Problems connecting to router via Wi-Fi, tried many different fixes

Phantomcave · 28 Nov 2015

Hello, I've got a brand new Dell XPS 13 9350 and I'm having big problems connecting to my houses Wi-Fi network. I live in a student apartment building and we all share Wi-Fi.
95% of the time I simply get the "can't connect to this network" message. The few times I manage to connect it fades away in about five minutes and either comes back for another five minutes or disappears for good.

My other devices, that aren't running Win 10(android phone, chromecast), have never had any problem whatsoever with the connection.
I also have a desktop that runs Win 10 and connects via Wi-Fi with an ASUS PCE adapter. The desktop connected fine for about 3 months and then I got the exact same problem I have with my laptop now. No matter what I tried I couldn't get it to connect to the houses Wi-Fi connection. After days of googling and trying different fixes I installed this Broadcom BCM-43xx Wireless Lan Drivers Version 7.35.308.0 WHQL driver and the problem was instantly solved.

Now, with my laptop I think I've tried all the most common fixes; forgetting the network and adding it manually, searching for the latest drivers, uninstalling and reinstalling the latest drivers from Dell's website, turning off 20/40 coexistance, turning off IPv6(not by tweaking the registry though), manually setting the DNS server IP, disabling all AV and firewall...
I don't know what to do anymore.

To summarize: Win 10 desktop connects fine and so does android phone and chromecast but not my new laptop(connects fine to other networks though).
I'm guessing it's got to have something to do with Win 10 and/or some driver/setting based on the circumstances.

Laptop specs:
Network adapter: DW1820A 2x2 802.11ac 2,4/5 GHz
Driver: 1.519.0.0
Manufacturer/Driver provider: Broadcom

Desktop specs:
Network adapter: ASUS PCE-AC68
Driver: 7.35.308.0
Manufacturer/Driver provider: Broadcom

Router: Netgear CG3700EMR-1CMNDS

Pdanger · 28 Nov 2015

Hi, I am having the exact same issues and also took the same actions as you.
So I don't have a fix but I do feel your pain.
I have been searching the net and nothing I found on there works but if I do I will post it here.

Hope you find a solution!

Phantomcave · 29 Nov 2015

Pdanger said:

Hi, I am having the exact same issues and also took the same actions as you.
So I don't have a fix but I do feel your pain.
I have been searching the net and nothing I found on there works but if I do I will post it here.

Hope you find a solution!

Just sharing how far I've gotten with the issue so far:
This is from my thread on windows10forums
Phantomcave:

Update: Last night my laptop could kind of connect right, but after I shut off my desktop(which connects flawlessly), the laptop couldn't connect at all.
Earlier today I had only my laptop turned on and, as before, it couldn't connect to the network at all.
Later I turned on my desktop and guess what, I seem to be fully connected and I'm writing this post from my laptop. Before I got the connection working on my laptop I turned automatic IP/DNS and IPv6 on but perhaps that had nothing to do with it, I really don't know...
My laptops connection seems to be working just fine ATM; I am watching twitch, watching youtube, browsing without any problem. The Wi-Fi icon only shows one or two bars though.
I'm gonna try just leaving my laptop as it is for the moment and see if it maintains a stable connection until I go to bed. Then I will see what happens after I switch off my desktop and report back.
Thank you guys for your responses!

Edit: I just opened device manager to check something and found eight new "WAN miniports" under network adapters that weren't there before. Some automatic Windows update?

Tim Locke:

I just thought of something. Check if your laptop's wifi adapter has a setting for infrastructure mode and ad-hoc mode...which might be called something else like peer to peer.

IIRC ad-hoc mode was a mode where pcs could talk with each other over Wifi rather than to a router. What I am wondering is if your laptop is talking to your desktop which is acting as a repeater. This might explain why you have trouble connecting when your desk top is off but sometimes you are connecting via another persons pc in the building.

You can look up ad-hoc mode on Google. I think it might explain the problem. Note that I have never used it so I don't know where to look but it should be in the properties of the adapter.