Intel 2915ABG Connection Issue

Here is the problem that I am having:

I recently bought a PortableOne MX and it comes with an Intel 2915ABG wireless card. I am currently using a Linksys WRT54GS(the S is just the WRT54G + Speedbooster) wireless router in my apartment. The router is probably only 15 ft from where I usually use my laptop. I have the latest drivers.

I am having a similar problem to the one people were having with the 2200BG Intel wireless card. While I am connected to my router my connection speed will unexpectedly drop from 54mbps to 24mbps(sometimes lower) and the connection will freeze(no activity) for 10-15 seconds. It will then start working again and go up to 54mbps. It will then continue to keep dropping the conncetion periodically, basically repeating what I just described above.

I am almost positive that it is not an interference issue. I can have my other laptop, a Toshiba w/ an Atheros wireless card, side by side with my MX and the MX will keep having this connection problem while the Toshiba will keep a perfect connection. In fact, the Toshiba w/ the Atheros card has never ever given me any problems, always a rock solid connnection.

Does anyone else have this exact setup(Intel 2915ABG w/ Linksys WRT54GS) and have no problems at all? If yes, and other people have no problems with this same setup, is there a problem with my wireless card? Ivan at PortableOne has offered to swap out the Intel card with a new Atheros ABG card, should I do this? Or is the Intel a better card?

If the Intel is a better card and it is the router causing the problem should I just get a new router? Does anyone know of a router that will work flawlessly with the 2915ABG card?

I have looked all over the place concerning this issue but I am having trouble isolating the exact problem/solution(although I am thinking it is the router, I can't be sure because it works fine with my Toshiba). I desperately need some help from someone who knows about this stuff.

Any and all help with this problem is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Have you tried getting the latest firmware for your router? That's a new card and they made have made changes to support it better.

Brian

www.BargainPDA.com | www.DigitalCameraReview.com | www.NotebookReview.com | www.SpotStop.com | www.TabletPCReviewSpot.com

 

I have the latest firmware for the router.

Anything else?

 

Then how about the card?

Brian

www.BargainPDA.com | www.DigitalCameraReview.com | www.NotebookReview.com | www.SpotStop.com | www.TabletPCReviewSpot.com

 

Yes I have the newest drivers for the card as stated in the original post.

 

you should probably force the router to use only G or A channel without the speedboosting enchancer on. Since the card doesnt support speedboost that could be messing with stuff. Also If you have the router by tons of metal things (ie other computer cases) or any other radio giiving off source like a wireless phone that could mess with it. As long as the minimum speed is above the max your broadband is offering you then you are fine.. 54 mbps is useless if your modem is kicking out only 1 mbps.

Like I said turn off the speed booster, force G or A only and hopefully that will work. I personally own a Netgear the standard $70 one and it's working good so far. Coverage all over my house and the min I ever get is about 24 mbps.

Dell I6000d
1.86 ghz
1 gig 400mhz ram
80 gig HD
Intel Pro 2915 a/b/g Wireless
15.4 " WXGA
Ati X300 128 mb
Nec Dvd +- RW 6500A

 

I have tried the G only channel and I get the same problem.

I don't think that you can turn the speedbooster "off", I am pretty sure it is automatic(it disables itself if it is not connecting with another speedbooster device). If someone does know how to turn it off let me know but I don't see that option anywhere in the settings.

The problem is not that it drops to 24mbps and I see no change in the connection. The problem is the connection stops working for several seconds when this drop in speed occurs. I am aware that I don't use 54mbps ever but the connection is freezing up when the fluctuations in speed occur.

Anybody else having this issue?

 

im not sure then because my wirless is working pretty good with a netgear 54 mbps wireless. theres only been one instance that it slowed to a crawl and disconnected me. That was when someone was on another computer using the ports. My guess is the other computers firewall/programs kicked in for protection. Also I had other things working like telephones remotes and what not near my notebook. I guess you could try to change the channel to like 10 or 9. some other channel not used.

Dell I6000d
1.86 ghz
1 gig 400mhz ram
80 gig HD
Intel Pro 2915 a/b/g Wireless
15.4 " WXGA
Ati X300 128 mb
Nec Dvd +- RW 6500A

 

Well it is good to see that I am not going crazy and someone else is experiencing this problem.

Is it worth it to get a new wireless card? Are these Intel cards good cards? Or is Atheros better? Hard to find any information on the quality of wireless cards. I would really like to know which wireless card is the "best".

 

Channel changing has not solved the problem. I guess it is just a compatibility issue with the Intel card and the Linksys router but noone else seems to be having this problem so it makes me think my wireless card has problems.

 

I had the same issue with two new Toshiba M40's with Intel 2915 wireless cards and my Linksys WRT4G-B wireless router. Tried latest drivers for everything. Earlier linksys drivers too). Tried the power management, tried just G, tried different channels. After 6 days of trying I gave up and returned them both. Oh, but sticking in a PCMCIA linksys card and the machine was flying...so definitely some compatability issue here...

So I went shopping today at both bestbuy and futureshop and look at their M40's and guess what, both machines were sitting at 2mps and 1mps respectively. So it isn't just the ones I had.

I'm holding off buying a new laptop until I see a 2915 patch.

 

There seems to be some people having similar problems with the combination of the linksys routers and other intel wireless cards.

