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Centrino Ultimate-N 6300: Windows 10 upgrade # fail

VFabr
Novice
7,064 Views

I upgraded my laptop to Windows 10. It has an Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 wireless adapter. It worked like a champ before the upgrade (not sure what driver), but after the upgrade it no longer worked at all. I checked the driver site and it had a new driver, v 15.18.0.1. I installed that and it worked for a day or 2, but now it won't ever connect. It always says the connection is limited, and I can't access anything.

Has anyone else encountered this, or has a suggested fix?

TIA,

Vince

12 Replies
VFabr
Novice
3,908 Views

[Update]

I tried going to Device Manager, opening the wireless adapter, and rolling back to the prior driver (to v15.16 I think). Magically it connected successfully without being "limited". So I restarted my machine to see if it would keep the connection. It did not -- limited. So I went back to Device Manager, hit Upgrade Driver, browsed the local computer, selected v15.18 (the latest) and once again it was able to connect.

I tried disabling and enabling the adapter and that doesn't work.

So it appears every time I shutdown/restart/sleep my computer I'm stuck rolling back or upgrading my driver. A bit of a pain but at least I have a workaround.

Intel: Please fix this!

Thanks,

Vince

jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
3,908 Views

Hello VFab,

Here are the most relevant aspects and recommendations we can provide based on your description of the issue:

- I would like to let you know that the Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 should work well in Windows* 10, however, Intel does not provide drivers for this adapter in Windows* 10. The drivers available are the "inbox" drivers provided by Microsoft* Windows* 10. Driver fixes for this configuration would be provided by Microsoft.

- The behavior you describe (limited connectivity after sleep) is actually related to way the drivers react to the different power save modes; we have seen this condition before in other configurations.

- Even if the driver is not directly provided by Intel, you could try the following, as it may help in this situation: Go to Windows* Device Manager - Network Adapters, look for the Intel® Wireless Adapter and enter the adapter properties, in the Power Management tab, switch off/on the option "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Check if the behavior improves when you change this setting.

Let us know if this helps, or in case you require further assistance.

VFabr
Novice
3,908 Views

Thanks for your reply, Jonathan. I'm not sure why you say the driver isn't provided by Intel, as when I look at the driver in Device Manager it says the Driver Provider is Intel.

Regardless, I tried changing the Power Management option this weekend and it still behaves as before. I.e. I still have to Update/Rollback the driver to kick-start it. So far I have found nothing else that works.

Thanks again,

Vince

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jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
3,908 Views

Hello VFab,

The driver version, 15.18.0.1, is the latest (newest) driver available for the Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300. That driver version is intended for Windows 8.1. This driver version may or may not work with Windows 10 on your particular computer. We advise you to check with the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm Computer Manufacturer Support of your particular system to see which driver version they recommend using with Windows 10.

If the OEM does not have an 18.12.0 PROSet package or the 15.18.0.1, you might try to download 18.12.0 Windows 8.1 PROSet or the driver (32-bit or 64-bit) on download center: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25200 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25200.

It is really up to the OEM to determine what the best driver would be (if any) for Windows 10 for each system (make & model)."

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ktaro
Beginner
3,908 Views

8/17 seems to be an update , but I have become for windows8.1. I've a little becomes a stable communication , the same symptoms has come out . Early for windows10 it is the very want !

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CHaye3
Novice
3,908 Views

Looks like it is still a problem. I too had the same issue. The reason it shows limited and no internet connection is if you will notice it has changed your network from Private to Public. I tried just about everything to find a way to make this work. I have 4 laptops Dell 6520s they each have different network cards. This is the only one that has this problem. I converted all the other computers to windows 10 and thought it was a nice update. I went to Dell website and they said it had not been tested on windows 10. What ever that means. I let the time lapse so I ended up dumping ten in this computer and reloading a windows 7 install again. I did notice that when you come out of sleep mode even in 7 you will see momentarily how it has to reconnect. So I am in a hold on upgrading this to 10. If I end up really wanting ten in this and Intel does not come up with a fix I will just have to buy another network card and get the laptop open. I have to figure that someday either Microsoft or Intel will come up with the proper fix. I feel that Intel has let us down with this problem. We cant be the only 2 people with the problem. I fought with this for over a month and cant see me putting 10 back in until Intel has a 10 driver.

jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
3,908 Views

Hello,

Currently, Intel does not provide a Windows 10* driver for the Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300, and we are not able to confirm if there will be one in the future.

Users upgrading to Windows 10* with computers that use this adapter will continue to use the Inbox driver provided by Microsoft* with the Operating System.

We would like to remind you that we advise to contact the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm Computer Manufacturer Support to confirm if your PC is supported with Windows 10*.

CHaye3
Novice
3,908 Views

As I expected. I only jumped in to let others know what was going on with this network card. It had me going in circles for a bit. The only thing I didnt try was to turn off the card with the switch then turn it back on. So that is something to try before dumping the windows 10. So far Dell is mute, saying not tested on windows 10 and us people who have this in our laptops are hung out to dry. I will wait on the upgrade in this computer. And eventually if I open it up for another reason will just replace the faulty intel network card with one that is supported. Who would have guessed that the Intel device would have a problem with Microsoft. We used to always call it the Wintel conspiracy to get us to upgrade. I figure this will be the last windows operating system anyway. Thanks for the feedback.

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JMcDo6
Beginner
3,908 Views

I wanted to say that this is still a problem in October and it's driving me crazy. I tried everything from a clean install to the latest driver, and the connection still falls to limited connectivity. The one thing I noticed is that it seems to get a lot worse when I am within 10ft of the router (like dropping every minute or two worse).

I have a Lenovo x230 with a centrino 6300 and the latest 15.18.0.1 driver.

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

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CHaye3
Novice
3,908 Views

Its pretty obvious to me that Intel has no plans of supporting this product through windows 10. Once you have installed windows 10 on your computer it is now registered for it in the future. So if you scrub it out or go back to windows 7 and ever want to go to 10 again in the future you are covered. I removed 10 put back in 7. Since my computer loads windows 7 in 13 seconds I wont bother to change anything. I picked up a 6205 that does seem to work better coming out of sleep mode in 10. If they ever stop supporting 7 then I will just crack open the laptop and dumb down the card to the 6205. Not pleased but for now its the only solution. Good luck. I just have to say I have no problems with it in windows 7.

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KMaso1
Beginner
3,908 Views

jonathan_intel's advice from above seems to work for me:

"- Even if the driver is not directly provided by Intel, you could try the following, as it may help in this situation: Go to Windows* Device Manager - Network Adapters, look for the Intel® Wireless Adapter and enter the adapter properties, in the Power Management tab, switch off/on the option "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Check if the behavior improves when you change this setting."

However, my wifi connection is rock solid while the computer is awak and I only have problems waking up from sleep. Even then, simply choosing to disconnect from my wifi network and reconnect fixes the issue (until the PC goes to sleep again, when it frequently recurs). So my issue might be different from yours.

I ran Linux on this laptop too for quite some time. Both Ubuntu 14.04 and Fedora 23 are rock solid for this network adapter. Something worth considering perhaps.

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KMaso1
Beginner
3,908 Views

Actually, ignore my previous post. The problem has recurred even with power management settings changed as described; the symptoms are slightly different (no 'no internet' alert, but the network still doesn't work until I disconnect and reconnect wifi). Basically, the 6300 AGN doesn't work properly with Windows 10. I'm downloading Fedora right now to replace Windows 10 (Fedora works a treat on the x230, as does Ubuntu).

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