Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller Is Disconnected From Network

Hi.

In the past two weeks or so, my Wi-Fi has been repeatedly cutting off, indicating to me that I am not connected and that no connections are available. In the past few days, the issue has become progressively more and more common.

Looking into the Event Viewer, every time there is a disconnection the message "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller Is Disconnected From Network" appears in the viewer. 

A hard shutdown fixes the problem occasionally and for random amounts of time, but without fail the message will return eventually and my WiFi connection will be severed. However, the fact that it does work after a shutdown makes me think this is most likely a software issue, not a hardware one.

I have updated the driver to the latest version from the Realtek site, disallowed the computer from shutting down the driver to conserve energy, disabled Green Ethernet/Energy Efficient Ethernet and Auto Disable Gigabit, but the problem persists. Device Manager insists the device is working properly, so I'm at a loss as to what is going on. 

The only reliable way to receive internet on the affected laptop has become a direct connection to the router via an Ethernet cable.

The affected device is a Dell Inspiron 17 7737, i5 CPU @ 1.70Ghz, 1 TB of storage.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.