3 different cards/computers ALL wireless dropping...!!!

[idata]

I returned two computers a Lenovo and an Acer, they both had wireless dropping issues, and I believe two different cards, and I remember one had the Centrino 2230.

I now have a third computer which I definitely want to keep with the Intel Wireless-AC Dual Band 7260.

It also is dropping, and I can't get it to work. Can anyone get this to work?

This issue appears to be Win8 & some Win7 (according to others) with the newer cards, and certain routers.

Our other wireless computers in the home all with either XP or Win7 but at least a year older all work fine.

The Router is a mainstream ISP router, so I don't want to hear any stupid thing that it's the router at fault, especially when other computers work fine and it's a mainstream router.

It's all the newer cards and primarily Win 8.

So, this is unacceptable quality control by Intel. NewEgg also tried to deny me $135 for one returned computer because they couldn't detect a problem, likely using a router that works. Only fortunately working with Acer saved me, because they also reported it as a known issue.

I hear Killer Wireless also has the same issues, which I guess uses Intel tech.

So, how can I fix this? A computer is nearly unusable without a working wireless. I mean, it's one thing to have software issues, but such mass hardware defects is unacceptable.

Oh, and can anyone point me to working Win 8.1 drivers for the I guess the 4600 graphics and the wireless card?

Thanks

[tvete]

9. BTW, there might be some other particular settings on your router which can effect the connection. Such as WMM, QOS or others. Both of these were I believe enabled on mine, and I disabled them, again, not sure if necessary, still have to further test.

I found the culprit for your Intel Centrino / Dual Band Wireless 7260 not connecting to Wireless-N! You disabled WMM!

IEEE 802.11n specifications require WiFi Multimedia (WMM) to be able to get N speeds. Enable WMM on your router so you get above 54 Mbps connection speeds.

[idata]

Ah.... Thanks, I will try that.

I was thinking it was one of those settings, but I couldn't be sure, and I didn't have a chance to check yet.

I will still do further testing, etc.... But I need a break, and I have to do Bankruptcy paper-work (more stress) because of the ex.

Will update in just a bit on that setting.

UPDATE..... Well that's weird. If WMM is needed for "n" then how come it's "disabled" under "Ad Hoc" whatever in Device Manager/Advanced?

Is it enabled on the "newer" drivers?

Well, "n" is still not connecting, but maybe I just need to give it "time" since I can't change that setting in the router to only connect to "n" without having to possibly factory resetting the router which I don't want to do again, otherwise he might get wise. haa haa. But, I was wondering shouldn't it connect to "n" anyway if it's the better setting?

[tvete]

On the router it has to be enabled since the router, not the adapter "ultimately" decides the connection speed it wants to broadcast. If WMM is disabled on the router, the router cannot deliver speeds of more than 54 Mbps. Read this article for more information about WMM: http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-features/30938-dont-mess-with-wmm Don't Mess With WMM! - SmallNetBuilder

According to article, it doesn't matter if the WiFi adapter is "WMM aware" or not, Intel WiFi adapters have the option to become "aware" or not. On my laptop I have the "WMM disabled" by default and I still get 144Mbps because the router is configured to deliver that speed as long as WMM is enabled on the router. It used to be called "Intel Throughput Enhancement" before the 802.11n was ratified (i.e. 802.11n draft specification). In short, WMM must be enabled on the router side to get the N speed.

[idata]

So hear's the latest.....

I just went 30 hours with only one disconnect I believe, just had to right click on the Wireless Icon and Troubleshoot, and it cleared the connection.

So, it seems you just have to do this every once in awhile, and it varies greatly the timeline. Like today after a several hours rest, I just turned the computer on, it worked and then it just disconnected. I might now go for awhile, or it could occur again, and then it work for awhile, just depends.

Also QOS and WMM are enabled... on the router which is the router defaults. And the "Lowest" setting in Roaming Aggressiveness in the Driver Advanced setting seems to work better I would guess than the Highest setting.

At least this is a reasonably working work around, I have internet at least, and that's what's important.

Though, it's kinda messed up that Intel didn't create this fix....

