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The internet gods have been conspiring against me. My internet connection was like a magic trick. Now you see it, now you don’t. The wave of storms that battered the West Coast this winter played havoc with our DSL connection.
But, there was something else going on…and it was inside my laptop. My Wi-Fi Adapter was dying.
On dry days, every other device in the house could connect to the internet.
EXCEPT MY LAPTOP!
My Laptop or the Weather?
It all seemed to go to hell after a Windows 8.1 update. After the update, my laptop had trouble accessing the internet.
And, it was only my laptop.
Oh, it would connect, for 2 or 3 minutes at a time. If I was lucky, 5.
But, it was in and out like one of those flickering light bulbs in an old movie. You know, to let us know a storm is approaching…or there’s danger out there…somewhere.
I ruled out the weather because the laptop was the only device afflicted with internetus interruptus.
WiFi Adapter brings internet back to my laptop
Replacing My Wi-Fi Adapter
A friend suggested I get an external USB Wi-Fi adapter…a little device strangely nicknamed a “dongle”.
I bought an Edimax 7811Un. It’s a small adapter that plugs into an external USB port. It cost less than $10. Small price to pay to save my sanity.
It only took a couple of minutes to install. I set up a new Wi-Fi connection (remembering to disable the old one first!), the little blue light was flickering, and…viola! Internet!
External Wi-Fi Adapter Working
I have internet for hours at a time.
I have internet I could frolic through…if I was in need of internet frolicking.
My laptop that wasn’t even one year old had a faulty Wi-Fi Adapter. Cheap fix. Better than buying a new laptop or spending hours on hold with some repair tech. Now I can get back to blogging.
Thank you for this. I have a laptop with the same problem. I’ll definitely give this a try.
Kathryn, Frustrating, isn’t it? I’m getting much more consistent internet with the adapter.