Aspire 2012WLMi Wireless Network problems...sorry for the long post!

Hey guys! I really need a little advice here. We have a small home network, partially wireless. All the desktops connect via wired LAN, all the laptops connect to an ACTIONTEC 11Mbps wireless hub. All was working fine until a few days ago when I went to connect to the wireless and noticed that I was connected at 1.0Mbps, yet the signal strength was still "Excellent"! I figured that this tied in with installing SP2, so I used the Acer System Restore CD's that came with the laptop and rolled back to the factory defaults. Same problem. Initially I connect at 11, and as far as I can tell, if I leave it idle it's fine. But as soon as I access the network, or use the internet it just drops to 1.0mbps. There is also other wierd behaviour such as my task bar vanishing when I close browser windows (local, or internet), 100% CPU usage and no network status icons in the task bar at startup (I've had to put up with that since I got this thing). I'm trying out an Actiontec PCMCIA adapter at the moment, and I'm connected at a steady 11mbps. But it still feels...wrong. Network access is painfully slow.

Any ideas what could have changed? The exact point where it went wrong, was when I was connected to the 100mbps wired LAN, and disconnected it to come down and use the laptop in our lounge. That's when it started. That, and we changed the channel on our access point (I can't access the AP's control panel btw, another problem!), but we've put it back as it was but no change.

Sorry for the long post but any advice would be great as I've tried two factory restores and nothing helps. Thanks very much in advance!

- Paul O

 

Try updating the router's firmware and card drivers.

 

Heh, seriously man after pulling my hair out over this problem for the last few days non stop, they are the first things I tried. There's no card; it's the Intel intergrated wireless dealy (Centrino), but I've tried the newest ProSet drivers from the Intel website. I also tried just rolling back to what came with the laptop, which until this happened...worked just fine. I'm now on a totally clean install of XP. We've reset the ADSL modem, and the wireless AP. Same old problem, just on my laptop too. Everyone else is connecting at a solid 11mbps. Thank God I imaged my old install.

Is it possible for wireless LAN adapters to just..fry themselves? Maybe it was inadvertently exposed to some sort of cosmic radiation or microwaves...I dunno. I'm at the point of giving up.

 

I's possible by pulling out the NIC cable, you may have surged the unit. This may have damaged the WiFi card.

You said you imaged your old install, does that mean it's working again? If so, then it's just a freak occurance or a software/driver problem. If not, then it's possible your hardware is toast.

If uyou know the hardware still works, you can try reloading the OS (manual install) and install just the needed drivers, nothing else. Make sure you start with the chipset drivers (I use the ones from Intel's site), then goto the wireless after that. That will give you the minimum to run your system correctly. Make sure you also check the properties of your network card, Intel has some extra settings that can be done here. Make sure it's not set to G only mode. This will give you problems connecting to a B network (shouldn't connect at all, but who knows). Also check the power settings and set them all to max (best performance/connection, lowest power saving) as this may limit your connection speed if it's lower.

If this fails, you'll probably have to send your unit in for service.

-Vb-

 

Hey VB! Thanks for the reply.

Okay, so far I've tried just a regular factory restore. Twice, as best I can remember. The problem still occurs, even with no additional software installed.

I've also tried two manual OS installs, and then installed the drivers off the Acer System CD in the reccomended order. Same thing.

Now, I'm back to my image file and I'm using a PCMCIA wireless adapter and all is fine, so that rules out the AP as being at fault.

I can't understand it though, I mean, initially the Intel ProSet WiFi connects at 11, and it feels fine. It runs fast, for a brief few seconds. Then it just drops, as soon as there's any activity and it's unuseable. So it's like it's capable of running normal for a few seconds, then dies I really hope nothing has been fried because I'm looking to sell this laptop, but with a dead Wireless Lan adapter...fat chance of that.

Can't think what could have done that. Now that you mention it, it did all start when I disconnected from the wireless to take my laptop into the living room. From that point on, it's been nothing but trouble. Crazy that it could be something that simple...

 

Chimp,

It could be a driver compatibility problem (I know, it sounds stupid) that could be causing the problem. Just today I was trying to install a WiFi PCMCIA card into an old 98 notebook to get WPA support. The drivers I used was for the V2 card, but mine was a V1 card (V1 drivers don't have WPA support). During the installation phase, I installed the V2 network files (something like Intel's ProSet) and V1 drivers. Whenever I tried connecting, it worked for a split second and then disconnects. This problem sounded exactly like what you were having, so I thought it might be similar.