I got it work in about 3-4 days.... Intel needs to read this thread and see that this is close to a full fix. They should be able to fix the problem with the information and work I've provided in this thread.

[PWhal]

But that isn't a workaround. A network connection that drops arbitrarily, inexplicably, for no reason, is still very broken.

I just purchased the 7260AC for Desktop and I've been seeing very similar symptoms on Windows 7 64-bit using Intel's driver. It connected just fine initially then some time later dropped and refused to reconnect. The adapter literally will not reconnect to my network unless the adapter is "reset" via Windows network troubleshooter. This is occurring repeatedly and consistently. I have a D-Link DIR-655 router and have used it flawlessly for two years with a myriad of devices. This is the first 802.11ac adapter I have connected to it although I'm more inclined to blame Intel here than ac.

This is a serious pain. I was hoping to make use of all of the features offered by this card - Bluetooth and WiDi especially - but I'm going to have to find a replacement card now. Extremely disappointed.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

Have you both tested with different router?

[idata]

No unfortunately, I don't have one, can't request one (not my internet) and can't buy one to hook too it to try to go through it instead because my roommate is a complete slime-ball who wouldn't even allow me to put a tin-foil antenna on the wireless antenna with an old router/modem (different internet company) before he changed companies.

However, we already know the issue occurs with certain routers..... Again, this is product wide with Intel cards, Atheros cards, and who knows what else primarily with Win8 (though some with Win7 but people report fixing with certain drivers) and certain routers.... But this is wide-spread, this is no isolated issue, because one this is my THIRD computer, THIRD Computer Manufacturer, THIRD Wireless card, and SECOND Wireless maker, as well ALL OTHER wireless computers, devices etc. have no problems connecting, AND my old computer for the last 6 years I've connected to likely some 200 wireless networks and NEVER a single problem.

So, I don't know what it is, Win8, Optimus, some flaw in the newer tech, whatever, but while it does only occur on certain routers, it's wide, and the routers are mainstream, and thus there is simply some flaw with the newer cards/drivers.

Anyway, the problem is not fixed.... I'm going to try fiddling with the "Roaming Aggressiveness" more and see if I can help make it not so bad, because that is the settings where I've been able to at least get some kind of working connection.

Haa haa.... And right when I posted this post MY WIRELESS IS NOW DOWN.....!!!!

[tvete]

I feel bad that these drops are happening to you. Maybe the Intel Dual Band Wireless-N 7260 is more stable than the top of the line Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260. I also went to my friends house with the ISP issued 54 Mbps 802.11g 2Wire router so it's not using the N mode at all. I didn't have any problems connecting nor experienced WiFi drops for my whole 3 hour stay. I don't think software tweaking would fix this problem. I'm also running the latest 16.1.5.2 drivers for Windows 7 with no changes to the advanced settings at all. I can only conclude that Windows 8 / 8.1 and Intel drivers are not working well with each other resulting to these WiFi drops.

[idata]

Ya.... My biggest issue is if I do anything important online, some application, form, etc. I may end up being screwed more. I live online, and this issue is simply too much...

BTW hey INTEL....

Someone else in one of the other dropping threads for a different card reported that it was occurring for them on their VERIZON FIOS router, and mine is occurring on my CenturyLink router....

What's important about that info, is that both routers are ACTIONTEC Routers.... Although, I don't think it's only ActionTec... but, it's at least something.

[idata]

Well DANGET.....!!!!!

I've discovered that my work-around for the Wireless dropping issue doesn't actually work as I thought.

It turns out that if you stop "pinging the internet" such as listening to music, playing a game, or using a Connection Monitor program that sends out pings to check connectivity, the wireless WILL STILL DROP... very often and usually briefly, and it's irritating, you have to refresh webpages quite often, as well sometimes do Troubleshoot Entire Service to restore the connection....

Thus, the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 wireless dropping issue is.....

NOT RESOLVED...!!!!!

[Jose_H_Intel1]

You may be right; however, you mentioned earlier that this issue also happened with a non Intel wireless adapter, since in your specific case you only have one router to test with, and multiple wireless adapters with the same issue (and I know other computers with older operating systems connect just fine) I am more inclined to discard a compatibility issue with such router.

