So, for anyone still having these problems, who have had no software solutions work so far, as was the case with me, I have a hardware solution to try, which will cost nothing, and not require any hardware replacements.
HERE ARE THE STEPS THAT FIXED IT FOR ME
- Shut down your computer, pull battery, and open up the computer.
- Find your wireless card.
- Switch where the antennas are plugged in. As in, move the white antenna to where the black one is, and the black one to where the white one is.
- Put your computer back together, put battery back in, and turn it back on.
- Watch your wireless signal pup in immediately with great strength and connection speed.
If you think I am kidding, or that I haven't tested, I encourage you to try it yourself before you judge. I own a Lenovo y510P, which has had this problem for a year, since November of 2013. I remember looking at this thread not long after I got it for these very issues. Since August 2013, I have been working in a computer repair store, and have seen multiple computers come through with the same issue, for which no software solutions would fix it.
For thanksgiving week, I have gone to visit my significant other, and since arriving 27 hours ago, could not get my laptop to connect for more than 5 or so minutes at a time, and have even had multiple hours where it refused to connect at all. I tried enabling/disabling wireless-n. I tried changing the channel frequency. I even tried uninstalling the intel management engine, updating drivers, reverting to mircrosoft drivers, you name it. I got fed up and decided to try the above steps, on the off chance there had been some huge mixup. I switched the wires, turned on my computer, and instantly had a 5 bar signal, when, previously, I could rarely get 4 bars, and even then, it would not last more than a few seconds usually. I am now typing this message from said laptop, from a part of the house that gets horrendous signal strength for most computers, and I have had no issue (besides registering on intel's site, but that seems like a server issue) for over 30 minutes, including that I have not seen the strength drop below 5 bars for even a second.
Anyways, hopefully this will help a few people out there, and please, when attempting this, be safe! Make sure there are no liquids nearby and that you won't give your computer a static shock while working on it!