windows 8.1 updates broke wifi

Question

Windows auto-update has killed my wifi. Its a new machine and I forgot to turn auto-update off. I've had this machine for a month and everything has been A-OK. The last updates, 13/5/2015, killed wifi and now my connection is reported as "limited".

I ran the troubleshooter -> ip config invalid.
I've done the adapter update -> best driver already installed.
I tried to manually select, in case M$ had replaced it, but there was only one entry.
The roll back option was disabled.
After googling I tried disabling auto tune, but that didnt work.

Any ideas, other than destroying M$ for making the world a terrible place?

Adapter: Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265
Driver provider: Intel
Driver date: 21/7/2014
Driver version: 17.1.0.19

EDIT:
Tried latest driver from Dell -> no luck.
Tried latest driver from intel (17.16.0.4) -> no luck
Tried TCP/IP stack reset and got...

C:\Windows\system32>netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt
Resetting Global, OK!
Resetting Interface, OK!
Resetting Unicast Address, OK!
Resetting Neighbor, OK!
Resetting Path, OK!
Resetting Route, OK!
Resetting , failed.
Access is denied.

Resetting , OK!
Restart the computer to complete this action.

EDIT:
Followed TD.512's reg edit and stack reset now works.

EDIT:
Don't know if anything else helped but last thing I checked was the channel. They weren't aligned. Now adapter/router have same value and it works ;(

Answer 1

I can't believe after 4 hours of googling, trying driver updates, random netsh commands, adapter tweaks, umpteen computer restarts and router restarts the thing that seems to have fixed it is setting the channel.

I checked the channel on my router, it was '6', and the one in my adapters setting (Ad Hoc Channel 802.11b/g) and it was set to '1'. When I changed it to '6' it worked.

Only 2 scenarios I can think of are...

1. Windows updates changed the channel
2. Windows updates were incompatible with old driver, driver update fixed problem but changed the channel

Answer 2

I had that adapter in my old laptop. There is only one solution that I can think of, or rather, only one solution that actually worked for me.

The only thing you can do is right click on Wi-Fi, and select Troubleshoot Problems. Hopefully, Windows will find the break in the adapter, and reset it for you.

The other thing you can try is doing an TCP/IP Stack reset

• Press Windows+X.
• Click “Command” prompt (Admin mode)
• Type ‘netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt’
• Press Enter.
• Reboot the computer

If it says failed, open regedit and look for this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Nsi\{eb004a00-9b1a-11d4-9123-0050047759bc}\26

Right click on the key called 26, choose Permissions, add a checkmark on "Full control" for the everyone group, then rinse and repeat from Windows+X

Answer 3

Try downloading and installing this driver directly from Intel: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24656/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Windows-8-1- which is the recommended driver for your operating system and WLAN card. (There are newer versions available but most of the time the newest drivers cause more problems than the older ones).

If that doesn't work do a system restore prior to windows update:

Answer 4

The following configuration worked for me:

1. Go to Device manager
2. Expand Network adapters and double click on your wireless adapter
3. Select Advanced
4. U-APSD=disabled - Transmit power=highest - Preferred band=Prefer 2.4GHz band - Roaming Aggressiveness=1.Lowest