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AX200 loses connection all the time when using wifi repeater

Fredy
Novice
2,758 Views

I currently have a setup of an AVM! Fritz!Box 7590 router with the same companies 1750E repeater used together in a wifi mesh network.

 

My PC is relatively far away from the router itself but very close to the repeater, so ideally my wifi card should connect to the repeater and then the repeater connects to the router.

 

While sometimes this works very well, most of the time my wifi card just keeps dropping the connection to the repeater, and then connects to the router directly. After some time it realizes the connection to the router is way to weak (70mbit/s compared to 650mbit/s to the repeater) and connects back to the repeater. This back and forth continues, sometimes all day long.

 

The problem is of course on one side, that my speed drops significantly when it switches to the router, but it also sometimes fails to reconnect to either repeater/router and my connection drops for several second (Windows even shows I am not connected to wifi during that time). On bad days this happens approximately every minute, which means I basically cannot access the internet reliably at all.

 

I am fairly certain this is the driver's fault (probably to do with 801.11k, even though I already set the roaming aggressiveness in the driver to lowest). I have have since given the repeater its own SSID and I am not getting any issues anymore (However I do not want to keep it this way, since I want my other devices to seamlessly connect to the best wifi access point when I move through my house). My phone and laptop also both do not experience this problem at all, in fact I have successfully used my phone's wifi connection on my PC through USB tethering and it worked flawlessly.

 

My driver's version is: 21.50.1.1

I am running on the Windows 10 insider preview (fast channel) but I also had these issues before.

11 Replies
Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
2,331 Views

Hello Fredy,

 

Thank you for submitting your question on this Intel® Community.

 

The purpose of Windows* Insider Preview builds is to allow people to test new features and software that may be introduced in future releases. Also, Microsoft* expects to receive valuable feedback in order to make improvements. When running a preview build, systems are prone to instability, which may cause Windows* to stop responding while running applications or performing a specific task. It may also have bugs and errors since these versions are not stable.

 

  • Are you able to try this configuration using the latest Windows* 10 version 1909 Build 18363 one more time?

 

  • If the issue persists, please generate a system report with the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) and attach it to this thread.

 

  1. Intel® SSU Download link
  2. 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".
  3. Click on the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".
  4. To save your scan, click on "Next", then "Save".

 

  • Also, please let us know if the Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 came preinstalled in the computer.

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
2,331 Views

Hello Fredy,

 

If you need further assistance, please let us know. We will be glad to assist you.

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Fredy
Novice
2,331 Views

Thanks for the reply and sorry for my late response.

I have attached the SSU file below.

 

Unfortunately I cannot switch back to stable windows version as I need some new features (WSL2) for work (and you cannot switch back without doing a full reinstall apparently).

 

The module did not come preinstalled, it is part of the Gigabyte GC-WBAX200 PCI-E card that contains the AX200 module. I have already tried two different PCI-E slots, but that made no difference.

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Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
2,331 Views

Hello Fredy,

 

Thank you for providing us with more information about the Windows* 10 Insider Preview version you are currently using and the reason why you need it.

 

We would like to do further research about this behavior. In the meantime, do you know if there is a firmware update you can install on the Wi-Fi repeater?

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Fredy
Novice
2,331 Views

The repeater is already on the latest firmware (last release of it was in August).

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Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
2,331 Views

Hello Fredy,

 

Thank you for your response.

 

We will look into this issue and update this thread as soon as possible.

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
2,331 Views

Hello Fredy,

 

We would like to update this thread.

 

Please try disabling Fast transition (802.11R) in the router if possible and check the performance of the system.

 

If the issue persists, please provide us with the following information to look into this issue.

 

Wireless security method

Encryption Type (Open, RC4, TKIP, AES):

802.1X authentication type (WEP, TKIP, CCMP): 

Key Management Type (PEAP, EAP-FAST):

 

WiFi network environment

Access Point SW version

Channel Width (20 MHz vs. 40 MHz) for 2.4 GHz?

Channel Width (20 MHz vs. 40 MHz vs. 80MHz) for 5 GHz?

SSID stealth mode (hidden or broadcast):

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
2,331 Views

Hello Fredy,

 

Were you able to go over the steps recommended to address this problem?

If you need further assistance, please let us know. We will be glad to assist you.

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Fredy
Novice
2,331 Views

Disabling 802.11r seems to have done the trick. It has not happened again since yesterday.

 

 

 I​ am wondering if this is the fault of the WiFi card or the WiFi repeater (although as I said I have not had issues with my phone/laptop). If it is the repeaters fault I'd like to contact the manufacturer so they can fix it.

 

 

Either way, thanks a lot for the very competent help so far.

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Wanner_G_Intel
Moderator
2,331 Views

Hello Fredy,

 

We are glad to know that the issue was resolved. 

 

Intel is working with different AP vendors to address these connectivity problems. Our recommendation is that you continue working with your AP manufacturer since both Intel and your AP manufacturer are working on this problem.

 

If a new generic driver is released, try installing it for testing purposes.

 

Regards,

 

Wanner G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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ragp
Beginner
2,310 Views

I am experiencing a similar issue with my AX200 on an Asus Prime B550M-A Wifi and Windows 10.0.19041.

AX200 driver version is 21.90.3.2

I have a AVM Fritz 7590 router with Fritz OS 7.20 and Fritz 3000 Repeater with Fritz 7.19.79817 Beta.

My PC is connecting to the router 2 stories down, instead of the Repeater 1 story down, even though the Repeaters signal is stronger.

I haven't tried disabling 802.11r on the router or AX200 is I am unaware how?

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