7260 still drops connection with newest driver

[AGros3]

I have had an XPS 15 Touch (XPS 15-9530) with the Dual Wireless-N 7260 card running Windows 8.1 Update and have had no end of problems with wireless connectivity. I am on driver 17.0.0 and set Power Options to Maximum Performance for my wireless card. I had these same problems back when I was on Windows 8.1 with the 16.10 driver (I think that was the version) when I first got the laptop and the driver update didn't sort it out. The main symptom I see is that when I'm on my home wireless network, suddenly my wireless connection goes to Limited and I need to toggle Airplane Mode on and off quickly to reconnect and regain internet access. A secondary symptom is that I have no end of problems joining wireless networks at restaurants and coffee shops and also joining my iPhone's tethered network (I eventually just gave up and tethered via Bluetooth).

My home network is an Airport Extreme dual-band network, extended by my basement's Airport Express. Automatic channel selection is enabled but it always seems to stay on the same channels: for 5.0GHz both the Extreme and the Express are running on channel "149+153" and for 2.4GHz the Extreme is on channel 1 and the Express is on channel 11.

Is there something I can do to help troubleshoot this? I will try to attach the logging from a recent drop. I noticed the connection drop at 9:40am, although it may have dropped up to a minute before. I then toggled Airplane mode at 9:42am and regained my connection at 9:43am.

[GMila2]

Hi Kevin,

thanks for the news. I use 8.1

Just yesterday morning I come back on the driver site and discovered the last version 17.1.

Once updated the driver with this last issues have disappeared!

I still have the changes applied to the advanced section of the interface and I don't know if I should put back on the default.

In the doubt and considering it works now I've left changed.

I would thank you if you will let me know the default options.

Regards!!!

[SNort3]

I am using newest driver 17.1.0.19 but this problem still occurs on my Wireless-AC 7260 (Razer Blade 2014) on Windows 8.1. It seems to be DNS related; usually some websites will work while others display connectivity errors. Disabling / enabling the wireless adapter in Device Manager fixes it temporarily.

I have a Dlink DIR-655 at home, but also have this problem at coffee shops and friends' houses, some worse than others. Both Razer Blades in my home experience the same issue, but other computers and devices can stay connected with no trouble.

[Kevin_M_Intel]

Giacomo_Milazzo it is not necessary to set the default settings because all those troubleshooting steps were done to improve the performance so all those changes will make it work better.

SarahNorthway in the case you have done all troubleshooting steps mentioned on this thread, please check your private messages.

Kevin M

[EHunt1]

SarahNorthway Did they send you anything useful in the private message? I have many computers at work and my laptop at home that suffer the same exact issue you describe. I'm not sure why they sent you a private message rather than sharing with the community.

kevin_intel Has any progress been made? It's been several months since the last driver release. Disabling U-APSD with the latest drivers has made the "limited connectivity" issue less frequent but has not resolved it. I see posts reporting this issue starting around a year ago. How long does it take to fix this or is it a hardware bug that can not be fixed with a driver update?

[SNort3]

I've been back and forth with Intel for six weeks but nothing useful has come of it. First they asked http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-034658.htm all the obvious things I'd already tried. Then they sent me a link to older http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/24168/eng/Wireless_17.0.6_e164.exe&Lang=eng&Dwnldid=24168 driver version 17.0.6_e164, but I couldn't install it because it thinks the Windows 8.1 default driver 16.0.0.62 is newer and refuses to install over it. If I uninstall the wifi card's driver, Windows immediately reinstalls 16.0.0.62 and I http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-hardware/how-do-i-prevent-windows-8-from-installing-default/ec60d766-1e9a-44be-aa4f-fef5533b9282?tm=1411255478695 haven't found a way to prevent it. At least I tried.

Last I heard from them, Intel wanted to know when they could give me a call, presumably to walk through all the stupid obvious things again and waste my time. My last two emails to them bounced so I guess I won't find out.

The only thing I can say is that the issue only occurs on some wifi routers (mine is a D-Link DIR-655), so you might try replacing yours if you can.

[BB4]

Sarah, in Device Manager, uninstall the adapter AND select to uninstall the driver, too. Keep repeating this until you get a default driver from Microsoft.

Might have to do it half a dozen times but this method generally succeeds in expunging the driver store.

[Kevin_M_Intel]

Hello SarahNorthway,

I am sorry you are having this bad experience but let me help you as much as possible.

I first would like to know what troubleshooting steps have you done so far so we can get details and provide accurate information.

