GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-135 802.11N (150Mbps) PROBLEMS

[gary t]

ive had my laptop since xmas and there has always been a few dropouts.
this has become more and more regular, up to 10 times a day, none of the other equipment in the house seems to be suffering via wifi.
at times the wifi cant even find any connections until i run the troubleshooter which resets for me, this problem is only once a week or so.
i am asking really if others have had similar issues and how they resolved them.
my driver is 15.10.0.12 dated 26/6/13

thanks in advance,

gary.

my spec is below.


Chassis & Display
Cosmos Series: 17.3" Matte HD+ LED 16:9 Widescreen (1600x900)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Dual Core Mobile Processor i5-4200M (2.50GHz) 3MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 750M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Cosmos Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (48.84WH)
Power Cable
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8.1 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
DVD Recovery Media
Windows 8.1 (64-bit) DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language
COSMOS 17" SERIES UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery

 

[mantadog]

I have seen so many issues with windows 8 and wifi its not even funny. Yet different things have fixed em all, so no idea what it is but it does seem that windows 8 might be the common thread in my experience.

Start with the simple, when my wifi goes dodgy I just turn the router off and on again, problem solved. Most people never reboot the router so worth a try if its not working properly. My desktop seems to suffer more than any other device in my house but a quick reboot and everything is fine.

Now the things that fixed my mates laptops.
1. Deleting the drivers for the wireless card via device manager, rebooting windows and letting windows reinstall whatever it seems fit. Worked fine, so didn't bother with updating the drivers from the web.
2. Running the troubleshooting utility which apparently fixed it, but then 5 minutes later it was broken again. Ran it again and it fixed it forever. Not sure that will help you as you have already done that.
3. This was took a bit of work, ended it taking the laptop to my house as I have the same router, it worked perfectly. Turns out he was running on a congested channel, simple case of switching to a different channel on the router solved it.
4. I tried everything with this one. Even resorted to combing the internet, nothing helped. As it was a fairly new shop bough one it was about to be returned but a restore to factor settings fixed it.

Try those, not saying it will work 100% but worth a shot.

Another option is your PC is located in a dead area, or an area that gets some interference from a cordless phone, microwave or even some dodgy wiring. Wireless is a pain in the neck to troubleshoot

 

[gary t]

I have seen so many issues with windows 8 and wifi its not even funny. Yet different things have fixed em all, so no idea what it is but it does seem that windows 8 might be the common thread in my experience.

Start with the simple, when my wifi goes dodgy I just turn the router off and on again, problem solved. Most people never reboot the router so worth a try if its not working properly. My desktop seems to suffer more than any other device in my house but a quick reboot and everything is fine.

Now the things that fixed my mates laptops.
1. Deleting the drivers for the wireless card via device manager, rebooting windows and letting windows reinstall whatever it seems fit. Worked fine, so didn't bother with updating the drivers from the web.
2. Running the troubleshooting utility which apparently fixed it, but then 5 minutes later it was broken again. Ran it again and it fixed it forever. Not sure that will help you as you have already done that.
3. This was took a bit of work, ended it taking the laptop to my house as I have the same router, it worked perfectly. Turns out he was running on a congested channel, simple case of switching to a different channel on the router solved it.
4. I tried everything with this one. Even resorted to combing the internet, nothing helped. As it was a fairly new shop bough one it was about to be returned but a restore to factor settings fixed it.


Try those, not saying it will work 100% but worth a shot.

Another option is your PC is located in a dead area, or an area that gets some interference from a cordless phone, microwave or even some dodgy wiring. Wireless is a pain in the neck to troubleshoot

thanks for the reply mantadog.
ive been doing some searches and it seems many have the issue as you say.

1 not tried but will
2 tried but no improvement
3 newish router and with this i believe is on random for channel, in the past i set it too (cant remember) i was told this channel by a talktalk broadband man, so i will follow this up.
4 ive just tried a fix from intel site quote:
turn off 802.11n go to Device Manager, Find the Intel Centrino N-135 card in Network Adaptors, Double Click on it, then choose the 'Advance' tab. There will be a list of features. Look for "802.11n Mode", then choose "Disable" Then OK.
also done the router off routine, from switch and via the browser a few times hasnt helped though.
the laptop is about 15 foot away from the router, full signal

so i will try this for a few days, it got a few positive replies.

thanks for the help, gives me something too try out.

 

[ubuysa]

I don't think it's Windows 8, although I have noticed the both Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 take a long time to connect to hotpsots whereas third-party connection utilities connect straight away. I have now reviewed my previous advice to always connect with Windows, I no longer recommend that for Windows 8 or 8.1.

I have two wifi adapters on my Optimus IV, the built-in Intel N135 and a USB attached high power adapter (1000mW) connected to an external pole-mounted 8dbi omidirectonal antenna. Using this adapter I have maintained a wifi connection from over 2 miles away (I was at anchor when doing that so there were no obstructions between me and the hotspot).

I also get dropouts on the internal Intel adapter even from local hotspots. PCS kindly swapped the wifi card for me and that improved things a little but it didn't solve the problem. The external adapter never drops. I have tried both adapters on the same local hotspot, the Intel card will drop connections (though not that often it must be said) the external adapter never drops connections. The only difference between these two examples is the wifi adapter.

I would never buy another Intel wifi card, the Internet is rife with dropout problems across almost their entire Intel wifi card range. My best advice would be to either replace the internal adapter with a different make or get a good quality external adapter. The later would be my choice, look for at least 1000mW of power and with an omindirectional antenna if on a laptop (because you'll be moving) or a directional antenna for a home PC (where it won't be moving). What most people forget with wifi is that then hotspot must be able to hear you just as well as you can hear it, that's why I recommend a high power adapter.

