SLOW Network Speed – Intel AC 9560 + 8565U Whiskey lake – HP Spectre 15-Df0068nr (Late 2018 Model)

HP Spectre 15-Df0068nr (Late 2018 Model)
- wireless adapter: Intel AC 9560
- processor: Intel 8565U Whiskey Lake
- router: Netgear Nighthawk X10 (R9000)

I'm getting less than 25 MB/s read/write on my NAS. SpeedTest for the Internet is 27 Mbps down
On my old DELL XPS 9550 with an Intel AC 9260 (Killer 1550) I get 60 MB/s read 95 MB/s write on my NAS. SpeedTest for the Internet is 165 Mbps.

Clearly, something's not right with my new computer. The wireless signal on the bottom right (systray) doesn't have full bars (goes back and forth between full bars and 3/4 bars) despite the router being close by in plain sight. My other computers ALWAYS have full bars despite being farther away with a wall in between. Both my Dell and HP are connected via AC / HT160 / 160MHz (or 80 + 80) and the status reads either 1.7 Gbps or 1.5 Gbps speed, but even if I turn off HT160 and it’s connected at 800Mbps, the speeds for my new HP remain the same (my Dell gets lower Read speed to my NAS ~60MB/s).

My HP is a new model (came on the market late October, 2018). It has a Whiskey Lake processor which has "an integrated Wi-Fi controller supporting 160MHz 802.11ac connections". Is there a big difference between this and just having a regular 9560 card?

I've updated all drivers and the BIOS. I've tried uninstalling the network adapter driver and let Windows installing it on its own. I've tried re-installing the network adapter driver and bluetooth driver many times -- both using the ones from HP's support site (20.70.0.5 Rev.P) and from Intel (20.90.0.7). Interestingly, HP took down the network adapter driver from my model's support site sometime in the last 48 hours: https://support.hp.com/us-en/driver...rtible-pc/23238160/model/24475647?sku=5GQ77UA
It was the only one on there so currently there are no network adapter drivers on the support site.

Does this mean HP thinks the driver isn't right for my computer?

Another problem that I’m having that may be related is…
There's "No Internet Connection" after coming out of sleep. It's connected to my router, but there's a yellow exclamation mark over the wifi sign in my systray when it comes out of sleep. The on-mouse-over bubble reads the accurate description, "No Internet Connection". It doesn't happen out of brief sleeps. But this happens whenever the computer sleeps for a couple hours or overnight (deeper S2, S3 sleep?). I can restore Internet by disconnecting and reconnecting to the router (exclamation mark goes away). Running the troubleshooter also restores Internet and reports that the following was fixed: The default gateway is not available. None of my other computers exhibits this problem. It’s always connected to the Internet out of sleep (using same router).

When I try to adjust the advanced power options, a lot of the settings on my other computers don’t exist. I had to modify the registry to get the “Wireless Adapter Settings” back. The “plugged-in” setting was already set to “Maximum Performance”. I changed the “battery” setting to “Maximum Performance” as well, but it did not fix the issue.

The other go to thing to try is to uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” in device manager --> network adapter --> properties --> “Power management” tab. There is no power management tab for me. It looks like this person has the tab/option for the same network adapter, Intel AC 9560: https://communities.intel.com/message/572668#572668

Why are these things missing for me? Is it because I did a clean install of windows 10 (64bit Education)?

Any advice for fixing the slow network/internet speed or losing connection out of sleep will be appreciated immensely. Thank you!

 

What driver are you using? you wanna make sure you are running these:

Note: For the INF Driver of the WLAN Driver, you need to update it manually using device manager. Make sure you uninstall any Intel PRO/Set Wireless utility from Control Panel > Programs & Features first. You don't need that bloatware.

Intel WLAN Driver 20.100.0.4/ Bluetooth 20.100.0.4

Before running or extracting any file, make sure you unblock your downloaded file using this guide:
"Are you sure you want to run this file?" [Yes or No]

 

Thank you. I noticed that the inf driver of the link is for 9260. I'm trying to fix my 9560. Is it okay to install the 9260 driver on the 9560?

I remember there used to be a website that posted drivers (ones that weren't out on the intel website yet). Do you know which website I'm talking about? Stationdrivers?

 

yeah I just named it that way because that's what I have, the driver is the same as it includes multiple INF files if you notice

and yeah I got those drivers from Stationdrivers but I unpacked them

EDIT: Oh snap lemme reupload it that only had the Intel 9260 Driver I will upload the full INF files now

Here is the full Driver which supports all Intel Wireless Cards: https://mega.nz/#!yWwV2CpD!cHRxwg0qrsLzCseOSTSyEPDYfktEXXSke6OGlmZNmvw

 

The 9560 is essentially a 9260. The difference is that with the 9560 thee WiFi chipset is in the CPU itself and the actual card has the RF portion so the actual card is not a full fledged WiFi card, it’s a two part solution.

