there as a translator between customers an the cable company techs. =)

thanks for all the input, folks... it was invaluable.

 

[MichaelEC]

Router or power supply?

 

[jbradt]

As far as i know the power supply was fine.

 

[Larry Sabo]

Router or power supply?

Michael, did you read my earlier reply to your suggestion that it might be the power supply?