Intel 7260 Wireless Adapter Intermittently Disconnects from Wireless Network

Symptoms

• Your system has an Intel 7260 Wireless N or Intel 7260 Wireless AC adapter.
• The system intermittently disconnects from the wireless network.
• After a disconnection, no wireless networks are visible.
• You either have to reboot the system, delete the wireless network profile, or even delete and reinstall the Wireless Adapter to reconnect to the wireless network.

Potential Cause

These issues can be caused by the crashing of the Windows Wireless LAN Service, potentially because of an Intel PROSet extension issue. Use the instructions below to confirm if this is the cause of your problems, and then the potential resolutions.

Confirm Your Issue is Caused by the Service Crash

Check the Windows Application Logs using Event Viewer, for signs of the "WLANExt.exe" application crashing, or "faulting". This will be shown as an "Application Error". Compare the date and time of these crashes to see if they match the losses of wireless connectivity.

This application crash can cause the Windows "WLAN AutoConfig" service to fail. Without this service, Wireless network connectivity may not be possible. The default Windows settings will recover the first two crashes of this service. After the third crash, access to Wireless networks may not be possible.

Note that reports in the Windows System log that the "WLAN Extensibility Module has stopped" may not be indicative of this problem, as this module may not be in use.

Cause

It is likely that the Intel PROSet Wireless additions are causing the problem. This appears to be able to happen even if the Intel PROSet Connection features are not in use. These features are visible from the Wireless connections properties in Windows 7.

This problem has been seen on version 17.0.5.8 of the wireless driver with PROSet.

Resolutions and Work-Arounds

Driver and PROSet Upgrade

• Download the updated driver in advance, or use a wired network connection.
• Uninstall the Intel Wireless drivers with PROSet.

• Install the updated driver.

Alternatively - Install the Driver without PROSet

• Confirm that you are not using the Intel Connection Settings, as above. These are not used by default.
• Download the updated Administrative install driver, or use a wired network connection.
  • The Administrative Install Driver is available with and without PROSet. Ensure you download the package that does not include PROSet. The PROSet package is larger than the basic driver package.
• Uninstall the Intel Wireless drivers with PROSet.
• Install the updated driver using Device Manager or the basic installer included in the ZIP file.

The version 19.20 driver without PROSet can also be download here:

• Windows 10 x64
• Windows 10 x86
• Windows 8.1 x64
• Windows 8.1 x86
• Windows 7 x64
• Windows 7 x86

Issues Not Covered by this Article

• Wireless is working but with a weak wireless signal strength
• Inability to roam from access point to access point.
• Slow wireless performance.

Applies to:

• Intel 7260 Wireless N Network Adapters
• Intel 7260 Wireless AC Network Adapters