The next gen Intel AX200/201 (probably Jan/Feb release) will be the same with a dual part solution and a standard all in one solution respectively.

You can use a 9260ac with any CPU but the 9560ac will only work with CPUs newer than 7th Kaby Lake as they have the WiFi chipset, so the 8th gen Coffe Lake and newer basically.

For a better worded explanation:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...6155/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking.html

 

Thank you so much for the uploads! I tried installing them via INF a few times but every time the connection was very unstable -- it kept connecting and reconnecting to the network. I noticed the name of the device had "160Hz" at the end which is new.

Anyway, I bit the bullet and ended up reinstalling Win 10 and it solved all my issues. The network speed is fast and it reconnects to the network smoothly out of sleep (no error sign anymore). I get 70 MB/s write and 100 MB/s read on my NAS using 160Hz. And I'm getting what my ISP provides for my Internet. Speeds were good on the driver that Windows auto-installed and the same for the most recent version available on intel's site (version 90). So it wasn't a driver issue.

I'd still like to know what caused the network speed to be so slow so I don't do anything to mess things up again. Before, when I was having problems, I had added a bunch of outgoing rules on my firewall to block a bunch of programs installed on my computer. Could this slow down the speed to my NAS and the Internet?

This time I installed Win enterprise instead of education. Version 1803 instead of 1809, but I don't think this matters. The other thing I can think of is that I went through and installed all the drivers on the HP support site before (including all the chipset drivers). This time, I'm sticking with what Windows auto-installed for the most part.

 

btw, how does one go about extracting the appropriate INF file? I extracted the download file from StationDriver and there were a ton of choices nested into all kinds of folders. A lot of folder names with three letter names. Which one is the correct INF file?

 

I was wondering about this ever since before I got the computer. I wanted to know whether the WiFi card was upgradable or not. The marketing for the newer Whiskey Lake processors touts "integrated Wi-Fi controller supporting 160MHz" and I didn't really understand what that meant until now. Thanks.

When I opened up the computer I couldn't find a removable, socketed chip module that I'm familiar with for the WiFi. Is it upgradable?

 

Even if the CPU has the WiFi chip built in you can still use a 9260ac or newer or even older card without issue. Redundant though if replacing the 9560 RF card with a 9260ac .


However some ultra portable laptops like yours and also the for example the Dell XPS 9370 for example have the WiFi card soldered to the motherboard so you’re out of luck upgrade wise. If you want an ax (WiFi 6 as it’s called now) card upgrade in the future you’re going to need to solder one in, asssuming the pin layout is the same.

 

Intel Wireless ProSet 20.100.0.4 is the Official Intel latest version on their website.

The 9560 is one of the supported wireless cards
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/do...ware-and-Drivers-for-Windows-10?product=59485

As for Intel Bluetooth,version 20.100.0.5 is the newest WHQL and can be gotten by a driver update in device manager>Intel Wireless Bluetooth>Update Driver>Search Automatically

 

Okay, I think I spoke too soon in my last post. Whenever the system comes out of sleep mode the speeds become very slow (both LAN and Internet). I have to manually disconnect and reconnect with the network to fix this problem. This happens whether I'm on battery or plugged-in.

I'll try updating the drivers. Thanks!

 

@nosauce

these are the latest drivers as of today:

Intel WLAN Driver 20.100.0.4/ Bluetooth 20.100.0.5

 

I have a choice between 5 INF files, which one do I choose?
NETwbw02.INF
NETwtw02.INF
NETwtw04.INF
NETwtw06.INF
NETwtw08.INF

 

Those drivers are for all the Wireless cards, you don't need to select a particular INF you just update the driver via device manager and point to where those files are located and Windows will automatically choose the appropriate INF

 

Thanks. For some reason the "100" driver versions don't work on my system. The connection is very unstable -- it keeps disconnecting and reconnecting to the network. I noticed the name of the device had "160Hz" at the end which is new. I had to roll-back to version 90.

I still have the issue of the LAN and Internet speeds becoming very slow out of sleep. Need to d/c and reconnect every time I come out of sleep. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

@nosauce in device properties, try setting preferred band to prefer 5.2GHz (and channel width for 2.4Ghz to 20mhz for resolving potential issues on 2.4Ghz networks, while you're at it) .