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February 16th, 2026 16:12
Wifi Idle Disconnect
Hi my laptop's WiFi disconnects after idle time of about 30 min which is a nuisance. I want it to stay live all the time, plugged in and on battery. I have tried all power options, updated the Realtek network driver etc. I ran the issue through Gemini and ChatGPT which came up with all sorts of exotic solutions but NOTHING worked. My last resort is to post my issue here. Does anybody know a simple solution. In older models (this is my 3rd Dell laptop and 2nd Inspiron) there used to be the power option to keep wifi alive. Thanks Joerg
Model: Dell Inspiron 3520 Wi-Fi Card: Realtek 8821CE OS: Windows 11
Tim_xyz
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February 18th, 2026 11:13
Does replacing that Realtek card with something like an Intel 9462 or AX201 based card count as a simple solution?
(edited)
Joerg53
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February 18th, 2026 11:49
Thanks for your reply. No I don't want to replace any hardware just because of this nuisance. However, I uninstalled and deleted the Realtek network driver, downloaded the latest Realtek network driver (they all seem to have the same number), restarted my laptop and directly installed the downloaded driver via Device Manager. I did this 2 days ago and WiFi hasn't cut out since. Problem solved? On vera ;o))
Tim_xyz
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February 18th, 2026 21:49
Good to hear you found a driver version that works!