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Question

Network adapter randomly drops and disables itself

Jul 19, 2016 11:14AM PDT

My network adapter randomly decided to work only 25% of the time just about a week ago.

It drops the wireless signal and disables the network adapter. I have already gone in and configured the adapter and changed the setting that allows it to become disabled when the battery is low or randomly.

I made sure its always enabled....except it still disables itself, regardless. Once it disables itself, the drives disappear (shown in the device manager). Then, it randomly decides to turn back on. It might take an hour...or a day before it decides to just work again.

I have uninstalled drivers and reinstalled them and I have reset my computer. When I reset my computer, the network adapter worked for a while. If I boot it in safe mode and then go back to normal, sometimes this works..but not always.

I have no idea why it's not working correctly. Any suggestions?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Sadly you left out make, model, OS version and more.
Jul 19, 2016 11:23AM PDT

So I'll see if you can supply that and as some adapters do fail like that I carry some USB WiFi dongles in my rescue kit. All of them were under 10 bucks and cheaper than a new WiFi card.

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More info
Jul 19, 2016 12:01PM PDT

Some information about my laptop:
My laptop is an acer E 15.
Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
Windows 10
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-5200U CPU @ 2.20Ghz
64-bit OS, x64 based processor

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I see many prior discussions.
Jul 19, 2016 12:07PM PDT
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This one is a hoot.
Jul 19, 2016 12:14PM PDT

Read https://communities.intel.com/thread/59439 and you do see one nugget in there that someone reported better results when they got an AC router. I have an Intel NUC with the 3165 card and it seems find on W10 with Intel drivers but I have an AC router.