Windows 8 Wifi issues at multiple locations
Hello,
We are having an odd problem at mulitple sites that we wanted to run by you all to see if you were having any similar issues, or heard anything about this.
We have new Windows 8.1laptops and tablets. A variety of hardware manufactures but the top three are HP's, Lenovo, and Microsoft Surface tablets.
At multiple, completely separate networks and customers the Windows 8 pc's randomly drop off the wifi network. The users will be connected, then the computer will say "limited connectivity" and drop the connection to the internet, then reconnect a minute or so later. Window 7 and Mac box's on the same network do not experience any issues.
This is happening on 3 networks now, all 3 with different types of WAP's (Cisco 321 at one sight, Netgear and linksys at the other 2.
Any of you see this behavior? If so, did you figure it out?
We are having an odd problem at mulitple sites that we wanted to run by you all to see if you were having any similar issues, or heard anything about this.
We have new Windows 8.1laptops and tablets. A variety of hardware manufactures but the top three are HP's, Lenovo, and Microsoft Surface tablets.
At multiple, completely separate networks and customers the Windows 8 pc's randomly drop off the wifi network. The users will be connected, then the computer will say "limited connectivity" and drop the connection to the internet, then reconnect a minute or so later. Window 7 and Mac box's on the same network do not experience any issues.
This is happening on 3 networks now, all 3 with different types of WAP's (Cisco 321 at one sight, Netgear and linksys at the other 2.
Any of you see this behavior? If so, did you figure it out?
Have you ensured all devices have had the latest windows updates and firmware updates installed?
Maybe check the vendors websites to see if they have any updates for the WLAN.
Are you running in mixed mode (20-40 Mhz)? If so, might try changing it to a single band (say, 20 Mhz). Windows 8 might not be managing well when connecting to a WAP that could handle either.
One thing should be perfectly clear: if that were a common problem with win8.x, there would be a great outcry. But I never heard that this is common. So I suspect there's some common factor on that machines, most probably software. Could it be that some software is in use that interferes with network connections? Please think about it. It might of course be some software that is installed on win7 as well and works there.
If this happens frequently, I am sure, any troubleshooter would soon find it. Start with
->Try a clean machine, just windows 8. with update 1 and current drivers, nothing else - does it happen?
->Try connections without using encryption - does it happen
If this happens frequently, I am sure, any troubleshooter would soon find it. Start with
->Try a clean machine, just windows 8. with update 1 and current drivers, nothing else - does it happen?
->Try connections without using encryption - does it happen
ASKER
Thanks for your comments.
Roshan, yes, we have checked updates. Firmware , Bios, Driver and Windows updates. Applied them all but the problem still continues.
Richard, Didn't think about that. Will check into that.
McKnife- Yes we have the problem on brand new machines, right out of the box. Odd thing is that its not on all of them. One customer purchase 12 new Windows Surface Pro's from us. 4 of them had the problem at first, right out of the box. We now randomly get calls from all twelve users, including the users of the 4 that were replaced,saying they are dropping connections. Yesterday, one of the users was a home and it started dropping as well. SInce some devices experience this out of the box we really haven't looked at software causing it. I'll look to see if there is any common software across all them, beside MS Office. I'll take a look at the networks as well to see what encryption setting are setup and test that theory.
Thanks again!
Roshan, yes, we have checked updates. Firmware , Bios, Driver and Windows updates. Applied them all but the problem still continues.
Richard, Didn't think about that. Will check into that.
McKnife- Yes we have the problem on brand new machines, right out of the box. Odd thing is that its not on all of them. One customer purchase 12 new Windows Surface Pro's from us. 4 of them had the problem at first, right out of the box. We now randomly get calls from all twelve users, including the users of the 4 that were replaced,saying they are dropping connections. Yesterday, one of the users was a home and it started dropping as well. SInce some devices experience this out of the box we really haven't looked at software causing it. I'll look to see if there is any common software across all them, beside MS Office. I'll take a look at the networks as well to see what encryption setting are setup and test that theory.
Thanks again!
You need to be able to reproduce that Problem, only then you can start trouble shooting. Also take into account that this odd behavior might depend on signal strength. So if you have a problem device caught red-handed, try to move it as close to the wifi access point as possible.
WAS THIS ever resolved still to this day same problem,.... Wiffi will not get dhcp request....
The person leaving comment about not wide spread is mistaken ... this is a problem........
The person leaving comment about not wide spread is mistaken ... this is a problem........
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ASKER
Issue resolved itself.