Imagine this: you’re working double-time because you’re trying to catch a deadline, or perhaps you’re supposedly having a day of relaxation by watching your favorite movies or shows on Netflix. However, out of nowhere, you’re suddenly disconnected from your WiFi, and your computer seems to have done it on its own.
How does this happen, and what can you do to ensure that it never happens again? In this article, we’ll write down everything we know about this issue, such as the possible causes along with possible fixes.
Possible Reasons Why Your WiFi Keeps Disconnecting
There are several possible reasons why your WiFi would disconnect on its own accord, but perhaps one of the most common and obvious reasons is that there’s a lack of signal strength coming from your WiFi. Another possibility is that you’re experiencing no internet data, so even if there’s a full signal being sent out for your device to connect to, there would still be no data connection.
When this happens, modern computers and laptops tend to take things into their own hands by disconnecting themselves from the WiFi whenever there’s no connection or data detected. Your WiFi may also crash if your computer’s network driver is old and needs updating or if your network cards are no longer working as they should.
Now that you have a better idea of what’s causing your device to act unnaturally, here are a couple of troubleshooting steps you can follow to try and fix the issue yourself. If they work for you, you can save yourself money and trouble from going to a technician.
How to Fix the Problem
Reset Your Router
First thing’s first: whenever the WiFi or internet is involved, the first course of action is always to reset the router. Most of the time, this can fix your issue right away. To do so, all you need to do is unplug your router and remove the wires that are connecting to it. Wait for a couple of minutes, around 5 to 6 minutes should do, and then return everything to its proper place. Try and connect to your WiFi once again and check if everything has been stabilized.
Update Your Drivers
As briefly mentioned, having old network drivers can affect your internet connectivity, which is why one of the fixes we’ll suggest to you in this article is to update them to the latest version. Depending on what kind of hardware you have, you could even end up increasing your internet speeds once you update. There are two ways you can update your network drivers, either through the device manager or through utilities such as DriverEasy and DriverMax.
Updating via device manager is just as easy, though:
- On the Start Menu, type in Device Manager to begin searching for the app.
- Another option you can do is to type devmgmt.msc instead on the run menu.
- Once the Device Manager window has been opened, look for the Network Adaptor tab.
- Tap on the small arrow to open up the list of networks available. Most of the time, the network you would be looking for would either say Intel or Qualcomm, although this isn’t always the case.
- As soon as you’ve found the correct network for your device, right-click on it and choose the Update Driver option.
Once your network card has been updated, this should cause your WiFi problems to cease. Restart your laptop or computer after updating and check if the problem persists.
Use Windows’ Built-in Troubleshooter
Yes, if you didn’t know, Windows has a built-in network troubleshooter for situations like this. This is perhaps one of the easiest fixes you can try.
- To start, open up Settings and look for the Troubleshoot tab.
- Once you’ve found it, click on it to open up its menu and options.
- From there, look for the option that says Internet Connections and Network Adapter.
- Wait a bit for the troubleshooter to finish.
If it was able to find the issue and fix it, then it should prompt you to restart your device. Afterward, you shouldn’t experience the same WiFi issue again.
Use a 5Ghz WiFi Band Instead
Most of the time, WiFi connections use a 2.4Ghz band—this is the default. However, using this band means that your internet connection will have strong signal strength, but the downside is that you’ll have slower data speeds. If you choose to use the 5Ghz WiFi band, these limitations will be removed completely and you’ll end up experiencing a much faster internet connection. However, you must first check if your WiFi supports this band first.
Conclusion
By following these troubleshooting steps, you should be able to say goodbye to your sudden WiFi disconnection issues. It can be really frustrating when this happens, especially when you’re doing something important or in the middle of a work meeting. Having an unstable internet connection is something that none of us want, especially during this time when online learning and work-from-home setups are predominant.
