Windows 8.1 Pro wireless connection problems

IIStevowII

New Member
Messages
5
Since upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8, I'm having serious problems with my wireless connection.

Occasionally I have problems with my wireless connection dropping out. If this happends I am unable to re-estabalish a connection unless I
reboot the computer. Sometimes even this does not work, at which point I either have to reboot several times, keep the computer off for a while or
reinstall my network related drivers. When my connection drops out, the following happends:

The wireless network icon shows a yellow triangle with a !. At that point I am unable to open network centre. When I hover over the icon,
it DOES show my WiFi connection name, with the text "limited connection". Problem solver does not solve anything, including resetting the adapter.
Other devices, like phones, tablets and windows 7 laptops, still work fine. Because I'm unable to open network centre I cannot try other networks.

At the beginning a simple reboot, or switching to a wireless dongle, solved the problem for the time being.
Since yesterday I have no wireless internet at all. It does not matter if I use my on board WiFi or a usb dongle.
When I boot the computer in safe mode with networking capabilities however, it does work fine. I kept my laptop on
for the complete night and next day, with internet radio on to simulate network activity. The network did not drop out.
When i rebooted into normal Windows however, internet works for a few minutes (very slow) before droppping out and showing
the red cross.

I have tried to repair my operating system but this did not help. Finally I installed a 100% clean install of Windows 8.1, with format,
on the computer. Without installing any applications besides AVG security, the problem still occured after a few days.

When keeping an eye on the available network connections, you can notice that networks around the neighbourhood are slowly dropping out. Untill
only my own network connection is left. Eventually even that one drops out.

Summary:
- Network connection drops out eventually, in the beginning rebooting helps, after a few times it is just dead.
At this point only reinstalling all network drivers works, which gives me a few days again.
- When the internal WiFi drops out, even plugging in a WiFi dongle does not work (or for a few minutes). Which makes
me believe that the problems lies within Windows and handling wireless connection.
- When keeping an eye on available networks, you can slowly see networks dropping away untill my own network drops out.
- When the connection drops out with the yellow triangle, I am unable to open network centre, only a reboot solves this.
- When the connection drops out with the red cross, it just tells me "no networks available". While at the same location,
other devices are given plenty of networks. Even a reboot cannot solve it anymore, only reinstalling drivers does.
- All drivers are up-to-date, I've tried Windows Update, Driver Solutionpack and manually checking driver versions.
- The problem even occurs on a clean install of Windows 8.1, with only AVG installed. The problem does not occure when
booting into safe mode with network capabilities.
- I also notice a increased processor and disk activity, but this could also be because services are keeping trying to use internet?

Laptop specs:
Asus N53SV
Core i5, 6GB RAM, Nvidia GT540M
Windows 8.1 Pro (Came with Windows 7 Premium)
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (8.26.218.2014)
Qualcomm Atheros AR9002WB-1NG Wireless Network Adapter (10.0.0.268)



Getting back to Windows 7 just isn't a solution for me as I am a developer that needs to use Visual Studio 2013, Hypver-V and the Windows Phone 8 SDK.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus N53SV
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT540M
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    AVG AntiVirus Free Edition 2014

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
I've tried the driver you linked but I keep getting a "blue screen of death".

Roughly translated it says: There's a problem with the computer and it has to be rebooted. Error data are being collected. After this the computer will be rebooted (75% completed)

If you would like to know more, you could search online for this error: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (athwbx.sys)


Ofcourse searching for this error online didn't really yield anything except that the error usually is the cause of an incompatible driver.


Our modem is a Cisco EPC3925 with Firmware Version: epc3925-E10-5-v302r125572-130520c-ZIG

This is a modem deliverd by our provider, and looking at the firmware version it seems to be custom firmware. The only thing I can find on the internet about this is this article. However is doesn't seem to be the same problem as mine.

Besides, because all networks in the neighbour dissapear and at a certain point I just get the message "No networks available" I highly doubt the problem is with our modem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus N53SV
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT540M
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    AVG AntiVirus Free Edition 2014
With the BSOD's and the decaying wireless network which is very strange, I'd say this machine has problems other than just network drivers.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro WMC
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    Q9650 @ 4.05 GHz
    Motherboard
    Gforce 780i SLI FTW
    Memory
    8GB Gskill DDR2 1200Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    GTX-480
    Sound Card
    Asus D2 Xonar
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HannsG
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    Gskill 120GB SSD
    PSU
    Thermal Take 1000watts
    Case
    Thermal Take Xtreme
    Cooling
    9 fans air cooled
    Keyboard
    G15 logitech
    Mouse
    G9 logitech
    Internet Speed
    50mbps
Have you tried uninstalling the driver in device manager and rebooting - windows will reload its latest driver (if there is some kind of corruption this may fix it), or you could try this link to the Asus site if that doesn't fix the problem, it has the latest driver 10.0.0.285 - just select the correct os and wait a bit for all the drivers to appear if its slow loading.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download WLAN
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 64bit Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Notebook N53SV Series
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)i7-2630 CPU @ 2.0GHz /turbo 2.9Hz
    Motherboard
    Intel® HM65 Express Chipset
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    GT540M
    Sound Card
    realtek
    Screen Resolution
    1366/768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate 500gb 5400
    Keyboard
    microsoft wireless keyboard 3000 v2
    Mouse
    microsoft wieless mouse 5000
    Internet Speed
    13/16mbs
    Browser
    IE Firefox Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Hi guys,