There are atleast a couple topics in the forums of www.linksysinfo.org
discussing this problem. You probably have a better chance of finding the answer there.

 

If you can, try to track down an older driver for this card. The latest driver seems to have problems. The old verion (9.0.0.9 I think) works much better. I had this prob on a Sony FS until I found an older driver online and installed it.

 

The info on linksysinfo .org http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4308 does not really describe the same issue we are having, our issues appear to be very specific to the Intel 2915 wireless chipset.

For example, if I replace the wireless in my laptop with a pcmcia card the problem disappears (all of the signalling remains the same and the neighbours certainly remain the same).

 

Spanky I tried some things yesterday that may have helped the problem.

I downloaded and changed the firmware on my router to HyperWRT which can be found at http://www.hyperwrt.org If you install new firmware make sure you are plugged into your router through a hard line, if you aren't you can screw up your router and possibly kill it. This is pretty simple firmware though, it doesn't change the Linksys firmware at all, just makes a few nice additions. The interface stays exactly the same, really easy to use.

This firmware lets you increase the signal strength coming from your router. I set mine at 67%, the default is 50%. You don't want to go much higher because it will distort the signal and burn out the radio in your router.

After installing the firmware I stopped having the connection drop. My connection speed would still fluctuate but after a few hours use I didn't experience a dropped connection.

I am also using the following settings:

On my Intel 2915 ABG card

The Ad Hoc Channel is set to 6, same channel I have the router broadcasting on.

Intel Throughput Enhancement is set at default which is Disable

Mixed mode protection is set at default which is CTS-to-self enabled

Power Management is set at the third tick from the Lowest end(I actually turned this down figuring when it was at highest it might be causing interference)

Preferred Band is set at default which is 802.11g band

Transmit power is set to default which is highest.

Wireless mode is set to 802.11g only

Ok now the router settings:

Under Setup/basic settings change your MTU to manual and set the size to 1492( I think this may have helped me a lot too, it limits the size of the packets beings sent by the router slightly)

Under Wireless/basic wireless settings change network mode to G-only and as I stated before I am using channel 6, also make sure you have a unique SSID(not the same one as your neighbor)

Under Wireless/wireless security I am using WEP 128bit security(this isn't actually very secure but I also have the wireless MAC filter enabled which is very secure(you can tell the router the MAC addresses allowed to connect to it)

Under Wireless/advanced routing I have the following settings:

Aunthentication Type: Auto
Basic Rate: All
Transmission Rate: Auto
CTS Mode Protection: Disabled
Frame Burst: Enable
Beacon Interval: 100
Fragmentation Threshold: 2346
RTS Threshold: 2347
AP Isolation: Off
Tx Antenna: Auto
Rx Antenna: Auto
Transmit Power: 67%(53mW)

Under Security/firewall I have it enabled with Block Anonymous Internet requests, Filter Multicast, and Filter IDENT(Port 113) all checked.

Under Security/VPN I have all those enabled but I am going to find out if they need to be because I'm not using a Virtual Private Network.

Under Adminstration/management I have UPnP Disabled because I do not use this feature.

So try all that and see if you have any success with it, hopefully you will.

Like I said I stopped getting dropped connections for the few hours I used it(I normally connect through a hard line) but the speed would still fluctuate but it didn't seem to affect my connection.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Spanky_100

 

Agreed. there is a tonne of misinformation out there and what the cause/cure are...personally, I've returned my laptops and will wait until I see this issue solved before going forward.

 

About finding an older driver as was adviced in one of the posts !

If you do this, only do it for computers that do NOT use the Intel 915 and 925 variants of the chipset!!!!

While going to an older driver may work fine for 2200BG there is a catch for the 2915ABG !!! These drivers are very new and a lot of bug fixing and upgrading/finetuning has been done. Going to an older version of these drivers will bring back other problems!!!

The Intel 2200BG used with the Intel 855 chipset in Centrino based laptops are way more mature and going one back may not affect you as the last solved problems are minor issues.

So changing the Wireless Power settings as adviced by Intel is the better way if it works for you, because it DOES NOT ALWAYS solve the problem.

QC

 

Typing this again, forgot to logon.

Here is the answer to the connection loss and the solution.

http://support.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-006205.HTM

I had exactly the same problem and also with the same linksys and an Acer 8104 LapTop. Both Acers lost the connection EXACTLY every 10 minutes and speed down from 54 to 1 and back up, while a Toshiba Tecra and a Compaq Armada did fine.

QC

 

CHanging the power settings did nothing for me...

Andrew.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Spanky_100

 

Well after returning the Toshibas, I bought two Dell 9300 which are using the 2915 Intel chipset. I kept my Linksys wireless wrt54g. I've yet to have anyh issue. I think the issue is unrelated to: Power, channel, or linksys...

 

I just bought an Intel 2915abg and have encountered numerous issues. I honestly believe wireless is such a headache because the engineers simply don't know how to fix it. I remember around '92-'93, wired ethernet was just as problematic because the drivers were so lame. People just didn't have the experience to understand how to make it work right.

After doing some research, and staring at my Motorola Surfboard cable modem, I decided to go all Motorola. It paid off very well-- everything works together and it's fast. I based the research on how many forum posts I could find and Motorola came up with almost none. I just wish they made a mini-pci card.