Wifi problems

D

Desensitised

Member
Hi there, first time forum user.

A bit of context first: I made the mistake of buying a PCS computer from abroad and have already had a lot of problems with its GPU which eventually required costly shipping to the UK to be fixed. Twice. As well as this I also have the misfortune of my ISP giving me very slow internet that frequently cuts out so contacting support was always a pain too, and even when I did get messages off to them I often found the response to be unsatisfactory(too formulaic and often doesn't actually address specifically asked questions - but that's another issue entirely and not really for discussion here).
You can understand my reluctance to raise the issue with PCS then, when shortly after Xmas I discovered that my aforementioned slow internet actually worked absolutely fine on other people's devices and it was just my computer that has problems. Since with a bit of patience I could still use the internet to suit my needs I decided to struggle along with it. Until this week. We've just got ourselves a new ISP and now I find that my problems have been exacerbated to the point that the internet is almost unusable from my PC. Should I have raised the issue sooner? Probably.

PROBLEM:
At regular intervals the computer decides it can't find any wireless networks, and even in the lucky periods where I do get bars from my one, most websites sit there thinking about loading for a few minutes before telling me that the website (which opens with no problem on the non-PCS laptop I write to you from) isn't available, or giving me a lite-version of the site.
I have an 802.11n wireless card and I'm trying to connect to an 802.11n network, and as far as I can tell all the drivers and settings on the card are correct.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.



Other system info in case it helps:
CPU: i5-4690k
RAM: 8GB
OS: Windows 8.1 x64
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
A very common problem with new PCs is that the antenna(e) for the wifi card are shipped separately in the box and you have to connect them/it yourself. Does your wifi card have the antenna(e) attached?
 
D

Desensitised

Member
As an aside, if I open up device manager and check the card's advanced settings I see the following:

Property: - Value: - Selectable alternative values:
Adhoc support 802.11n - Disable - Enable
Country region (2.4ghz) - #0(1-11) - #1(1-13), #2(10-11), #3(10-13), #4(14), #5(1-14), #6(3-9), #7(5-13)
Multimedia/gaming environment - Disable - Enable
Radio on/off - Enable - Disable
Roaming sensitivity - 6.Disable - 1. Highest, 2. High, 3. Medium, 4.Low, 5. Lowest

I've had a bit of a play around to see if I could get it working and so far I can't really determine any change to connectivity as a result of tweaking various settings, apart from when I choose to disable radio and lose connection entirely.

The network broadcasts on ch11, I've tried changing the region value to #2 and still no luck. There's no problem using the internet on any other device so the fault must lie in my PCS machine somewhere.

More details from the order form in case it reveals anything useful:
Motherboard Gigabyte Z97-HD3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2133MHz X.M.P (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB AMD RADEON™ R9 290 - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
2nd Graphics Card NONE
3rd Graphics Card NONE
1st Hard Disk 500GB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 16MB CACHE
2nd Hard Disk 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE
3rd Hard Disk NONE
4th Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader NONE
Power Supply CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler
Extra Case Fans 2 x 12CM Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Fan Controller NONE
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD
Wireless Router/HomePlugs NONE
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Firewire NONE
TV Card NONE
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre European Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Click to expand...
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Desensitised said:
It says "WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD".


Haha yes the antennae are correctly screwed on.
Click to expand...

We need ubuysa's help here, he can get some hardware signatures off you for the wifi card and then can find out the manufacturer and model so we can look for current drivers. 9 times out of 10 issues like these are due to outdated drivers.
 
D

Desensitised

Member
Another addition: I've determined the card itself to be an Addon NWP210D card, so I went to their website and got myself some new drivers which I've installed using a flashdisk. The computer is still unable to use the internet properly, yet even as I sit here watching chrome fail to even begin loading the BBC sport website, the monitoring software that came with the driver tells me I'm connected at 130.0-144.4 mbps(though it does frequently drop down to 0 too)...
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Desensitised said:
Another addition: I've determined the card itself to be an Addon NWP210D card, so I went to their website and got myself some new drivers which I've installed using a flashdisk. The computer is still unable to use the internet properly, yet even as I sit here watching chrome fail to even begin loading the BBC sport website, the monitoring software that came with the driver tells me I'm connected at 130.0-144.4 mbps(though it does frequently drop down to 0 too)...
Click to expand...

