Acer Chromebook 11 CB3-131 randomly automatically disconnects from WiFi

Hello,

I've had this Chromebook since fall 2016 and it has worked great until the past year. It began disconnecting from the internet at random times, automatically toggling WiFi off. I would toggle it on and it would slide right back to off. Restarting the computer fixed the problem.

Now, it is randomly disconnecting much more often. This time, I can toggle it back on, but it'll say "WiFi is turned off." After reading a few things online I power washed the Chromebook, which fixed the problem for about a week and a half. Now it's happening again; I power washed it again a few minutes ago, but the problem is persisting.

I heavily depend on this Chromebook for work and school; I'm currently a college student. I don't know anything about assembling or disassembling computers, so I would really appreciate a solution that doesn't involve that; I would probably just make it worse because I don't know what I'm doing. Please help; I'm getting a bit desperate!!

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William_mk2

bjonesAZ

Hi,

I am really sorry for the inconvenience. Since you already did the power wash, check how your computer works in your neighbor's home, friends home, or at a hotspot. If your laptop is working fine there then it is not a issue with your chromebook.

It's important to determine if your WiFi problem happens at all WiFi networks, or just at home.

If you are having problems re-connecting to your WiFi after your Chromebook goes to sleep, try this:
Go to settings > advanced > privacy & security > keep wifi on during sleep. Enable that option. It seems to help some users. Also, make your network "preferred"

The only way to determine if your connectivity problem is caused by your Chromebook or your router is to test the Chromebook at other locations. If it can't connect anywhere, the problem is in your Chromebook.

If you can connect properly at other WiFi locations such as a coffee shop, it's the router, or router settings.

Be aware that some older routers simply aren't compatible with Chromebooks due to incomplete or obsolete network protocol implementations. The Chromebook is always being updated to provide the latest and most secure connections possible.

If you have access to your router's settings, these tweaks often solve the problem:

If your router is dual-band (2.4 and 5 GHz), assign a different SSID to each band. This will let you choose the band and see if one works better than the other for your location in your house. 5GHz does not travel through walls and floors well. Your Chromebook may try to connect to the 5 GHz band, and then have problems reconnecting in a weaker signal area of your home..
In the WiFi security settings, make sure that your encryption is set to WPA2-PSK with AES Encryption. Disable TKIP if it is enabled. You may have to select WPA/WPA2. Do not select WPA only, as it is not secure.
Disable WPS.
Disable WMM/QoS
Check (or temporarily disable) firewall settings to see if ports or sites are being blocked that may impact normal internet use.
Change the name servers from your ISP's default to Google's servers, 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Make sure the 2.4 GHz channel is set to only 1, 6, or 11. Other channels can cause problems.
Test for Bluetooth interference - temporarily turn off Bluetooth and see if that helps. If it does, change WiFi channel and try again with Bluetooth turned on.
Do not use a hidden SSID - it really does nothing to improve security! Some Chromebooks will have problems connecting to a hidden SSID.
Save the changes and reboot the router
Reboot the Chromebook - do a complete power down, don;t just close the lid.

Also, if you are in a country other than the US, and you have a Chromebook that was produced for the US market, there may be an incompatibility between the router's radio channel and the Chromebook. US devices are restricted to channels 1-11, while channels 12-14 may be in use in other countries.

Finally the last option is if nothing works, then you can download the chrome on a blank usb flash drive and then reinstall the chrome using flash drive.

If the comments are helpful, please click on "like"
If the comments resolves your issue, please click on "yes"

bjonesAZ

Hello,

Thank you so much for the response! Unfortunately, this issue persists at my grandparents' house and the university I am attending as well, and I'm in the United States. I also checked my settings and "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" was already selected. I'm also a little confused about the option of downloading chrome on a blank usb flash drive; where would I find the file containing chrome on the computer in order to download it to a flash drive?