I am hoping that at least your router has the latest firmware as recommended before. Something else could be testing your computer in a different network, let's say a friend's or a hotspot.

[idata]

So, a good fellow "victorios" in this thread: /message/207673# 207673 https://communities.intel.com/message/207673# 207673 for the n-2230 card posted these settings.

802.11n Channel Width for band 2.4 --- Auto

802.11n Mode --- Enabled

Ad Hoc Channel 802.11b/g --- 9

Ad Hoc QoS Mode --- WMM Enabled

Bluetooth(R) AMP --- Enabled

Fat Channel Intolerant --- Disabled

Mixed Mode Protection --- RTS/CTS Enabled

Roaming Aggressiveness --- 3. Medium

Transmit Power --- 5. Highest

Wake on Magic Packet --- Disabled

Wake on Pattern Match --- Disabled

Wireless Mode --- 2. 802.11g

------

I didn't change any of these yet, most don't apply either and/or are named differently.

Maybe they are Router settings??? Most aren't in my router either.

aggressiveness of homelessness: 3. average

Disactivated ARP WoWLAN: Off

Incompatible with 40 MHz channels: Off

Regeneration GTK keys to WoWLAN: Off

Ensures disconnection WoWLAN: Off

Wake on Magic Packet: Off

Encryption = WPA PSK TKIP

new drivers available for Windows 8.1: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=23231 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=23231

-------

So, here's my experience so far.....

Hmmmm..... Interesting!!!

On my Dual-Band Wireless-AC 7260 card I followed your settings as they apply up to the "Wireless Mode" setting, and you're entirely right. Though I think I left the "Wake on Pattern Match" as Enabled.

I went an entire hour without a single disconnect. It did ultimately disconnect when I layed down for a few minutes, came back and it was disconnected (had to then troubleshoot entire service to re-enable the connection), but not the entire time I was browsing, which normally would occur at least 6 times in an hour.

Further, in an hour I would get maybe 200 or so "Page cannot be displayed" errors, and I would have to refresh the page to make it show. I only got ONE the entire hour, which simply could have been the browser or internet, well within common browser functioning.

Like I mentioned, I didn't do many of the others, namely your last grouping, and some settings don't apply to my card. Also, on my router I'm set to use AES security.

Further, I changed the "9" to "6" in mine, because I was thinking that's related to the wireless channel/freq set in your router, mines set to 6, and I also put the "Roaming" on lowest just to see (did this after my initial hour test, so testing this setting. Also, I discovered that when I re-enabled the "Wait on Magic Packet" setting, I immediately starting having connection problems again.

I think a lot of your settings above may not be necessary, but I think you have really helped us here.

Oh, I also am using the 8.1 default driver 16.0.0.62 still, I haven't yet tried the 8.1 in your link. I will though soon here....

THANKS SO MUCH..... Finally something that is more or less working!!!!!

-----

p.s. had an error when originally trying to post this message, though, not sure if I actually got disconnected, because I didn't see anything, had to refresh page totally, kept doing it, so maybe it was just a forum error???

[idata]

So this is interesting.....

With the 16.0.0.36 driver and the above settings, I seem pretty stable, very rarely disconnect.

But, I updated to the above 8.1 Driver and Proset, and I constantly still disconnect, even with the above settings, minus the bottom ones as mentioned and other differences.

Further interesting, is I roll back the driver, and of course the Pro-set software is still installed. It was kinda cool to see the pop-up letting you know when you disconnect, but the problem was that even with the above settings and now the old driver which WAS working, it also kept disconnecting....

So, I'm thinking maybe the Pro-set software is doing this? I uninstall it from the Control Panel, and there you go, I no more have the disconnect issues, but the old driver stay's the at least livable connected, rarely drops or disconnects.

Now, I WOULD like to install the latest 8.1 driver ONLY to see if I can improve things, but Intel is not offering it apparently as a separate download, and the one from Microsoft which I think is a version or two below it, still has connection problems even with the above settings??? You have to install Pro-set.

