When I first got this new PC back in August, I never had any issue with my wi-fi connection. Then occasionally the adapter would not connect automatically on power-up. Which gradually deteriorated to 90% of power-ups, and I had to go through disabling/enabling the adapter a few times till it would connect. Annoying and mysterious, but no huge deal, and once it was connected it stayed connected. But, over the past few weeks, the connection has been dropping with increasing frequency – so much so that it was dropping every 5 minutes! So I thought perhaps it was time to try and get it sorted…
I’ve never been 100% happy with the cheap Realtek USB adapter that I have, and had looked into getting something better. But that would be a waste of money if the PC/Windows was the problem, and not the adapter. I could run an ethernet cable down to the router (as I have in the distant past), but it can end up looking rather messy. So, consult Dr Google…
Lots of reports of the same and similar issues, both with Realtek and others. The common consensus was that you have to make sure to disable the power setting for the adapter that allows Windows to turn off the adapter to “save energy”. That worked for many people and made sense, so I tried it – and it made bugger all difference.
Gave up for a week or so before I tried searching again. Eventually came across a result on page 2 of the searches, which linked to a discussion in which was buried the suggestion that you should also turn off the same power setting on all USB hubs, not just the adapter. Never even considered that! And it seems to be the solution – for the past 3 days it connects on boot, and has dropped zero times. Deep joy!