Thank you so much again!

blakegomez18

I'm having the same issue with my Chromebook as well! I heard from other users that it's probably a bug within the Chromebooks. This started happening to me last semester and I took it to Geek Squad to see if they could help. They managed to fix it and it was working fine for awhile. However, about a week ago the problem restarted again. Sometimes when I restart my laptop, the Wifi will connect for a little bit but then goes right back to disconnecting.

billsey

Try a power wash and try for any OS updates if you can get things up long enough.

nowifi4ever

this problem is obviously widespread... all the people offering advice to try a different connection and powerwash and change router settings obviously fail to read.... look at the OPs pictures, and read what he's saying... the wifi TURNS ITSELF OFF... and when you turn it on, it often just turns itself off again... and when it does stay ON, it does not see any networks...

this is a chromebook software issue, period..... it has been going on since at least 2014, the ISP or router used is not the problem when it comes to this issue.. does not matter what router or what the settings on it are, none of that can cause your chromebook to shut of the wifi, and when there are a dozen or more active wifi connections that show when it is working, how is it that when this issue happens and you get booted off, all of those SSIDs are suddenly gone ?... it's because the wifi on the chromebook is not working correctly, when you turn wifi on, it may bi lit up and appear as if it's on, but it is either actually off, or some glitch is preventing it from recognizing all the SSIDs that it detected until it booted you off

this is a google/chromebook software issue, period....

I've spent countless hours trying everything under the sun, including all the router settings that I knew were not the problem, but just to make sure, went through and put all settings to what are supposedly optimal for chromebook

i've "powerwashed" chromebook several times, gone through every setting, literally every setting in the entirety of chrome, and wasted hours trying everything on chrome help site, and everything suggested by dozens of people on multiple help forums ect..

the only fix is to shut down/reboot chromebook, and sometimes it takes multiple reboots... this issue is NOT a router issue, or router settings issue, or interference, weak signal or any other such nonsense... this is 100% an issue in the software, there is some sort of glitch with wifi....

my acer 15" chromebook is only 3 months old and I've seen hundreds of other people with exact same issue you're online and all of a sudden you have no connection, when you look, your wifi is off, you turn it back on and it does not see ANY wifi signals, even when there are 10 or 20 active SSIDs broadcasting at all times

this is an issue with chrome software, PERIOD..... something is wrong, and from all the posts I've seen with this exact same issue going back to 2014, it has been going on for a very long time

nowifi4ever

my "Acer Chromebook 15" is 3 months old... same issue as the hundreds of other posts here and on chrome help site, and multiple other help forums.... same exact issue with posts going back to at least 2014 and all the way through right up to the present.........

this has been an issue for over 6 years, I've read through hundreds of posts, and endless "solutions"... have gone through every setting, and I mean literally every setting in the chromebook, and the router... none of it is a solution.....

all the router settings solutions have nothing to do with this specific issue, it's not the router, ISP, interference, weak signal.. the connection is trong and clear when it's working, when this issue comes up, your chromebooks wifi is turned off and when you turn it back on it does not see any SSIDs...

all the chromebook settings also have nothing to do with this issue... if they did, or if any router setting did, then it would never work at all... but it does work... you are online and everythings fine, until you get booted, and when that happens, you check and your wifi is turned off, and turning it on does not actually turn it on, or it turns it on but some part of it malfunctions and it will not see any signals...

turning machine off and rebooting is the only fix, and it's temporary...

this is a chromebook SOFTWARE issue, PERIOD.

aprom

I have a Acer Chromebook c933 that's worked fine for over a year, and today it started exhibiting this exact same behavior. Wifi is working fine, then shuts itself off and cannot be turned back on again, just like the screenshots above. Has there been a fix for this released yet? I've already tried the powerwash and hardware reset.

billsey

@aprom, you have a different model than this thread addresses. Have you tried the power wash as suggested? Which version of the ChromeOS is installed?

aprom

Hi there @billsey Yes, I have done the powerwash. It has Chrome version 93.0.4577.85. I just updated to 93.0.4577.95. I'll test and see if the issue is still there.

aprom

@billsey After updating Chrome to 93.0.4577.95, WiFi is now completely broken. Immediately after the upgrade, WiFi worked for a few minutes just fine. I restarted the device and now I open the WiFi config, which is off, and slide the switch to the On position, but the WiFi status continues to say "Wi-Fi is turned off", exactly as shown in the screenshots at the start of this discussion. I appreciate any further advise you might have.

girolez

I am having exactly these problems (screenshots at the start) with an Acer Chromebook 314 running ChromeOS v100. The disconnection appears completely random. Using the same network and SSIDs I do not have the same (or any) issues with my Dell Chromebook! I concur that this is not a network issue but a device/software issue.

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