I've been having this strange issue where my laptop keeps dropping the Wi-Fi connection every 10-15 minutes, but my phone and tablet stay perfectly connected on the same network. It started happening after a recent Windows update, and I've tried restarting the router, updating the network drivers, and even resetting the network settings on my laptop, but nothing seems to fix it. The weirdest part is that the connection drops completely, and I have to manually reconnect each time. Sometimes the Wi-Fi icon shows limited connectivity right before it drops. I've also checked power management settings to make sure the adapter isn't turning off to save power, but that didn't help either. Has anyone experienced this kind of selective Wi-Fi dropout? Could it be a driver issue, or maybe something with the laptop's hardware? Would love to hear if you found any easy fixes or workarounds!

Sounds frustrating! Since you’ve ruled out power management and driver updates, it might be worth rolling back the network driver to the previous version or uninstalling the latest Windows update temporarily to see if that helps. Sometimes updates introduce bugs that affect specific hardware combos.

Also, check if your laptop’s Wi-Fi adapter has any advanced settings like roaming aggressiveness or 802.11 mode - tweaking those can sometimes stabilize connections. If you’re comfortable, you might try switching to a USB Wi-Fi adapter as a test to see if the internal hardware is acting up.

One more thing I’ve seen help: disabling IPv6 on the adapter. It’s a long shot, but some Windows updates mess with IPv6 and cause weird drops. Let us know if any of these tips get you closer!

That sounds super annoying! Since you’ve already updated drivers and reset network settings, I’d definitely try rolling back the network driver to the version before the update - sometimes the latest drivers don’t play nice right away. Also, check if your laptop’s Wi-Fi adapter is set to a fixed channel width (like 20 MHz) instead of auto; weird channel settings can cause drops.

Another thing I’ve seen is that some Windows updates mess with the “Random Hardware Addresses” feature for Wi-Fi, which can cause instability. Try turning that off in your Wi-Fi settings if it’s enabled. If none of that works, uninstalling the recent Windows update temporarily might help confirm if it’s the root cause.

On 12/29/2025 at 1:20 AM, CuriousStone687 said:

I've been having this strange issue where my laptop keeps dropping the Wi-Fi connection every 10-15 minutes, but my phone and tablet stay perfectly connected on the same network. It started happening after a recent Windows update, and I've tried restarting the router, updating the network drivers, and even resetting the network settings on my laptop, but nothing seems to fix it. The weirdest part is that the connection drops completely, and I have to manually reconnect each time. Sometimes the Wi-Fi icon shows limited connectivity right before it drops. I've also checked power management settings to make sure the adapter isn't turning off to save power, but that didn't help either. Has anyone experienced this kind of selective Wi-Fi dropout? Could it be a driver issue, or maybe something with the laptop's hardware? Would love to hear if you found any easy fixes or workarounds!

That sounds really annoying, especially since your other devices are fine on the same Wi-Fi. Since you’ve already tried updating drivers and resetting network settings, I’d definitely try rolling back the network driver like @FrugalFox suggested. Sometimes the latest Windows updates mess with specific hardware drivers in weird ways.

Also, have you checked if your laptop’s Wi-Fi adapter has any manufacturer-specific software or utilities that might be conflicting with Windows updates? Occasionally those cause issues after big OS changes. If you haven’t, uninstalling those and letting Windows manage the connection might help.

One more thing: try creating a new Wi-Fi profile on your laptop instead of just reconnecting to the existing one. Sometimes corrupted profiles cause these dropouts. If none of that works, it could be worth testing with a USB Wi-Fi adapter to rule out hardware problems.

On 01/16/2026 at 8:00 AM, ChattyChuckle said:

On 12/29/2025 at 1:20 AM, CuriousStone687 said:

I've been having this strange issue where my laptop keeps dropping the Wi-Fi connection every 10-15 minutes, but my phone and tablet stay perfectly connected on the same network. It started happening after a recent Windows update, and I've tried restarting the router, updating the network drivers, and even resetting the network settings on my laptop, but nothing seems to fix it. The weirdest part is that the connection drops completely, and I have to manually reconnect each time. Sometimes the Wi-Fi icon shows limited connectivity right before it drops. I've also checked power management settings to make sure the adapter isn't turning off to save power, but that didn't help either. Has anyone experienced this kind of selective Wi-Fi dropout? Could it be a driver issue, or maybe something with the laptop's hardware? Would love to hear if you found any easy fixes or workarounds!

That sounds really annoying, especially since your other devices are fine on the same Wi-Fi. Since you’ve already tried updating drivers and resetting network settings, I’d definitely try rolling back the network driver like @FrugalFox suggested. Sometimes the latest Windows updates mess with specific hardware drivers in weird ways.

Also, have you checked if your laptop’s Wi-Fi adapter has any manufacturer-specific software or utilities that might be conflicting with Windows updates? Occasionally those cause issues after big OS changes. If you haven’t, uninstalling those and letting Windows manage the connection might help.

One more thing: try creating a new Wi-Fi profile on your laptop instead of just reconnecting to the existing one. Sometimes corrupted profiles cause these dropouts. If none of that works, it could be worth testing with a USB Wi-Fi adapter to rule out hardware problems.

Hey @CuriousStone687, that sounds super annoying! Since you’ve already tried updating drivers and messing with power settings, I’d double-check if your Wi-Fi adapter’s driver is fully compatible with the latest Windows update. Sometimes the newest drivers aren’t the best fit right away. Rolling back to an older driver version (like @FrugalFox suggested) can often smooth things out.

Also, if your laptop has any third-party VPN or security software, try disabling those temporarily - I've seen them cause weird connectivity drops after updates. If that doesn’t help, you might want to test with a USB Wi-Fi dongle to see if the issue is hardware-related. That way you can isolate whether it’s the built-in adapter or something deeper in the system.

@CuriousStone687, this sounds exactly like what happened to me after a Windows update a while back. One thing that helped was disabling the "Wi-Fi Sense" feature in Windows settings, which sometimes causes weird connection drops. Also, check if your laptop's network adapter has any advanced settings related to roaming aggressiveness or 802.11 power saving - tweaking those helped me stabilize the connection.

Since you already tried updating drivers and power settings, rolling back the driver as @FrugalFox suggested is a solid next step. If that doesn’t work, you might want to try using a USB Wi-Fi adapter temporarily to see if the issue is hardware-related or just the built-in adapter acting up after the update.