How to Prevent Your Chromebook From Losing Wi-Fi Connection

I recently shifted to a Chromebook (Asus Chromebook Plus CX34) for a review. While it’s fast and smooth overall, one thing that annoyed me was the Wi-Fi automatically disconnecting issue.

If the Chromebook goes into sleep mode or If I close the lid, the Wi-Fi gets disconnected, and I need to connect it back to the Wifi manually. This happened to me every single time, and it’s very frustrating. If you are facing frequent Wi-Fi disconnections on your Chromebook, here is how to fix it.

How To Fix Chromebook Automatically Disconnecting From Wi-Fi When Sleeping

Your Chromebook disconnects from Wifi in sleep mode to preserve battery. It turns out there is no way to fix it. However, you can save yourself some effort by setting your Chromebook to automatically reconnect to the preferred network instead of manually connecting it again and increasing the sleep timer so your Chromebook doesn’t go to sleep and disconnect from the Wifi.

First, you can set your preferred network and connect to it automatically:

• Go to Settings on your Chromebook, then to your Network settings, and then connect to your preferred network.
• Tap on the Network and enable Prefer this network and Automatically connect to this network toggles.

Next, you can increase your Chromebook’s sleep timer to prevent it from going to sleep and disconnecting from the Wi-Fi.
Remember, this can also drain the battery on the Chromebook since the device consumes power while it’s not in sleep mode.

How to change the sleep timer on Chromebook:

• Open Settings on your Chromebook and go to System Preferences.
• Click on Power.
• Adjust the settings for While inactive and plugged in, While inactive and on battery, and Sleep when the lid is closed.

However, there are times you might forget when the Chromebook is asleep. In this case, turning off sleep mode when closing the lid is definitely not recommended. Moreover, Chromebooks don’t come with a feature to schedule power on and off.

Quick Fixes

If your Chromebook Wifi disconnects randomly in the middle of the use, it might be due to other problems causing the issue. In this case, you can follow our troubleshooting guides to fix the issue.

Wi-Fi Router Placement

Keep your Wi-Fi router away from devices like microwaves, Bluetooth devices, or cordless phones to avoid interference. Since most household devices use the 2.4 GHz frequency, they might interfere with your Wi-Fi connection. To avoid this, switch to the higher 5 GHz frequency and move your Wi-Fi router to a central location. Although this is unlikely for modern Wi-Fi routers, it can still happen if you have multiple wireless devices at home.

Restarting Your Chromebook

Restarting your Chromebook can fix any glitches or bugs that might be causing the issue. You can follow the traditional method or press the Refresh + Power key to restart your Chromebook.

Restart Your Wi-Fi Router

After restarting your Chromebook, restart your Wi-Fi router. Press the power button to turn it off, wait a few seconds, and turn it back on.

Switch to a Different Frequency (2.4 Ghz or 5 Ghz)

Switch to a different band and see if the issue persists. Most Wi-Fi routers support two bands: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. You can switch to either of them and see if it resolves the issue.

Move Closer to the Router to Boost Signal

Ensure your device is closer to the router to maintain a stable connection. Interference from other signals, walls, or physical objects between your Wi-Fi router and device can slow the connection and cause disconnections. Move closer to the Wifi and maintain a good signal to prevent unwanted disconnections.

Update ChromeOS

Check and update to the latest version of ChromeOS. Sometimes, if you’re using an outdated version of ChromeOS or if the current version has bugs, this can result in Wi-Fi connection issues. You can go to Settings > About and update ChromeOS and tap on Check for the latest updates. If an update is available, restart the Chromebook to apply.

Advanced Troubleshooting Methods

If these quick fixes don’t resolve the issue, follow advanced troubleshooting methods to resolve the problem.

Disconnect From Other Networks

If your Chromebook has multiple saved connections, it might switch to another network if you face issues with the current network. To fix this, you can remove other networks connected to your Chromebook or set a preferred network to prevent other networks from randomly connecting to your Chromebook.

How to set the preferred network on Chromebook:

• Open Settings on your Chromebook and click on Network.
  
• Select the network you want as a preferred connection. Connect to the network and tap on it.
  
• Select it as a Preferred network.
  

How to remove unsaved networks on Chromebook:

• Open Settings and click on Network.
  
• Select the Network you want to forget.
  
• Click on the Forget network. Do this for all Saved networks on your device. This should prevent random disconnections from other networks.
  

Disconnect Other Devices Connected to the Network

If your preferred network is connected to multiple devices, this can lead to network interruptions and random disconnections. To avoid this, disconnect other devices connected to your preferred network temporarily.

To prevent this issue from occurring in the future, you can forget the network on devices that no longer need a connection to the internet. Additionally, you can also upgrade the device connection limit on your network.

Use Static IP Address

Most devices, including your Chromebook, use dynamic IP addresses, where IP addresses are assigned dynamically when you connect to the network, and they change every time you reconnect. If your Wi-Fi is constantly reconnecting or losing its connection, this could be due to IP conflicts. In this case, you can set up a static IP address. Unlike dynamic IP addresses, a static IP address is permanent unless you manually configure it.

