Network / Sharing :: Brand New HP Laptop WiFi Does Not Work

I bought an HP laptop brand new from Best Buy. It had a 750gb hard drive, Intel Core i3-3130M processor, 4GB RAM, and Windows 8.1. I made restore discs of the hard drive that came with the computer, and then disassembled the entire laptop to access the hard drive and swapped it out for a 128gb SSD. I reassembled everything once I successfully used the restore discs to boot using the SSD.

The good news is: my SSD works great. My computer takes about 3 seconds to load up!

The bad news is: I cannot get the Wireless Internet to work for the life of me. I have gotten it to connect wirelessly a few times. I even got it to connect uninterrupted for a few hours, long enough to download my usual virus protection and whatnot. Now, it will not connect at all.

Details: Airplane mode is off. Wi-Fi is on. I am on a college campus with campus-wide Wi-Fi. Many people around me are actively connected. It is not a problem with the router. However, my Networks show "No Networks Found." Maybe 1 out of 20 times I check for wireless networks, it will show the school's networks. If I try to connect to it, it says "Can not connect to this network."

I don't think that anything I did inside of the laptop physically altered the network adapter. The only thing I touched anywhere near there was a motherboard plug for the keyboard, which I removed and replaced. The problem is, I do not know for sure if the WiFi worked flawlessly before I switched out the hard drives because I never intended to use the hard drive that came with the computer. I turned on the computer long enough to make restore discs before I took it apart. I vaguely remembered seeing a limited connectivity alert but I didn't think anything of it because I was in the midst of making restore discs and had no reason to use the Internet. I suspect that it is not an internal issue because I have gotten it to connect successfully since I switched drives. Also, plugging the laptop in with an Ethernet cord allows me to access the Internet. However, this is not feasible for when I need to use the laptop away from home.

I have read multiple threads stating issues with Windows 8.1 having major Wi-Fi connection issues, including those I am describing. However, all of the things I have done do not seem to be working. I've tried allowing HP Support Assistant to recommend a driver, I've manually downloaded drivers, I've altered the settings to keep my computer from putting my adapter in "sleep" mode. None of these things have worked.