How did you determine what the card was? A pretty reliable way is to check the VID and PID of the adapter, they will (usually) give you the name of the vendor. So, open up device manager, right-click on the wifi adapter and select Properties from the drop-down box. In the Properties box click the Details tab, expand the Properties list and click on Hardware IDs. You'll see several lines of gibberish that look a bit like the following:

USB\VID_148F&PID_3070&REV_0101
USB\VID_148F&PID_3070

Note: These are the Hardware IDs for my USB sttached (high-power) wifi adapter

The VID is the vendor ID and the PID is the device ID. Now go to the PCI Database at http://www.pcidatabase.com/ and in the two boxes enter your VID and PID. (In my case I'd enter 148F as the VID and 3070 as the PID). If you first click the search button alongside the VID you'll get a list of all vendors using that VID, hopefully there is only one, but there may be more. If you click on each vendor you'll get a list of the PIDs that vendor uses so scroll down until you find your PID. You will now know the vendor that made the chip in your wifi card and the type of chip, you should also get a link to the location of the drivers.
If a VID search doesn't help then click the search button alongside the PID. This will generate a list of all vendors using that PID and there may be many. Again click on each vendor until you find your device.

Note that the PCI database is not exhaustive and for some devices (typically very new ones) you may not find an entry.

See whether that helps?
 
D

Desensitised

Member
ubuysa said:
How did you determine what the card was? A pretty reliable way is to check the VID and PID of the adapter, they will (usually) give you the name of the vendor. So, open up device manager, right-click on the wifi adapter and select Properties from the drop-down box. In the Properties box click the Details tab, expand the Properties list and click on Hardware IDs. You'll see several lines of gibberish that look a bit like the following:

USB\VID_148F&PID_3070&REV_0101
USB\VID_148F&PID_3070

Note: These are the Hardware IDs for my USB sttached (high-power) wifi adapter

The VID is the vendor ID and the PID is the device ID. Now go to the PCI Database at http://www.pcidatabase.com/ and in the two boxes enter your VID and PID. (In my case I'd enter 148F as the VID and 3070 as the PID). If you first click the search button alongside the VID you'll get a list of all vendors using that VID, hopefully there is only one, but there may be more. If you click on each vendor you'll get a list of the PIDs that vendor uses so scroll down until you find your PID. You will now know the vendor that made the chip in your wifi card and the type of chip, you should also get a link to the location of the drivers.
If a VID search doesn't help then click the search button alongside the PID. This will generate a list of all vendors using that PID and there may be many. Again click on each vendor until you find your device.

Note that the PCI database is not exhaustive and for some devices (typically very new ones) you may not find an entry.

See whether that helps?
Click to expand...
Ooh what a nice website.

The Dev code (3062) confirms that it's a Ralink chip which is consistent with the driver & UI I got from Addon's site, but the PID (3062) isn't recognised. Handily my card is the bottom-right entry in the 'the latest products' box on that page I linked. I found this site by making a note of the scribbles on the card itself while I made sure it was correctly seated.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers in various, increasingly complex manners, but to no avail, reckon it must be a dodgy card. Are USB cards any better than integrated ones?
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Desensitised said:
Ooh what a nice website.

The Dev code (3062) confirms that it's a Ralink chip which is consistent with the driver & UI I got from Addon's site, but the PID (3062) isn't recognised. Handily my card is the bottom-right entry in the 'the latest products' box on that page I linked. I found this site by making a note of the scribbles on the card itself while I made sure it was correctly seated.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers in various, increasingly complex manners, but to no avail, reckon it must be a dodgy card. Are USB cards any better than integrated ones?
Click to expand...

A duff card is not unusual. USB attached adapters are as good as internal cards IMO, as long as you get one with a decent antenna. Be sure to plug it into a dedicated USB port. Never plug a USB wifi adapter into a hub - it might work, but depending on what else is sharing the hub it may well be unreliable.
 
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