AX201 weak signal level

[Krzysiex]

I have just bought brand new Asus laptop (UX425EA) with Intel AX201 Wifi card.

I have got Huawei WiFi router working with 802.11n radio staying at my attic.

This Asus laptop has very weak signal level - about -80 dBm, meanwhile all my old latops (even ancient HP mini) have got -60 dBm in the same place.

This is my second new Asus laptop, I have returned previous one to the shop because I was sure it was faulty. Unfortunately this one works evenly bad.

What can I do with that?

Regards

Chris

[Krzysiex]

Hi Alberto;

A year passed since last message. Have you managed to contact ASUS?

Is it possible all their laptops have faulty design but they happily sell them all around the world? With your NOT WORKING Wifi card onboard? 

Regards

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello Krzysiex and JMr, I just received an update on this matter.

Our recommendation is to report this directly to ASUS since the issue has been present with two different ASUS systems and the manufacturer's drivers are causing issues too. At the moment we do not have reports of the same specific situation in other systems and we have tested the Intel® AX2001 card in plenty of configurations using our driver and OEM drivers too and they work properly.

The best thing to do is to raise the flag to ASUS, you can get in touch with their support and report and explain the behavior on their systems. You can share this thread so they can have more details about it. If the issue is with the antennas (hardware) there may be a conflict with the overall system configuration they are using. They can internally debug this problem and if they consider that is affecting a lot of their systems, they probably will get in contact directly with Intel® to have a fix for it. Also, take into consideration that third-party systems using Intel® products, customize our generic drivers to add/remove the specifications they want to achieve; they test the systems to make sure that everything is working properly with the customized drivers. Also, we provide our parts to be integrated and manufacturers can modify the Intel® stock capabilities to make it work with their configuration, so the specific capabilities of your laptop will be handled by ASUS.

https://www.asus.com/support/

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[omerates]

Hi Chris,

Have you been able to find any solution?

I'm having the exact same issue with my new Zenbook 13 UX325EA. I thought a received a faulty wifi card or detached antenna, reading your thread I'm convinced it's a chronic hardware or design fault.

Side by side with my 6 year old Zenbook, always receives signal strength 10-15 dbm lower. I tested at 3 spots, my bedroom, furthest spot from the router and right next to the router, 2 laptops and 2 cellphones on the same spot, while other 3 received quite similar strengths, UX325 always took the bottom. Even next to router, received -39 dbm, while old asus and mobiles received -27 dbm.

I already sent to the service for replacement or refund, geniuses at asus just reset the windows and sent back, saying that no hardware issue found.

The seller won't accept refund without service report, so I'm stuck with a ultra high tech PC that cannot connect to wifi without hassle.

[Krzysiex]

Hi Omerates;

I am afraid I have not.

Now I am sure this whole family of Asus laptops has faulty desing.

I saw a pictures of opened laptop and WiFi antennas are placed somewhere under right side of keyboard/glide.

Usually laptops have antennas around screen, so maybe this is one of the reasons.

I have bougth chinesse super repeater and installed it at home. So I can use this laptop at least at home.

Of course it is frustrating, but I wonder why so few customers see that? How many Zenbooks did they sell? And how many customers complains? I think unless we gather - let say - 10% angry users they will not give it a **bleep**.

Regards

Chris

[omerates]

Hi,

thank you for your reply. 

that's what I thought, probably antenna location attenuates signal, as I tried putting display on the table and keyboard on the air and signal got slightly better, I guess this is how Asus expects us to use their laptop

Such a shame really, I bought this without second thoughts out of the satisfaction from my previous zenbook, but Asus just destroyed it.

[kaleidoscope_2020]

I have a Asus UX425JA with Intel ax201 wireless card wifi 6 and have used it for two years.  I have confirmed that this card is defective and many others with the same story so if you have any ax series Intel wireless cards you should go for a different model or risk the same situation happening to you.  Intel will try to support you but cannot find any solutions to address the wireless card issues from disconnections and slow connections.  Asus will try to scam you by asking you to send it in so never do this for I have tried that already.  I have repeatedly tested multiple ways:  changing router settings, wifi settings, uninstalling and reinstalling wifi drivers, and even played around with command prompt in windows to get this to work correctly.  My conclusion for those stuck with this card is to get a wireless usb adapter instead if you can or to change to a different computer.  If your stuck with this then the only thing you can do is as follows:

1)  Router 20ghz only b/g/n/ 2.4ghz and 20ghz only n/ac/ax 5ghz.  Choose auto for channel on both just in case. 

2)  Download the newest intel wireless ax201 driver and save it somewhere in your c drive as a backup first.  Uninstall Intel ax201 wireless driver in device manager.  Scan and uninstall until you find yourself with the oldest microsoft wireless driver.

3)  Right click on intel wireless driver in device manager and change the settings to not use ax 5ghz if your router doesn't support it.  Use ac or n instead.  For 2.4 ghz keep it at b/g dual, if you plan on using 5ghz then a 5ghz then.  Wireless roaming put it at highest and MIMO Power Save Mode to no smps.  

4)  In cmd administrative mode copy and paste these two lines and enter:

netsh wlan stop hostednetwork
netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=disallow

This stops those wan miniport you see in device manager and you may have to uninstall those wlan miniport all of those.  You may also need to repeat this step everytime you restart or reopen the laptop.

The wireless should now be more stable but still be slow.  It will still disconnect sometimes and will still stutter.  If you can, don't use 5ghz for it disconnects frequently more than 2.4ghz.  Also if at anytime the wireless card doesn't work, you can reinstall the downloaded newest intel wireless driver I told you to save as backup to get the network working again.

[omerates]

Hi, 

Many thanks for your detailed reply.

I tried settings you suggested, however nothing really changed.

To be fair, I didn't have disconnecting problem, only the signal is weaker than it should be and causes fluctuations in speed away from the router. not to an extent to make it unusable but still frustrating

My router may not be the best, nor my internet connection. but from the same router if this only constantly gets weaker signal while all other (and older) devices can, this must be the problem.

It's really disappointing to have to deal with such a basic problem in a ~$900 laptop in 2022.

Now, I'll look into ways to return it or sell it.