Question Laptop keeps knocking out the whole apartment wifi connection every few minutes?

Jul 29, 2019
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Hi All,

I have been having this issue with my wireless connection in my apartment.
Basically every time I connect my laptop (HP Omen) to the connection, it makes the connection in the whole apartment drops out every few minutes.

However, if I keep my laptop turned off and just use my iPhone or iPad, the wireless signal remains stable and with no drops whatsoever. Hence why I have managed to narrow it down to my laptop causing the issue.

As I believe it is a wireless card problem (I have tried uninstalling/reinstalling new and updated drivers with no success), I purchased a TP-Link AC600 Wireless Dual Band USB adapter to act as my wireless card.

After I plugged in my wifi adapter, it seemed to work well. However, suddenly my Intel wireless card kept trying to take over!
I uninstalled my intel drivers for my laptop wireless card from device manager, but every time I restart my computer, the intel drivers come back again and my original intel wireless card takes over from the USB adapter.

It's driving me mad, I've tried everything including disabling the device from device manager, going to advanced settings to disable the automatic driver installations... But the drivers still comes back!

And to make matters worse, the issue with the frequent disconnections came back even when I'm on a USB Adapter.

Is there also any way I can check whether or not its some software trying to disconnect me from the network frequently as well? Perhaps it might not be a wireless card problem?

Would appreciate all your help as this has been driving me mad.

Thank you!
 
Last edited:

britechguy

Commendable
Jul 2, 2019
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The presence or absence of the device drivers should be utterly irrelevant if the device itself is disabled.

I have never had a device I have intentionally disabled in Device Manager ever "self enable" itself again.

You will have devices that are "plug n' play" (and your WiFi card is one of these) that will always reinstall themselves if you uninstall them (without also physically disconnecting them so their presence cannot be detected). This is a feature, not a bug.
 
Jul 29, 2019
4
0
10
The presence or absence of the device drivers should be utterly irrelevant if the device itself is disabled.

I have never had a device I have intentionally disabled in Device Manager ever "self enable" itself again.

You will have devices that are "plug n' play" (and your WiFi card is one of these) that will always reinstall themselves if you uninstall them (without also physically disconnecting them so their presence cannot be detected). This is a feature, not a bug.

Thanks for your prompt reply. Nice to learn something new :)
In this case, I'm stumped.

I'm still thinking it's something wrong with my laptop (as if my laptop isn't connected to the network, the issue doesn't occur). I've disabled my original device and used the 'plug and play USB wifi adapter', but the issue still occurs with it knocking out the whole WiFi network every few minutes across all devices.

Would you have any suggestions for this issue?

Many thanks
 
Jul 29, 2019
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Have you tried opening up the laptop to see if you can physically remove, or change-out, the Intel wireless adapter?

Unfortunately not, this laptop is SO difficult to open - I tried but decided not to proceed cause I thought it would damage it further. But if I'm using a USB adapter, and with the intel wireless card disabled, I shouldn't need to remove it. Correct?
 

britechguy

Commendable
Jul 2, 2019
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If you have a device disabled is is as though it does not exist as far as anything beyond the computer itself is concerned.

Disabling the built-in WiFi adapter takes it out of the equation entirely.

Do you have this issue when connecting to any other network with the built-in card?
 
Jul 29, 2019
4
0
10
If you have a device disabled is is as though it does not exist as far as anything beyond the computer itself is concerned.

Disabling the built-in WiFi adapter takes it out of the equation entirely.

Do you have this issue when connecting to any other network with the built-in card?

I had a similar issue with another network I tried, but instead of knocking out the network it slowed it right down when the laptop was in use and using the built in card.

The laptop was bought in the USA, I used it while living in New Zealand for a while, then moved to Australia where I am facing these issues.

My biggest question is, how come it still knocks out the connection EVEN when when I'm using a wireless USB adapter! But when my laptop is turned off, this issue doesn't occur!
 
Last edited:

britechguy

Commendable
Jul 2, 2019
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Sadly, I have no answer to your question.

I understand your frustration entirely, but this issue is unlike anything I've ever dealt with, and all the more so since you say it's happening regardless of which WiFi adapter the laptop is actually using to connect to the network.