intel 2915abg issues and power management

Hi all,

After two years of using asus m6800n with intel 2200bg I decided to get a new notebook. The old card was OK connecting to my Siemens SE515 router and Asus wl330g AP without any problems or speed issues. Now my new notebook has Intel 2915abg wlan card. And then the problems started. Speed issues, bad connection, cannot find router, resets etc. I checked Intel site and forums and found that the issue is quite common. I followed all suggestions and upgraded firmware of Siemens router and installed last drivers from Intel. Nothing. Then I read about the power settings (power management and transmit power) in device properties. Intel says to set power management to the highest setting (although I think that setting is already set by default). That changed nothing. I was so frustrated and then I played with those sliders and set them to the LOWEST setting. Both of them. The result was a 54 Mbit connection in a house through few walls and even on a second floor. I was a bit surprised and was expecting another reset or speed drop. But no, it stayed that way for hours and hours. Then I walked around with notebook and it was still ok. Few days later I noticed that connection sometimes drops even to 2 Mbps but it works all the time. It goes back to 24, 48 or even 54 after a while. Now I set the transmit power to next to the highest setting and power management to the lowest (the best battery time) and the connection still works at 54, no drops, no resets. If I put power management to the highest the problems occur again after a while.

The only thing that bothers me now is that on two occasions I got a small window (Intel title) saying something about not being able to authorize or something and the link worked (54)but couldn't get the IP from DHCP until I switched off and back on the wlan card. Now on both times the notebook might have been in suspend mode or some other power saving mode.

Now I change the setting from time to time and test with new settings. So far so good. Transmit power of 1mW keeps the link on and the speed varies from 54 to 2. I know it depends on the distance, walls etc. But it is working all the time. Transmit power of 25,1 mW keeps 54 90% of the time. Highest power also looks OK.

So the only thing that greatly affected my connection is power management setting.

Cheers,

Ivan :centrino:

 

I had that issue originally with my 2915. Here is something to try - I know you already did part of this but it is worth trying:
1. Completely uninstall the wireless card from the device manager.
2. Uninstall the drivers for the card as well from Add/Remove programs.
3. Restart the machine.
4. Get the latest drivers from Intel and install them.
5. Restart again.
6. Let me know if it helps.

BTW, I fixed my issue by upgrading the drivers.

 

Hi ChazMan421,

Did the procedure. And I am writing you this post over Wireless Network Connection 2 that was made. I didn't change anything in adapter settings. I'll let you know if the problem happens again.

BTW, I like the choice of your picture. The same star wars fan overhere. Stormtroopers are obviously happy with those old german MG34 and MG42 machineguns . At least in the old trilogy (IV, V and VI).

Thanks for the tip.

Ivan

 

Glad to see you are on your wireless!

Heh, thanks for the compliment - I'm a huge Star Wars fan.

Let me know if you have any other issues.

Chaz :centrino:

 

Unfortunately the problem happened again. The network connection was dropped few seconds after I posted my last reply. It was also laggy and slow while it worked.

So I changed the power management to lowest and now I will see if it works the way it should (or at least as before). BTW the Internet surfing seems more responsive and quicker this way and the connection is constantly at 54.

The other thing that I noticed is that transmit power (CCX TPC) is 25,1 mW on highest and on the notch next to highest. BTW CCX Power levels are stated as 1, 5, 20, 31.6 and 51 mW. First three match the stated, but last two settings give 25,1 mW? Is this same on your card?

Ivan

 

Are there any electronic devices between you and the router? Change the routers channel to either the highest or lowest, see if that makes a difference.

If there is a TV or a phone between you and the router, that could cause interference.

 

A Piano could do it too... My connection is pretty good all over the apartment, except when the piano is between me and the router . It's an upright grand.

Edit:
Oh, and when I am at the table and wife turns on microwave I lose the signal- microwave is between me and the router.

 

Basically everything besides Glass and wood inerferes with wireless or has some fade in wireless. Wireless touches all the walls by the router. Think if the router gives off the signals and you watch them. They try to find ways around walls and walls are a big blocker. I sit 25 from my router and i have a radio, microwave, tv, lights, refridgerator, stove, etc. Im sure they interfere but you really cant to anything besides move the stuff or changing the channels is the best option. 1 and 11 are the best. Plus someone by you on the same channel could interfere.

 

Let me summarize the situation:
-Router is Siemens 515SE 5 meters from me with wooden door in between. It is on 2.5 meters from the ground on the first floor of the 2 floor house. Let's say in the middle. The newest firmware didn't help.
-There is a TV in a room, but I didn't see the difference while moving around the house. No wireless phones, microwaves. Other networks are so weak that sometimes I can't even find them. My old Asus with 2200bg had no problems at all. It was even able to connect on some very week networks that I cannot even see with my new 2915!
-Notebook has intel 2915abg (latest drivers) and Bluetooth adapter (turning off doesn't seem to affect the connection, but as far as I know it is also on 2.4 GHz, so maybe it actually can affect the connection). This might be worth of checking.
-I'm on channel 11.
-Whatever I do with notebook in terms of drivers as Chaz suggested, if I leave power management on default (highest), connection is slow, and usually breaks very fast. Other power management settings also look much more stable than the highest.
- If I put power management to lowest and play with transmit power, it gives "Signal Quality: Excellent or Very good", but speed is between 54 and 2 MBps depending on power. The connection is stable, and there is no lag while surfing.
-Other settings on Transmit power work as I stated in the last post, but as I stated they go up to 25,1 mW instead of 50 mW! This is curious.

So my conclusion is that maybe in some cases is not the best thing to leave Intel settings on default, especially power management which is clearly the only thing that affects stability of my network. Transmit power of course greatly affects the coverage and speed (5mW - 12.6 mW give me rock solid 54 Mbit with Excellent signal quality all around the house!), but as I see, doesn't affect the stability.

I'd like someone to check his/her transmit power setting in Adapter setting and then Details in Intel Pro/Wireless. The transmit power is CCX TPC. It is changing with the setting and sometimes shows for example 5mW but after a while goes to 12.6 mW. I need this first number that is set after you change the Transmit power in Adapter settings. Especially the highest and next to the highest. Intel 2915abg please. Thanks in advance.

Thanks guys for your help. I didn't find this case on forums, so maybe my experience with the power management settings may actually help someone.

Ivan

P.S. I never said what my new notebook is:
It is built on 15.4 1680x1050 barebone on i915G chipset with 1.86 Pentium M, 2 GB DDR2 Kingston 533 MHz, MXM Ati X700 128MB, Intel 2915abg, Bluetooth, Samsung DVDRW etc. In Croatia this platform can be found under name Prestigio or Forcebook. Maybe it is called different somewhere else. It has a small switch for external (in my case Ati) or i900GMA graphics. I decided to leave mine with no name and no stickers. I call it "notebook". :centrino:

 

Hey, here's something. I found out that I am using the Windows handle the wireless instead of the Intel Proset utility.

Try doing that - I think Windows does a better job of managing the wireless.

 

Hi Chaz,

I already did that and you are right, the connection is better and there are longer times between drops, but it eventually does the same thing like Intel utility. By the way I confirmed the last conclusions by reinstalling Intel driver (for some reason help didn't work) and I ended up with bad connection again, until I changed the power management to lowest.

But thanks anyway,

Cheers,

Ivan