14 DAY TRIAL // Acer is mostly known for its budget, wallet-friendly tablets, but the company also has more advanced products in its portfolio.
For example, there’s the Acer Iconia W700 tablet that arrives with Windows 8, Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and an 11.6-inch full HD TFT LCD screen with a competent 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution.
Anyway, owners of the tablet have been reporting being plagued by pesky, annoying issue with the slate. On the company’s official support forum, there’s a huge 70-page thread where users are sharing their woes related to the ever-dropping Wi-Fi connection.
“I bought an Acer Iconia W700 tablet and for some reason, the wi-fi disconnets all the time. If I have the tablet really close to the wi-fi spot, it work fine but when I go to my living room, the internet disconnets or it get's limited. The farest thing I can do is open google and search for something. Then the internet crashes.”
“It's frustrating this situation... And I was wondering if I have to return it or if there is anything I can do to fix it. I also saw other users online complaining about the same problem,” says user vergati.
Bear in mind, the threat was started back in 2012, and two years later owners are still faced with the issue. A possible fix was outlined by forum member kalib, which involves re-installing the Acer Wi-Fi drivers, but this doesn’t seem to work for everybody.
Fast-forwarding to most recent times, the problem still persists and user yiuly has compiled a list with possible solutions.
“I experienced Wifi problem also. For my case, it should be hardware problem. I tried all software fix but failed. It was solved by changing a new machine from the shop I bought it on the 2nd day. My machine is working fine now, I even had no problem updating to Windows 8.1. The whole upgrade process is smooth also.”
“After reading all 76 pages on this forum and my experience, it is the steps I come up:
1. Clean update of the WIFI+BT software with the newest driver, i.e. remove driver, software suit completely and reinstall it. 2. Repeat 1 several times if the problem is still persisting 3. If fail, try either one: a. return it to Acer for repair or replacement, or b. void the warranty, open the machine, check the wifi module and the anatanna. Make sure all connection are secured, or c. Buy a USB WIFI dongle.”
User mladenpetkov is more adventurous and reports having taken the whole unit apart. What he found was the Wi-Fi issue were caused by a hardware malfunction. According to him, “I finally took the unit a part (there is a video in youtube showing how to do it)... and one of the connectors of the atheros module was not properly connected. The connection looks like an albow joint and the top part was out of place.”
“So, this is an Acer hardware(assembling) issue. The whole process took me about 40 minutes and the unit looks like before.”
“If you have tried replacing the drivers, don't waste your time anymore. Ship it back or open it up. What is the point to keep the warranty if you are using a faulty unit.”
Acer representatives are pretty absent throughout this massive threat and fail to come up with viable solutions. But in case you are handy with tech, you could try and open out your tablet; but, if you don’t want to play on the risky side of things, you should try returning the unit and get a replacement.