Wifi connectivity issues

[Neil123123]

Hi. I have a PC Specialist Desktop with an Intel AX200 wifi card. I haven't used my PC for a few months and coming back to it I am struggling to connect to wifi and when I do the speeds are absurdly slow (bbc home page takes minutes to load). Connecting an old wifi dongle I have solves the issue, but I'd rather use my wifi card. The antenna are attached and I have the latest drivers. Anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? Thanks!

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 660p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 1800MB/sR | 1800MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo

 

[paul1224]

You probably already have but make sure all Windows Updates including optional ones have been installed and it has been restarted (especially if you have come back after a couple of months to it).

Other quick thing to do is unscrew and re-screw antennas just to rule that out.

 

[Neil123123]

You probably already have but make sure all Windows Updates including optional ones have been installed and it has been restarted (especially if you have come back after a couple of months to it).

Other quick thing to do is unscrew and re-screw antennas just to rule that out.

I updated windows, but will double check there are no optional updates I've missed. I tried unscrewing and re-screwing the antennas, but didn't change anything.

The usb wifi dongle works fine.

I wonder if it could be related to the PSU - which is right next to the wifi card?

 

[paul1224]

I can't believe it would be PSU related as if so your whole system would be unstable.

If you felt confident you could reseat the Wi-Fi card just to rule that out. I have seen issues with Windows Updates botching Wi-Fi drivers. Where did you get your driver from? Is it the same driver as per your PCS download page? Is there a newer driver direct via the Intel site?

 

[Neil123123]

I can't believe it would be PSU related as if so your whole system would be unstable.

If you felt confident you could reseat the Wi-Fi card just to rule that out. I have seen issues with Windows Updates botching Wi-Fi drivers. Where did you get your driver from? Is it the same driver as per your PCS download page? Is there a newer driver direct via the Intel site?

The drivers are the latest direct from the intel site.

 

[paul1224]

I may have reached my basic troubleshooting limit then! Other than reseating the Wi-fi card and maybe also rebooting the Router(although if all other devices are fine guess it won't make a difference) my 'knowledge' in these areas may have run its course.

I'm sure someone else who is much more tech savvy will be able to help further.

 

[Neil123123]

I may have reached my basic troubleshooting limit then! Other than reseating the Wi-fi card and maybe also rebooting the Router(although if all other devices are fine guess it won't make a difference) my 'knowledge' in these areas may have run its course.

I'm sure someone else who is much more tech savvy will be able to help further.

No worries. Thanks anyway! I did try rebooting the router - which didn’t help. Reluctant to mess with router settings - since everything else connects fine.

 

[paul1224]

I would wait until someone more knowledgeable replies but just in case they don't my next thoughts would be:

1. Re-seat Wi-Fi card (especially if the PC has been moved since the last time you used it).
2. I personally would go into 'Device Manager' right click on my wireless card and 'uninstall device'. Then restart the PC and it should recognise the card, reinstall it automatically, and load Windows drivers. Run Windows Updates to make sure nothing new to download and see if it is any different. This will take away the Intel drivers (but you could always download them again).

However I'm not really sure if (2) above is really best practice just something that has worked for me in the past so waiting for a more informed member of the forum probably better!

 

[SpyderTracks]

No worries. Thanks anyway! I did try rebooting the router - which didn’t help. Reluctant to mess with router settings - since everything else connects fine.

I would follow @paul1224 advice and delete the driver from device manager, then reboot and allow windows to install it's own version.

 

[ubuysa]

I would follow @paul1224 advice and delete the driver from device manager, then reboot and allow windows to install it's own version.

This would be my suggestion too. When you visit Intel's website there is usually a message somewhere that warns you that their drivers are generic drivers and that an OEM driver may be better suited to your card. Windows Update does a pretty good job of finding the right driver.

 

[Neil123123]

Letting windows install drivers didn't help. However, switching the card to use 2.4 GHz seems to have solved it. The dongle connects at 5 GHz just fine, so not sure what is going on. Internet speeds are just fine with 2.4 Ghz connection anyway.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Letting windows install drivers didn't help. However, switching the card to use 2.4 GHz seems to have solved it. The dongle connects at 5 GHz just fine, so not sure what is going on. Internet speeds are just fine with 2.4 Ghz connection anyway.

Check if you've got any cables very near the antenna's, especially the power line, if so move them.

Also try changing channels on your router for the 5g range.

 

[Neil123123]

No cables especially near the antennas. Will take a look at the router settings later when others aren't using internet. Thanks.

 

[SpyderTracks]

No cables especially near the antennas. Will take a look at the router settings later when others aren't using internet. Thanks.

If you have an android phone / tablet, there's a great app called "Network Analyzer" which will track the congestion in your area, you may find there's a particular device nearby that's swamping the band:

Network Analyzer – Apps on Google Play

Wifi scanner, signal meter, ping, traceroute, whois, DNS query & other net tools

play.google.com

Unfortunately IOS devices don't have this functionality, it's all locked down.

 

[ubuysa]

If you have an android phone / tablet, there's a great app called "Network Analyzer" which will track the congestion in your area, you may find there's a particular device nearby that's swamping the band:

inSSIDer3 (free) does the same job on the desktop: https://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html