Sorry for the slow reply but I was checking for a few days if the problem was solved, which it seems to be. I have upgraded to driver version 10.0.0.274 and since then the probleme does not seem to occur anymore. For that reason I think I will wait with installing 10.0.0.285 untill a problem occurs whest, but thank you for the link.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus N53SV
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT540M
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    AVG AntiVirus Free Edition 2014
Since a few weeks the problem with my WIFI connection is back.

I am posting it in this thread, because it is the exact same laptop with the exact same problem. Only now it worse. I currently have driver version 10.0.0.260 but I have tried several different version.

I will not list which ones, because I don't think the problem is the wireless driver. I have tried two USB wifi connectors, which all gave the same problem. After a certain time the wifi connection drops, and I cannot find any networks anymore (not just my own). In the beginning troubleshooting and rebooting the computer works, but after a few days even that doesn't work anymore.

Currently, the WIFI connectin isn't even listed in the network connections screen, even tho device manager reports no problems.

Ofcourse I tried reinstalling the entire computer, but this didn't work. I currently only have a wired network connection. (Which works fine, btw)


My guess is that the problem exists with how Windows 8.1 handles WIFI connections. I tried working with settings like excluding IPV6 etc, but nothing worked. My guess is that the problem came back after a certain Windows Update, unfortunally I cannot really pinpoint which one.

Another important sympton is that when all this happends, and I shutdown my computer it doesn't shutdown entirely. The screen goes to black but the computer keeps doing something. My guess is he cannot end a certain process, probably the one that causes all this.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus N53SV
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT540M
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    AVG AntiVirus Free Edition 2014
Wow, it's been a long time for this thread.

Anyways, it might have been a router problem or that the manufacturers can't produce good drivers in Windows 8.1 for both USB WiFi and your internal WiFi. My Dell venue tablet came with Broadcom BCM4330 802.11abgn SDIO adapter and I don't have the limited connectivity problem nor limited after sleep issues.

As for the shutting down symptoms, it's a feature of hybrid shutdown. To completely shutdown Windows 8, you need to turn off fast startup first then create a shortcut that triggers full shutdown.

Here are the guides: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6320-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/7025-shut-down-shortcut-create-windows-8-a.html
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro x64 with Media Center
    Computer type
    Tablet
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Surface Pro 3
    CPU
    Core i5 4300U @ 1.9 GHz
    Motherboard
    Surface Pro 3
    Memory
    8092 MB DDR3-L 1.35 V SDRAM @ 1600 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD 4400 @ 200 MHz
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Built-in 3:2 display
    Screen Resolution
    2160 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    256 GB SSD + 128 GB micro SD
    PSU
    36 Watt power brick
    Cooling
    Active
    Keyboard
    On Screen Keyboard
    Mouse
    Surface pen
    Internet Speed
    300 / 20 TWC
    Browser
    IE 11 Metro, IE 11 Desktop
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
Yeah I know, it looked like it went well for a while, but it seems that is not the case.

At first I thought it could be a router issue as well, thats when I tried changing settings related to IPV6 etc. But a different laptop running Windows 8.1 runs fine on the network, and the computer also works fine on the network using a cable. (Altho at a certain point that gave problems too, but I think that was because of a defect cable (cannot be 100% sure ofcourse)

I don't think hybrid shutdown is the issue here. Because hybrid shutdown works fine when I shutdown the computer when I do not use my wifi connections during that specific session. So I think it is a sympton related to the wifi connection issues.

I too think that Asus is just published terrible drivers for these laptop for use with Windows 8, and because they technically do not support Windows 8 on this laptop they refuse to fix it. Ofcourse I am the one that is bothered with this, because I refuse to buy a new laptop while this one can perfectly handle Windows 8.1 and the things I like to do on it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus N53SV
    CPU
    Intel Core i5
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia GT540M
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    AVG AntiVirus Free Edition 2014
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