2 years, 7 months ago-
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My windows 10 laptop runs an Intel AC 3160 network adapter which drops connections while streaming video. Sometimes, in Device Manager, I see that the drivers have disappeared and once the adapter had switched to “disabled”. As a result, I need to restart my computer to reconnect to my XFinity network with the laptop. I first noticed the problem after a Windows 10 update. The computer is three years old, do I need to replace the network card?
I have two Android devices (tablet and phone) that remain connected to the same network in the same physical location as the laptop, while the laptop connection has dropped.
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Hello Bob,
As it turns our you are not alone with this issue, I have in the past found that removing the vendor’s wireless driver (Dell or HP) and installing the driver directly offered by Intel will normally resolve the issue.
First download the latest driver from Intel which can be found here, then you can head over to device manager and right click on your wireless device and choose to uninstall. When prompted be sure to check the box that indicates you want to delete the driver from your system as well.
Once that driver is gone, go ahead and run the install you had downloaded from Intel. Please be sure you have all of your windows updates installed as well.
Let us know how it goes, best of luck.
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Hello Bob,
Does the connection drop randomly or does it seem to happen after the computer goes to sleep or hibernation?
The next thing you could try is installing a fresh copy of Windows 10 after making a backup of your data.Or you could opt to use a different wireless device that you can plug in via USB such as this.
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Well, I’ve reinstalled the newest drivers directly from Intel the issue still crops up randomly. It seems like it will drop only after I’ve been connected for a time…1 to 1 1/2 hours. Today when the wireless connection dropped, I immediately opened the device manager and found that there were “no drivers installed” for the AC 3160. I’m not going to do a fresh install ’cause I’ve done that (on other machines in the past. Remind me to tell you about the time I had a threeway with Dell support in the Philipines.
sigh
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Bob,
I would check the manufacturer of the laptop to see if your laptop is still under warranty and see if they cover the repair. Keeping it simple, the USB wireless dongle would more than likely circumvent the issue with your internal device disappearing from device management. This adapter here is low profile so it would be hard to accidently break off when bumped.
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Problem solved.
I purchased a CUDY AC1300 (wireless dual band USB 3.0) plugged it in, ran the install and I’ve had no issues since. I have disabled the Intel AC3160 and good riddance. After hours of research on the internet, I am apparently the only consumer on the planet who has had this problem! LOL.Not only do I have dependable wifi, my connection is faster (speed test) and my Dell Inspiron laptop SEEMS to be running faster.
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