Windows 8.1 update effectively disabled wireless networking

After further research i discovered a solution that worked for my particular device.

I followed these steps:

1. Open Device Manager (search Windows Help if you don't know what this is)

2. Select 'Network adaptors' and then open (double-click) Broadcom 802.11n Network Adaptor

3. Go to the Driver tab and click the Update Driver... button

4. Select 'Browse my computer for driver software'

5. Select 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer'

6. Select the "Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter (Broadcom)" entry from the list

I used the Broadcom 802.11n Adapter version 5. Next restart and test.

Note: You must disable compatible hardware checkbox to find the previous versions of the driver

This solution uses the driver that was working before installing windows 8.1

UPDATE: After further testing i discovered that the broadcom 802.11n network adapter was actually limiting my connection speed. I am now using broadcom multiband network adapter with full speed

Source: denpsch

You are using the generic Microsoft driver, which might be the problem.

Try to download the Lenovo driver for Windows 8.1 from Drivers and software - Lenovo G780 Notebook.

There are various variants to be found, for Atheros, Broadcom, Intel and Intel Wimax. Normally if you choose the wrong driver it will either refuse to install or won't matter, but you can find which is yours in Device Manager.

Reboot after the installation and re-verify the driver details.

Same problem on my Lenovo L530 with Win 8.1. Multiple Lenovo reps no help at all. Got answer at Tom's Hardware, that the updated drivers from Intel won't work with Win 8.1. I emailed Intel, got no reply.

The fix, roll back to the original Windows driver from MS as installed on the machine