SOLUTION to ARBWB222 WiFi Instability

MadManiak

I have been having major issues with my wifi on the Acer Aspire V5. No where on the internet could I find the answer to my problems. I tried installing tens of different drivers, to no avail.

 

I am posting here to help other people, like me, that have issues and need a solution.

After a lot of work I finally found the solution to the horrible, horrible Atheros driver issues.

 

 

This is the solution:

Power saving, but somewhere else than you would think!

 

All forum threads say that you have to right click the device in the device manager and turn power saver off there.

WRONG

I noticed that my WiFi only crapped out when I wasn't plugged in to the power outlet. Read on to find why.
The solution in Windows 8 is to go to the down left corner (Windows logo), right click, and select 'Power Options' from the popup menu.

You will see three power settings (power saver, balanced and high performance).
You will need to do the next steps for both 'balanced' and 'power saver':

Click 'Change plan settings'.

Now click 'Change advanced power settings'

Now scroll down to 'Wireless adapter settings', and change 'Power saving mode' on battery from 'maximum power saving' to 'maximum performance'. (The reason WiFi keeps working while plugged in, is because the power saving of the adapter is only done when using battery life.)

Remember, do this for both the 'power saver' and 'balanced' power profiles!
I am not sure how much more power the WiFi adapter will use. You may want to try some other options than 'maximum performance' and see at what option wifi keeps working consistently... I just went to maximum performance directly.

 

After doing all this, restart the laptop, and you SHOULD be fine. :-D

ElizabethS

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