Had an issue with a user running a Dell Lattitude 7250 running Windows 10 Pro that would randomly disconnect from the Wifi at random times. I tested nearly everything under the sun to see what the issue could be. I tried different WiFi-Cards, tweaked BIOS settings, wifi settings, wifi chips, drivers, reformatted the machine. After, subjecting myself to the issue I discovered something very strange after several days of use and shutting down the computer I noticed the “Uptime” of the machine was in days not seconds after a boot.
If I shutdown the Dell Laptop the Uptime would just keep adding time from the previous sessions such as 14:18:00 (14 days, 18 hours)
If I restarted the Dell Laptop the Uptime would reset back to normal such as 00:00:00.
Symptoms:
- Even though you shutdown the computer the up-time does not reset
- Random disconnects on Wifi
- Slow wifi transfer
- Wifi would not automatically reconnect to wifi although in range
Solution:
- Disable/Uncheck – “Turn off fast startup” in Power Options. You may need to select “Change settings that are currently unavailable” first prior to making this change.
Commentary:
The issue is probably a driver or chipset issue with how the integration of the feature “Turn on fast startup” works in Windows. When the feature is enabled it is performing a hibernate like function where the wifi sessions are being stored but when you turn on your laptop or wake your machine up these sessions that are saved are no longer valid and the wifi chip does not know what to do with them.
Additional Benefits
- Windows Updates are installed on shutdown
- Reduces machines with pending-reboots due to pending updates.
- Machine memory is fully reset