Hi Draiken,

Can you please let me know what your system configuration is? Please provide the following:

1. Attach your dxdiag report here. How to get it?

Dxdiag Report: Type dxdiag in Start Menu> open> Save> Attach using Advanced Editor Options.

1. What driver are you using?
2. What is the brand and model of your router? What is the firmware on it?
3. How many computers do you have running on the environment?

Kevin M

[DKish]

Hi Kevin, thanks for you prompt response

Attached the DXDiag report

Currently I am using driver 17.12.0.4 OEM, before that I've used several versions of the 17 driver and 16.6, 16.10, all with various results, but the main problem, copying files to my wired NAS slows to a crawl.

My Router is a Netgear R6200 AC Firmware is the latest version provided by Netgear: V1.0.1.52_1.0.41

As for devices, I have several:

3 laptops - 1 uses 5 Ghz, the other 2 2.4 Ghz

1 File server - Acer Easystore H340 with Windows Server 2012 Essentials R2 - Wired Cat 6

2 Tablets - 2.4 Ghz

4 iPhones - 1 on 5 Ghz, the other 3 2.4 Ghz

2 Smart TV's - 1 on 2.4 Ghz, the other Wired Cat 6

1 Blu-Ray Player - Wired Cat 6

I have setup MAC Address filtering and just allow those devices to connect, have guest networks disabled

[Kevin_M_Intel]

Have you tried disabling uAPSD? Here you have the link:

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-034875.htm http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/CS-034875.htm

What is the security encryption set on the Router? Can you change it to AES? http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/4965agn/sb/cs-025643.htm http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/4965agn/sb/cs-025643.htm

Kevin M

[DKish]

Kevin, It is Disabled, and also my Router encription is WPA2-PSK AES

[EHunt1]

At least he addressed you. I was just flat out ignored. Worst case, you can pick up one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JY6X9HM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Amazon.com: AzureWave Broadcom BCM94352HMB/BCM94352 802.11/ac/867Mbps WLAN + BT4.0 Half Mini PCI-E Card: Computers & Acc…

[Kevin_M_Intel]

Hi ezra_h

I understand your frustration and I am more than willing to help you debugging this issue.

Can you please let me know the driver you are using right now? Can you also attach here the dxdiag report? How to get it?

Dxdiag Report: Type dxdiag in Start Menu> open> Save> Attach using Advanced Editor Options.

What is the brand and model of the router and what firmware is it running?

Kevin M

[CBock]

I am facing ecactly the same problem. I got a Dell XPS 15 (9530) with an Intel Wireless-AC 7260. I was trying a v16 and 17.1 driver, U-APSD on/off, Channel width and nearly any other setting and a gajillion combinations.

What I noticed however, as long as the traffic is low (online gaming), it is very unlikely to hang. But as soon as I copy files from or to my nas via smb, it happenes as often as every 10 minutes. I got 2 options, either wait 3-5 minutes, the connection will start working again and downloads sometimes even resume or simply toggle wifi (all connections are reset). The extended statistics in the proset software keep showing received packets, but for some reason the operating system does not see them.

I am "at the end of my latin" as we Germans say in these situations. Is there any solution to the problem yet?

[Kevin_M_Intel]

My best recommendation is for you to open a Web Ticket so we can get more detail information about your system.

Here is the contact:

http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/contactsupport http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/contactsupport

Kevin M

[DKish]

Same problems with an Asus G750JX and the 7260 AC, tried tons of drivers even an OEM version 17.12.0... Wifi on 5 Ghz is fine... 2.4 Ghz very slow, but transfering files between computers in my network, even the wired ones takes FOREVER at less than 300 Kbps.

[MSven1]

Quick edit on this post. The previous solution I had reference roaming aggressiveness didn't work well. That being said, what IS working for me is a modification to the security settings. I switched from AES to TKIP and it I have had NO issues at all.

Right Click on the network connection you're having issues with (e.g. HOME-..., MyWiFINetwork)

Go to Properties

Under Security, change Encryption type to TKIP.

I've been using this for a few days and I have yet to have a disconnect.

[Kevin_M_Intel]

Thank you for sharing this information. I am sure it will be very helpful for other users.

Kevin m

[MSven1]

Kevin,

Actually, the solution didn't work. I posted an edit to the solution. After a LOT of adjustments to settings, I narrowed down the issue to the wireless encryption. My home router (a Comcast TC8305C) was the only network I've had an issue with and it supported AES and TKIP. Initially the connection was defaulted to AES but, when I changed to TKIP, I went from losing my connection several times and hour to no loss in connection for the past few days, plus much faster re-connection after disconnecting.