My internet connection doesn't stay connected on my laptop

And the only way to get it to reconnect is to restart my computer. If I try to search for available networks without restarting it doesn't find any. My other laptop stays connected at all times and the wireless router is only one room away, so it's not that. Any idea what this could be? Is there some program or something I can use that ensures my connection will not drop?

Fluent said:

And the only way to get it to reconnect is to restart my computer. If I try to search for available networks without restarting it doesn't find any. My other laptop stays connected at all times and the wireless router is only one room away, so it's not that. Any idea what this could be? Is there some program or something I can use that ensures my connection will not drop?

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Yeah one of mine does that - it's a problem with the chipset (a relatively common one used in Dell laptops at the time) and there is no solution. It just does that because the chipset is shit.

There's a chance that your problem is similar but that there is either a firmware or driver update which will fix it I would suggest going to the support subsection of your manufacturer's website and downloading the latest drivers and potentially firmware. Make absolutely sure that you have stable external power when re-flashing firmware though - not good to lose power half-way through. I'd suggest updating the drivers (they don't always show up in windows update by the way) first and then installing any firmware updates if that doesn't solve the issue. From what I hear though, bricking due to bad firmware updates is pretty rare compared to the old days.

Wow. You are the man! I downloaded the firmware and what do you know, my internet connection automatically reconnected after it dropped and the firmware was installed. So I'm guessing that fixed the problem. Thanks!

Probably - if it happens again then it means that the reason your network adapter turned back on was actually because the firmware update forced a hard reset of the device/power managment for it (as would happen on a system reboot.)

The drop happened before the drivers were installed, as usual, my connection dropped and it couldn't be reconnected. But as soon as I installed the drivers, it automatically reconnected. So I'm guessing those drivers did something. And since then it hasn't dropped connection at all. Also, the other drivers on the site fixed other problems I was having too, such as the built-in webcam not working properly, and the mouse touchpad not vertically scrolling. Drivers fixed both those issues. So this has been my lucky day I guess. Thanks again for the help.