With Intel's drivers, were you running the EXE file or just extracting the drivers out and then manually updating the drivers? Apparently, running the EXE doesn't guarantee that the drivers will get updated completely. I ran the EXE for the latest drivers on my notebook and it turned out it didn't update the drivers. When I extracted the drivers out of the EXE files (you can use WinRAR to extract the files) and went to Device Manager to manually update the drivers, it finally upgraded. It fixed a lot of the 2200BG problems that other users reported (dropping of speed to 1Mbits and then back up constantly).

-Vb-

 

Hey again VB! Nice to have someone giving some input here - I've asked in a zillion places on the net and no-one seems to have any ideas!

Okay, so I tried the steps you mentioned, and the problem is still there but it's now reporting the signal strength as poor when it drops to 1.0, as opposed to happily reporting that it's excellent when it's clearly not. So I think that's a step in the right direction. Now I need to try and tinker with the adapter settings and try and enable CAM, change the reception strength etc. Only I can't find it in the ProSet configuration utility. I used to be able to manage this from Windows, but now it's telling me to use the Intel program.

 

You should be able to access the cards properties by right clicking My Network Places -> Properties, or goto Control Panel & double click Network Connections. Then, right click your wireless card and select Properties. Click the Configure button to get to the Config box. It should be under the Advanced Tab. You should be able to make all your tweaks here.

It looks like it's starting to work again (fingers crossed), but as you indicated, it may need more tweaking for it to work.

-Vb-

 

Hey again. I uninstalled/re-installed the drivers like, a million times. So now I have full access to my WLAN adapter (whereas before if I clicked Configure it'd just tell me to use the ProSet utility, and that in itself didn't have any config options at all).

So, that's all well and good. But...still the same **** problem, with the mild exception that it now lingers around 21mbps as long as I'm active (but still runs slow) and drops to 1.0 when I'm idle. I'm really at the end of my teather with this, although I don't feel quite so alone now. I read a huuuge thread at this very forum, on the same subject. I think it was mainly Dell users with ProSet 2200BG adapters. Having exactly the same problem. Why it should start misbehaving now, after so long of seemingly working okay, I don't know. But it would definitely appear to be Intel's "bad".

I've set roaming to long, I've set transmission and reception to maximum, I've tried every solution out there. The only thing I haven't tried is disabling what has been described as the "aggressive" power polling? The fact it drops to 1 when I'm idle suggests that this stupid Centrino business is trying to save every ounce of juice it can (even though I'm on mains) at the expense of...well...my sanity, but also my connection speed. So is there any way I can turn that off? That's really my last ditch attempt before I bite the bullet and just buy a PCMCIA wireless lan card.

BOOOO Intel - yet another reason why I hate them

 

Chimp,

Looks like it's at least connecting correctly (somewhat) at this point. Much better than what you originally had. So, let's see if we can get it back upto 54Mbps.

What is the exact driver version, you're running? (Properties of WLAN card in Device Manager -> under Drivers Tab). It should read v9.0.2.25 if you're using the lastest drivers.

In that thread you were talking about, they mentioned that the older (v8.x) drivers seemed to work better than the new, but I found the latest to work good for me (never tried the old one). I used to get the speed drops as well (down to 1Mbits), but it never disconnected like a lot of other indiacted. Mine would lower in speed, but will immediately jump back upto 54Mbits when I start surfing. After changing to the lastest drivers, I was capable of maintaining 54Mbits most of the time (idle) with a slight drop to 48Mbits after an hour or so (running a battery rundown test at the time).

What you can also try is setting your router and WiFi card to G only mode or even try B only mode. If you're not doing any transfers over your network to another computer, then the speed won't make a different. Power output seems better in B mode than G mode, so you should get a more stable connection.

You can change the mode in the same WLAN Properties you went to before to change transmit power, etc... See what happens after you make the change from B+G (default) to G only or B only. Also, try chnaging the channel of the router to use the outer numbers 1/2 or 10/11 (seems to be more crowded in the middle).

Let me know what happens. Good luck!

-Vb-