Windows 10: Teacher with No/Intermittent Internet Access

I could really use help with this situation. I am teaching from home and unable to connect reliably to home WIFI for online teaching.

• HP Elitebook with Windows 10 Enterprise Volume License from school.
• All other devices work perfectly on network (multiple laptops and phones).
• This laptop worked fine for two years until yesterday. Previously it would sometimes disconnect momentarily but then reconnect automatically seconds later (annoying but no real problem). Last two days, it will connect, then lose connection repeatedly. Sometimes no connection for hours. Sometimes it will work for 1-2 minutes, sometimes 5-10 minutes, always cutting out eventually.
• Strange thing: if I make my phone into a WIFI hotspot and share my home connection, the laptop works perfectly. Same WIFI signal from same router. If computer is connected directly, it's unusable, but through my phone, no issues. Why?
• The ONLY change in the past few days is that my Windows activation expired (I didn't know this was a thing), so I have a watermark that (sometimes) appears telling me to activate Windows. My understanding is that the computer should still work fine even if not activated. My school IT dept is closed and cannot help with any kind of activation for the foreseeable future. If I try to activate through Windows settings I get a "Cannot connect to your institution's network" error.

Things I have tried:

• Reboot
• Reset Router and Modem
• Uninstall and reinstall network adopter
• Reset network
• Use network diagnostics (this sometimes fixes things for a few minutes)
• Update windows / Remove Windows Updates
• flush DNS

Again, this is crucial as I am a teacher in NY relying on internet for distance learning with 5 classes.
Again, it is strange because I never had issues with this computer before yesterday, and nothing has changed other than Windows activation.
Again, I can't understand why the laptop will not keep a connection to the router, but WILL keep a connection if connected through my phone hotspot to the router.

Any help is greatly appreciated by me and my 92 students!

:)

 

Losing internet connection intermittently only on laptop

Hi Lindamartin,

For us to know the reason why your laptop is losing internet connection intermittently and how to fix it, we would like to know more information:

• Have you tried updating your drivers?
• Did you receive any error messages?

We suggest that you try the troubleshooting steps below and check if it will solve the issue:

1. Type troubleshooting in the search bar.

2. Select Troubleshooting.

3. Select View all on the top left corner.

4. Click on Internet Connections.

5. Follow the on-screen instructions to run the troubleshooter.

If the issue persists then follow the below method.

Method 2:

We suggest you to update the Network adapters driver from the Device Manager.

Follow the below steps:

1. Right click on Start button and click on
Device Manager.

2. Expand the
Network adapters driver from the list.

3. Right click on the driver and click on
Update driver Software.

Post us back with the result.

 

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internet access

Hi Paul,

Wrong network configuration settings or outdated network adapter drivers may be the possible cause why your Internet connection drops intermittently. To assist you better, we'd like to gather more information:

• Have you made any recent changes prior to this issue?
• Have you tried updating your drivers?

In the meantime, we suggest that you follow the steps in this
article on how to troubleshoot Network connection issues. You may expand each section and try performing the instructions that you have not yet done.

Keep us posted if you need additional help.