14 DAY TRIAL // Back in October 2013, when Microsoft officially introduced the new Windows 8.1, a number of users complained that Wi-Fi connection was dropping for no clear reason, even though they were running the latest versions of the network drivers.
Posts on Microsoft’s very own Community forums confirmed the bugs, and although some company executives said at that time that they were investigating reports, no official fix has ever been shipped to users.
At this point, the main thread where users are complaining about this problem counts 50 pages, and it’s safe to say that thousands of Windows 8.1 adopters are experiencing the same bugs on their laptops, PCs, and tablets.
Here’s the first message posted by one of the affected users on October 20, 2013:
“Since installing 8.1 Pro, I'm having issues with WiFi dropping internet connectivity and always showing ‘Limited’ when clicking on the system tray icon. When I troubleshoot the problem using the system tool it is always the gateway that is faulty. I have uninstalled/reinstalled the device drivers several times, installed the newest drivers directly from Intel, restarted the computer, etc. I can restore connectivity by turning WiFi off then back on, but the connection will drop at what seems to be random intervals.”
Recently, a Windows 8.1 adopter who was struggling to cope with the issue has posted a video on YouTube to disclose a possible workaround and thus help everyone experiencing dropping or limited Wi-Fi connectivity make the Internet work again on their devices.
The steps you need to follow are as simple as they could be: just open Device Manager, select your main network adapter, click on “Properties,” go to “Power Management” and uncheck the option reading “Allow this computer to turn off the device to save power.”
The user claims that Windows 8.1 automatically turns off your Wi-Fi adapter when idle, hence the limited connectivity that some experience.
A number of posts have confirmed that this workaround solves the issue, but it’s not yet clear whether the same trick works for everyone. Microsoft is still yet to release an official solution for this.
The same limited Wi-Fi issue is also being experienced by a number of Surface buyers and, needless to say, this obviously leads to more frustration from users who have already migrated to Windows 8.1.
“Come on MS - pull a finger out, this should be a critical fix to 8.1. Seeing it on a flagship OS on an MS branded device is plain embarrassing. It is one of my few annoyances with this otherwise splendid tablet,” one of the affected users posted.