Anyway, so it seems for me so far the 16.0.0.36 driver alone with the above settings there is now some stability in connection.

BTW, it also seemed that it was the Pro-set software that was making the opening webpages really SLOW (as I mentioned in another thread).

CRAP.... Just got disconnected just before I was to submit this....

Well, still more testing to do then.... ho hum....

[idata]

Okay, so I've decided to set all the settings exactly how he indicated, since things seemed a bit erratic after all, not going as well as the first test, including the bottom ones, all the ones anyway that there are settings for, and I will now test.... Let's see how it goes, will return and report.

[idata]

So I was still having some disconnects it turns out even with this new system.

Though, it does seem not as bad.

Unfortunately, he now has gone even further with instructions which I'll post later after some testing.

This doesn't seem to end, and these last instructions should be done frankly.....

[idata]

Well, it seems this guy is just "guessing"..... stringing us along, not actually having a "real" solution.

He's changing things, having us do crazy things, etc.

I give up....

I'm just going to having to try to convince my Manufacturer to send me a Killer N1202 or use Internet Connectivity Monitor v1.41 to stay connected when browsing. Not sure if you ping a website forever though what will happen, like if they will ban you or something?

[idata]

Well, finally have a working internet.....!!!! Here's what I did.

I have a CenturyLink Router (made by ActionTec), I bought 3 different computers Acer, Lenovo, & MSI. All three had different wireless card models from two different company's, Intel and Atheros. I also bought 3 different Wireless extenders 2 NetGears and 1 Belkin. ALL of these devices would have constant wireless dropping and disconnect issues, no matter what settings what drivers, etc. I couldn't call CenturyLink because it wasn't my router or service, but roommates who wasn't really reasonable to deal with.

My roommate had an old router but not too old (maybe year 1/2) he used with his previous service. He at least allowed me to hook that up connecting an Ethernet cable from one of the CenturyLink LAN ports to a LAN port of the second router, and I now have a working wireless internet connection. BUT BEFORE I made that connection, I connected the second router by Ethernet to my computer LAN to LAN, went into settings manually through the browser (follow the instructions for that router for going into your settings i.e. 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 typed in your browser and login indicated on the bottom of most routers), turned off the DHCP of the second router, set my own SSID and pw on the second router (using WPA2 AES security, and be sure to use a "different" SSID from your main router (i.e. name of your wireless network), because you will be connecting to this one instead), and then connected the 2nd router to the CenturyLink router with the cable per above, and I'm working.

Here's instructions: http://fixhomenetwork.com/blog/how-to-connect-router-to-router/comment-page-1/# comment-47948 How to connect router to another router

2 months of some 5 hours a day working on this, and I finally got a working internet connection.

Conclusion..... People having this problem simply need to:

1. get their ISP to give them a working router

2. get a different router themselves, verify with the ISP the required settings/login info, or

3. get another router and hook it up LAN to LAN as I just did. That is the best way.

Note that when I was using the Wireless Extenders, I seemed to have a great connection from the computer to the Extender. But the connection was just as bad from the Extender to the CenturyLink router. So, the problem is the new generation wireless systems and certain crap routers, even different extenders couldn't communicate well with the router. Drivers do have a play because the wireless disconnected once on my computer side, though that may have just been the wireless itself, not on my side, but they aren't the real problem, the router is. I'm still using the 16.0.0.62 driver, though I will try the latest update to see if that works still also.

BTW, the 2nd router is a NetGear, and I'm actually connecting to the 2nd routers wireless, hence my setting up the SSID and pw per above, though the internet is going through the original router. Doing what I've done is what's called setting up an "Access Point", which means exactly what it means, using another router for extra internet access points, so you can connect additional computers up to the 2nd routers LAN ports or go through the wireless as I set up. Oh, I also set a different wireless broadcast channel on the 2nd router. Most are set to Auto, so that might effect things, so you might want to set the channel on your original router to something else other than auto and other than the channel the 2nd router is using. Not sure if this is important, but I think so, because the routers being close together the signals can conflict. So, using two different signals/channel would be best. Even better, if you use the inSSider home program I mentioned in another post above, you can see which channels are least used and pick the best channels. Note, you pick the ones which give you least "overlap", i.e. same channels other wireless are using. I set one to 6 and one to 11.