BTW. Random channels for the router is a bad idea, occasionally it will select a channel with a lot of contention. Download the free version of inSSIDer3 from http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html, this will let you see all the local hotspots and the channels they are using, you'll find that channels 1, 6 and 11 are very congested (because they're the non-overlapping channels and users incorrectly assume they will automatically be better). Find a little used channel (I use channel 8 on the boat) and configure your router to use that. You don't need to make any changes in any devices, they will use whatever channel the router is using.

 

[gary t]

thank you ubuysa,
the plot thickens it seems.
ive changed my channel from auto to 8, probably should have left this 24/48 hours to see if turning off "802.11n Mode" had any effect.
my laptop is a desktop replacement so only ever needs to connect my own router at 15 foot max, are you saying i could just plugin one of those tiny wifi sticks into one of the usb ports and use this for my wifi.
i will report back if i have noticed any real change in behaviour.
one thing i didnt mention is all devices bar one that is hard wired are on a 24hr lease these all expire around 9pm, should i change this to permanent.
between 4:30 and 7pm is my worse time, i understand this is a heavy traffic period so this is why i hadnt really followed this up before but for the past 10 weeks it has got increasingly more regular at anytime, i had ignored these when laptop arrived as i had quite a few other issues which are now resolved.
i will also take a look at inSSDer 3.
thanks again for the info.

gary.

 

[ubuysa]

ive changed my channel from auto to 8, probably should have left this 24/48 hours to see if turning off "802.11n Mode" had any effect.

If all your devices use 802.11g then you might as well turn 802.11n off, I have done exactly that in my mifi. I don't know whether it saves any resources or improves performance for 802.11g but it works well this way for me.

my laptop is a desktop replacement so only ever needs to connect my own router at 15 foot max, are you saying i could just plugin one of those tiny wifi sticks into one of the usb ports and use this for my wifi.

Yes you can. You'll then have two wifi devices appearing when you connect. When I use my high-power external adapter I manually disable the internal one. This is really only because I want to be certain there is no interference in any way from that adapter. Again, I can't say for sure that it's necessary but this works well for me.

one thing i didnt mention is all devices bar one that is hard wired are on a 24hr lease these all expire around 9pm, should i change this to permanent.

Yes you should. Lease time is only useful in a network where you have more devices wanting to connect than you have IP addresses available. The lease time allows you to prevent a few devices hogging the network and offer a fair share to everyone. On a home network with only a few devices you should set the lease time to the max. That said, all devices automatically attempt to renew the lease when 50% of the lease time has already expired, providing there is no contention for IP addresses the DHCP server (your router) will always renew the lease. Devices should not be disconnected just because lease time expires.

between 4:30 and 7pm is my worse time, i understand this is a heavy traffic period so this is why i hadnt really followed this up before but for the past 10 weeks it has got increasingly more regular at anytime

This is useful information. Try keeping a log of when your wifi drops and see whether it matches other events in your house. Microwave ovens, fluorescent lights, mobile landline phones, etc. all interfere with wifi. You might find something is turing on at those times or being used more at those times that is affecting your wifi. It's also worth talking to your immediate neighbours, on another thread mantadog described how he'd had similar problems and the cause turned out to be his neighbour using a mobile landline phone the other side of the wall from his PC. Heavy traffic will slow down your connections to the Internet but it should not cause the wifi connection to drop.

i will also take a look at inSSDer 3.

InSSIDer3 is a nice tool, MetaGeek have recently released inSSIDer4 but you now have to pay for it. InSSIDer3 is still free and it does the job.

thanks again for the info.

No problem, we all love helping on here.

 

[gary t]

thanks again, gives me plenty to be working with.
one thing, when i say i turned off 802.11n mode this was from my laptop.
when i use inSSDer3 in the 802.11 column my router shows as N, will this have any bearing on me having turned it off from my laptop, not used the laptop much today but there has been no drop outs as yet.
gary..

 

[ubuysa]

thanks again, gives me plenty to be working with.
one thing, when i say i turned off 802.11n mode this was from my laptop.
when i use inSSDer3 in the 802.11 column my router shows as N, will this have any bearing on me having turned it off from my laptop, not used the laptop much today but there has been no drop outs as yet.
gary..

A wifi adapter than can work in 802.11n mode also works in 802.11b/g mode as well, so if 802.11n is turned off in your laptop you'll be using 802.11g. Apart from the speed difference 802.11g is less sensitive to interference than 802.11n and 802.11b is less sensitive again (though with a much lower throughput).

 

[gary t]

thank you,

gary.

 

[gary t]

well. all has been very good since changing to channel 8 and turning off 802.11n.
obviously not certain what one cured it but i will turn the channel back to auto in a few days and see what happens.

gary..........

 

[ubuysa]

well. all has been very good since changing to channel 8 and turning off 802.11n.
obviously not certain what one cured it but i will turn the channel back to auto in a few days and see what happens.

gary..........

Why? "If it ain't broke then don't fix it".

There will be absolutely no advantage to you, the router, or other users of the same router in switching back to auto. It would be a pointless exercise, like sticking your hand back into the fire just to be sure it really hurt. Devices do not care what channel their wifi is using, so if it's all working well on channel 8 then leave it there.

 

[gary t]

Why? "If it ain't broke then don't fix it".

There will be absolutely no advantage to you, the router, or other users of the same router in switching back to auto. It would be a pointless exercise, like sticking your hand back into the fire just to be sure it really hurt. Devices do not care what channel their wifi is using, so if it's all working well on channel 8 then leave it there.

your right, its working just fine as it is.

gary.....