How to set up a static IP address for your Chromebook:

• Go to Settings on your Chromebook and then Network.
  
• Select the Wi-Fi network you want to assign a static IP address to and tap on it.
  
• Click on the Arrow next to the Network settings, and Turn off the Configure IP address automatically.
  
• Enter the static IP details.
• For the IP address, choose an IP address within the range of the router and ensure other devices are not using it. You can see your router’s DNS address on the same page. (ex: 192.168.1.1). To find the DHCP range, go to the router admin dashboard and find the option that says DHCP and find the range. Based on these parameters, choose a static IP address that doesn’t conflict with your current network.
• For the Subnet mask, enter the value 255.255.255.0. And leave the default Gateway address, which is usually 192.168.1.1 for home Wi-Fi networks. For DNS, you can use either your router’s IP address or public DNS servers like Google DNS (8.8.8.8) or Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1).
  

After entering the values, your Chromebook will use a static IP address, and your issue is most likely to be resolved. Wait for some time and check if the issue is fixed.

Disable VPN or Proxy

Using a VPN or proxy can sometimes lead to Wi-Fi disconnection issues. To fix this, ensure that your VPN and proxy are configured correctly, or switch to another VPN or proxy server to fix the issue. If this doesn’t resolve the problem, temporarily disable the VPN and the proxy on your device and check if the issue is resolved.

To disable the proxy on your Chromebook:

• Go to Settings on your Chromebook and click on Network.
  
• Select the network you are connected to.
  
• Scroll down to the Proxy section. Under Proxy, turn off the settings that say Allow proxies for shared network and connection type to Direct internet connection. 
  

How to disable VPN on Chromebook:

• Click on the Wifi icon on the button in the right corner of the screen and select the VPN toggle.
  
• Select the active VPN and click on Disconnect to turn it off.
  

To remove the VPN completely:

• Go to Settings on your Chromebook and then Network
  
• Select the VPN, tap on it, and again tap on the VPN network.
  
• Click on the Forget to remove the VPN completely from your Chromebook.
  
• If you are using a third-party VPN app, go to the app and uninstall it.

If the issue is resolved, it’s likely because of the VPN or the proxy server you were using. To prevent this issue from happening again, ensure the VPN and proxy are configured properly. Also, check the firewall and router settings to see if you have set any restrictions or if your firewall is blocking the VPN or proxy.

After changing the settings, try restarting your router and reconnecting to it. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, try another VPN or a different proxy server.

Check Router and Network Settings

Check whether you have misconfigured your router settings or set any restrictions or parental controls that can result in this issue. Here are the settings you can look at and ensure that you have correctly set. Not all routers have these settings. Depending on you, go to the admin settings and turn off the following:

• Parental controls: Check if your router has any parental controls that can limit the device connection. Your device might also automatically disconnect based on the schedule. These features can depend on the individual router features.
  
• Automatic band switching: Check if you have enabled automatic band filtering and turn it off. When you turn on this feature, your router automatically switches between bands. This can lead to device automatic switching of the device since most devices might not support smooth transitioning between Wi-Fi bands.
• Finally, check if you have enabled power-saving mode on your router. This may prevent Wi-Fi connections and disconnect your Wi-Fi when not in use.

While checking this, you can check and configure settings related to guest mode, Wi-Fi timeout settings, device priority settings, and more.

Update Router Firmware

Sometimes, old firmware updates can cause connection issues. You can update the Wi-Fi router firmware by going to router settings and then updating it to the latest version.

Reset All Your Network Connections

If the above methods don’t fix the issue, reset your saved networks. Additionally, all manually configured IP and DNS settings will be erased. Check if the issue is resolved. If yes, the problem might be related to your network settings, which were likely causing the issue. To prevent this in the future, verify your settings and configure them carefully to avoid any issues.

How to Reset Network Settings on Google Chrome:

• Open Settings on your Chromebook and click on the Network.
  
• Click on the Know Networks.
  
• Now, for each network, open the Network and click on the Forget
  

Factory Reset Your Chromebook

If none of the methods resolves the issue, as a last resort, perform a factory reset (Powerwash) on your Chromebook. This will remove all existing data on your device, and you can set it up as a new device.

How to factory reset your Chromebook:

• Go to Settings on your Chromebook.
  
• Scroll down and go to System Preferences, scroll down to the bottom, and click on the option Reset.
• This will reset your Chromebook. Remember, all your data will be removed from the Chromebook. I highly advise you to back up your important data before factory resetting your Chromebook.

Solve Wi-Fi Disconnect Issues on Your Chromebook

Those are the methods you can use to fix Chromebook Wi-Fi connection issues. If you are still unable to fix the issue, the problem might likely be related to hardware. You can contact Chromebook support for more info. You can use USB Wi-Fi adapters temporarily to get Wi-Fi on your Chromebook. If you have any questions, comment below, and I will be happy to help you.

FAQs on Fixing Chromebook WiFi Issues