AX200 fails to persistently connect at 802.11ax and sometimes connects as 802.11ac (pcap with association included)

[DLito]

Setup. Dell Latitude 5490, Windows 10 (1809), AX200 (21.50.1.1), Ruckus R750. Pcap file with captured association requests is attached in the archive below.

The device connects sometimes as 802.11ax compatible (HE capabilities) and sometimes as 802.11ac compatible (VHT). The AP is tested, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 connects to the AP as 802.11ax with no variation. Both ranges were tried (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz).

The same problem occurs on a few other devices: another Latitude 5490 and ThinkPad X220. All of the devices have the same OS version, driver version (downloaded from the official Intel website).

For now I have no idea what to try to solve the issue. I thought about rolling back to older driver versions but I couldn't find them.

If additional information is required please let me know.

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello DLito,

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

Please provide the following information:  

• Intel® SSU Download link 
• Open the application and click on "Scan" to see the system and device information. By default, Intel® SSU will take you to the "Summary View". 
• Click on the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View". 
• To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save". 

Questions:

• Was it working fine before? 
• By any chance do you have a different router or Access Point (AP) that you can use to connect the computer and verify if the problem persists? 
• Just to confirm is this a new wireless card integration on your laptop?

Regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[DLito]

Hello Adrian

Output of the summary from SSU is attached (ax200-issue.txt)

• Was it working fine before?

It's a fresh WLAN module installation for 802.11ax testing and research. Unfortunately first tests on Windows aren't as smooth as I expected them to be.

• By any chance do you have a different router or Access Point (AP) that you can use to connect the computer and verify if the problem persists?

Additional tests was performed using Ruckus R730. The problem persists. As a reference point a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 was used, it successfully connects with HE capabilities so this ensures me that both APs (R750, R730) are pretty much capable of providing 802.11ax OFDMA communication. Of course beacons from the APs consist HE capabilities/operation info.

• Just to confirm is this a new wireless card integration on your laptop?

It's a new wireless card integration indeed. The laptop(s) (Dell Latitude 5490, IBM ThinkPad X220) was shipped with different Wi-Fi adapters and was modified for 802.11ax testing with AX200 (AP RU orchestration research)

Update. I was trying to reproduce the same alternation behavior (sometimes .ax, sometimes .ac) however devices connect only with VHT.

Test #1. Latitude 5490 -> R750 for 20 times. Assocreq doesn't reveal HE capabilities.

Test #2. Latitude 5490 -> R730 for 20 times. Assocreq doesn't reveal HE capabilities.

Test #3. ThinkPad X220 -> R750 for 20 times. Assocreq doesn't reveal HE capabilities.

Test #4. ThinkPad X220 -> R730 for 20 times. Assocreq doesn't reveal HE capabilities.

So the APs are capable of concurrent handling of OFDM (Latitude 5490 + AX200) and OFDMA (Samsung Galaxy Note 10) clients. The thing is that AX200 doesn't include HE capabilities in assocreqs hence further Data packets are sent with OFDM modulation. Well, it added HE capabilities for a few times but mostly it doesn't.

If there's any additional info I could provide you with please tell me.

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello DLito,

Thank you for your answer.

I appreciate the details provided, in this case since this is a new wireless card integration there are some things we need to consider when this kind of changes are done on laptops/desktops.

Things to consider:

• Replacing an adapter associated with specific wireless software and a different adapter type may cause connection issues or software error messages. For example, if you replace a Wi-Fi/WiMAX adapter with a Wi-Fi adapter, you may receive WiMAX error messages and lose connectivity to the WiMAX network.
• Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) may limit the computer to only specific wireless adapters.
• Your computer manufacturer can customize drivers and software to enable or alter features or provide improved operation on your computer.
• Installation or use of Intel® Wireless Adapters is subject to country-specific legal regulations. Some countries require the Intel® Wireless Adapters to be certified with the antenna that is intended to be used together in the system

Regulatory Information Regarding Wireless Hardware Installation or Upgrade

Why Doesn't My Laptop Recognize My New Intel® Wireless Adapter?

You might try the following:

Clean wireless driver installation:

• Download the latest generic driver. (Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 21.50.1)
• Uninstall your Wi-Fi driver.
• Go to Device Manager. 
• Expand the Network Adapters category. 
• Right-click your Intel Wireless Adapter and choose to uninstall it. 
• Make sure to select the option to Delete the driver software for this device. 
• Restart your computer. 
• Locate the driver you downloaded back in Step 1. Run as administrator, and follow the wizard to completion. 

Make sure to have all the OEM updates (BIOS, firmware, latest OS build, drivers).

You may also try the Advanced Intel® Wireless Adapter Settings on your laptop.

Advanced Intel® Wireless Adapter Settings

In case any of the steps work I will suggest you as well to contact the system manufacturer to validate and configure any hardware changes on their system since there could be some customizations on their hardware.

Regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[DLito]

Updates. Adapters work fine (persistent 802.11ax connection, OFDMA) with a few tested Linux distros (Ubuntu, Kali). Kernel >5.1 + iwlwifi-46/48. Looks like the problem is really in Windows 10 but I couldn't find the solution.

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello DLito,

Thank you for your response.

I have another suggestion that might work or might not but you can try it, go to the router settings and try this:

If the 802.11R is enabled, disable it.

If the 802.11 is disabled, enable it.

Regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[AdrianM_Intel]

Hello DLito,

Were you able to check the previous post? 

Regards,

Adrian M.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[AndrewG_Intel]

Hello DLito,

We have not heard back from you, so in case of the issue persists and considering the steps performed at this point and since we previously recommended to try using the latest generic driver from Intel, we kindly recommend you to contact the computer manufacturers to check this further since there could be compatibility issues (or hardware issues) due to the Wireless integration. They also may provide you with customized drivers validated to work with their systems or firmware updates and/or configurations that may be needed.

Also, we will proceed to close this inquiry. If you need further assistance, please post a new question.

Regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel