Why does my (and no one else's) laptop lose WiFi in the basement?

Hi everyone,

I have an Aspire V5-552PG with a Windows 8.1/64- bit OS.

A few weeks ago, for no apparent reason, my laptop suddenly began losing WiFi connection whenever I move it down to the basement. The only way to reconnect to the WiFi network is to move the laptop back to the middle floor, where the modem and router are located. The weird thing is, this only happens to my laptop. Other laptops in our house (as well as smart phones) can easily be taken to the basement with little loss in WiFi connectivity. Moreover, I have previously been able to use my laptop in the basement without any internet issues whatsoever.

I have tried the few ways I can think of to fix this issue, which include restarting the modem and router and updating my laptop's network drivers, none of which have solved the problem. I have rebooted my laptop in safe mode with network, but the problem still remains. This tells me it's an issue with the computer's core drivers or processes, however I have absolutely no idea what to do about it or what caused the issue in the first place.

Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

/Jenny

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laurent_14

Hello Jenny,

Have you tried to load the default settings in the bios setup utility?

JennyR

Hi laurent,

Thanks for trying to help. I tried loading the default settings in BIOS as you suggested. The problem persists, I'm afraid. It should be noted that WiFi connectivity in the basement is rather on the poor side (although not non-existent), even for other devices. Could it be that my laptop just isn't "sensitive" enough to pick up the signal?

/Jenny

laurent_14

Hi Jenny,

Could you check the driver version of the wireless adapter in Device manager?

JennyR

Sure. The driver version of the wireless network adapter is 10.0.0.309.

/Jenny

laurent_14

Hello,

The last driver I found is (Windows 8.1-64 bit). It's odd:

Wireless LAN

Atheros

Wireless LAN Driver

10.0.0.263

251.5 MB

2013/10/11

Download

JennyR

Hi again,

The problem is that different websites give you different information regarding what driver update is the latest.

This Acer drivers and manuals page, for instance, says that the latest driver version for my particular product model is 10.0.0.234, available as of 2013-07-02.

This page from driverscape.com says that the latest version for my model is 10.0.0.298, available as of 2014-08-22.

And finally, a driver update program that I recently installed on my computer, called Driver Booster, says that the latest version is 10.0.0.309, available as of 2015-01-21 (which is the version I currently have installed). I don't think it's this version that is causing the issue, because the connection problem began before I installed this update.

How do I (we) know which website to trust? I am at a loss...

Edit: On what website did you find the download link in your post, Laurent?

/Jenny

laurent_14

1. On what website did you find the download link in your post, Laurent?

On Acer US website - OS Windows 8.1-64 bit

2. How do I (we) know which website to trust?

The most of boards are OEM versions so I download the drivers from Acer website. The other drivers must be tested to be valid.

JennyR

1. I also use the Acer US website to find driver updates, yet the driver version I found (10.0.0.234) is different from the one you found (10.0.0.263). Apparently how you go about searching for driver updates (by operating system or by product model) on the Acer website affects what results you get? Weird...

2. I actually didn't know that. Until now I have assumed that all websites that I've looked at collect their information about available driver updates from the Acer website.

I will get back to you once I have tried installing the update that you linked to in your previous post.

/Jenny

JennyR

Hi again,

I have installed the latest driver update from the Acer website (10.0.0.263). I still lose WiFi in the basement. Actually, it seems the problem has been getting worse lately, because for the past week I have occasionally lost WiFi in other areas of the hosue where the connection is ususally strong. Other people in my house have experienced similar issues, however unlike me none of them have lost contact with the wifi network completely and they have always been able to reconnect without moving their devices. Could it be a modem/router issue after all?

/Jenny

laurent_14

Hi Jenny,

Could it be a modem/router issue after all?

You should test your laptop in a friend's house. It's the best way to be sure! Box or laptop? Smiley Happy

JennyR

You should test your laptop in a friend's house.

So I did just that. Got the same result there, i.e. I connected to the network but the connnection "dropped" after a few moments (it did work for a few minutes, however). So it seems to be a laptop issue, not a router issue (?). Incidentally, my friend also had trouble getting the connection to work on his laptop, but the problem went away as soon as I stopped trying to connect my laptop to his wifi. Could my laptop somehow have temporarily "messed up" his wifi??

/Jenny

laurent_14

Hello,

Could my laptop somehow have temporarily "messed up" his wifi??

How to explain? Smiley Happy

If you have more one device connected, the router must be enabled and DHCP too. This one assigns automatically an IP address for each device . If the router is disabled, you meet IP address issues, same address for two devices--> conflict.

Example for my box (provider/router):

Router and DHCP enabled: ***.***.*.10 first, ***.***.*.11 second etc the last one ***.***.*.50

Router disabled: ***.***.*.10 only one

In France, we say "my box" for router/lan/wifi/usb/nas 250Gb/Blue ray drive (all in box). Mine.

JennyR

If you have more one device connected, the router must be enabled and DHCP too.

Well, the router in my house is certainly enabled (or at least switched on). I am able to connect (and stay connected) to the wifi network as long as I stay in close proximity of the router, which probably means that the DHCP is working as it should too. It's when I take the laptop farther away from the router, for instance down to the basement, that the connection drops. Again, my laptop is the only device that has this issue, all other devices stay connected just fine. I don't know much about the technical side of computers, so I'm just going to throw this idea out there: is it possible that my laptop becomes unable to detect the IP adress handed out by the DHCP when the strength of the wifi signal weakens? Is that why the connection drops in the basement?

/Jenny

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