Also, one note about overlapping wireless signals/channels. In the inSSIDer program you see none are using say channel 7 for example. Well, it's actually not good to set a router to channel 7 because you will actually end up overlapping more wireless signals, the ones from say set at 11 and those set at 6. The program will show you how many signals you are overlapping.

Good luck all.....

[idata]

BTW, I've been using the latest Driver from Intel, the one that comes through Microsoft's Update.

All seems well, no connection problems save the rare router needing to be unplugged or a troubleshoot entire service to refresh the ip/connection, which is a common problem with all routers. I can make clear Google Voice calls also VOIP (as clear as such is), while before with my work around I had serious problems with that still, was almost unusable.

But, I now have a fully working proper internet connection as far as I can tell. Note, haven't tested Bluetooth etc., so can't comment any issues related to those.

[SAnto2]

Intel is really doing a bad drop with there updates... after so many driver updates I thought this problem would be fixed but I could say without a doubt that both my 7260 DualBand and 7260 -N are both dropping consistently. I really can't believe that this isn't getting more attention.. there are ways to improve the problem but nothing resolves it... resetting the windows 8 network stack resolves the problem temporarily, reinstalling the drivers usually does the same thing, also disabling power saver mode. However all these things are temporary I have played around with the roaming and I will say that setting the setting to highest does seem to help too. I hope that intel fixes this soon cause im gonna be disputing this computer with my credit card company it is practically unusable with unstable wifi.

[ATurf]

I have a HP Pavilion X2 (11-h003sa) and a Toshiba P55-A5312. I temporarily had a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro but regretfully I had to return it because of this issue. All of these laptops have the Intel 7260, and all have the drop-out problem.

I've tested with the following operating systems: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 13.10 (on every laptop I have/had). I've also tested with a range of routers (Netgear, Apple Airport, TP-Link and tethering on my Nexus 4). Frequent sporadic dropouts occurred on all my laptops with every single operating system. Because I need to use SSH a lot, it made all my laptops borderline unusable.

Something that worked reliably for me was to use a Netgear or TP-Link USB WiFi dongle. Not very convenient, and users shouldn't have to resort to such a workaround for new laptops they've paid good money for.

Recently I decided to search for a better fix than carrying around (and trying not to lose) tiny USB WiFi adapters. After looking at the logs when running Linux and doing some Googling (this problem is very wide spread, and not isolated to a small number of laptops), I found the culprit to be a faulty 802.11n implementation on the part of Intel. A reliable workaround is to turn off 802.11n.

On Windows:

1. Open Control Panel | System Security | System.

2. Open Device Manager on the left hand side of the window.

3. Click on Network Adapters.

4. Right-click on Intel Wireless 7260, and click on properties.

5. Click on Advanced Tab.

6. Click on HT Mode and then select disable as an option.

On Linux:

1. Open terminal.

2. sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/wifi-disable11n.conf

3. Add this line: options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1

4. Save and restart.

As for the possibility of a "driver update" resolving this issue - I'm skeptical this will ever happen, as from what I've seen in various threads on the Internet, this has been a known issue for quite some time (and several new drivers have been released in that time).

Very poor show, Intel. I've returned an otherwise perfect laptop (the laptop of my dreams) because of this issue. I wonder how many other people have done the same (will do the same). I'm now waiting for something similar to the Yoga 2 Pro (i.e. high resolution display) that doesn't use Intel WiFi.

[tvete]

Well, disabling HT Mode makes your computer turn back time to 2007 where current laptops still have b/g WiFi lol. Well, Intel will finally have a competition in the WiFi AC arena when new laptops with Broadcom BCM4352 NGFF form factor http://wikidevi.com/wiki/Broadcom_BCM94352Z http://wikidevi.com/wiki/Broadcom_BCM94352Z shows up in either Q2 or Q3 of this year (just my prediction). The best way right now is to wait for official Intel drivers that will fix the disconnection / speed drops etc.