Intel AC7260 problems

[NK5]

Hi there, I just excitedly bought 3 AC7260 cards for all our laptops in the house cause we upgraded our router to the RT-AC66U and let me tell you I am soooooo NOT impressed with these cards. They are horrible, I cannot keep a consistent connection with my router.

Computer # 1 is a Dell 7720 running windows 8 and all I keep getting is constant unable to access network page errors that only say on a chrome web page:

Error code: ERR_NETWORK_CHANGED

In my intel event viewer I get around 3 lines marked Information..... authenticating wireless profile XXXXX every minute!!!!!! This can't be right???

Computer # 2 is an XPS 15 running windows 7 home and I get the same problems as computer # 1 just not as many chrome ERR pages.

Computer # 3 is an Alienware M18 and it consistantly drops the wireless connection too. I had a bigfoot card in there previously and NEVER had any problems with losing wireless connections.

I'm using all the latest newest drivers on all my laptops and i just can't believe how troublesome these 7260's are. Anyone else actually have a 7260 thats rock solid and if so, how did you do it?

[idata]

Alright.... Finally have "sort of" solved this thing.

1. Set 802.11n channel width for band 2.4mhz to - AUTO

2. Set Roaming Aggressiveness to - HIGHEST

3. The wireless has been now connecting to 802.11g "g" not "n", and I've had perfect connection.

Clearly 802.11n "n" is the problem.... Now, it could be that my router is simply selecting "g" for the moment, I don't know, there isn't a setting in Advanced for disabling 802.11n in the 7260.

Anyone know how to disable the "n" in the 7260?

Did setting the "Auto" above simply make it connect to the best network?

I've set these settings before and they did nothing. Of course, I was still connecting to the "n" network, not "g" so I'm guessing the "n" network is the problem with certain routers and intel and otherwise cards especially on Win8 (some also apparently on Win7 depending on driver).

I need to know how to disable the "n" on my end just in case the router and laptop decides to connect to the "n" network again. I can disable through the router, telling it to only use the "b & g" networks, but if this happens in the future like if I travel, or if my roommate who's a jerk decides to change the box login (he doesn't know I've went in, and not telling him because he is a jerk (long story) ), I need to be able to stop my computer using the "n" network.

Anyway, I've confirmed, tested 2 hours now, it's working, not a single noticed drop. But, this is only a workaround, I guess I'm loosing internet speed/strength by not connecting to the "n" network?

So INTEL..... Please fix whatever is wrong with your "n" network connection and certain mainstream routers.

Again, I'm on a CenturyLink router now.

Also, I'm using the default Microsoft driver 16.0.0.62..... although, I don't think it matters which I use, since it's clearly the "802.11n" that is at issue, so as long as I don't connect with that, I'm good.

UPDATE..... Installed "InSSIDer for Home" Wireless monitor and it's saying I'm connected to "n" not "g"???

Or is that just telling me what my router is capable of? I don't think so right??? Doesn't make sense, Windows in Task Manager is telling me I'm connected to "g"?

[Jose_H_Intel1]

Please note that the statement posted here /community/tech/wireless https://communities.intel.com/community/tech/wireless is in regard of other wireless products explicitly mentioned within the statement.

The Intel® 7260 wireless products are completely different architecture and therefore the cause of the issue is different. You may consider the following recommendations:

• Update the wireless driver and router's firmware.
• Verify the settings of your wireless adapter and router. http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/4965agn/sb/CS-028449.htm Wireless Networking; How do I improve my 802.11n wireless performance?
• Contact your system manufacturer for further assistance.

[idata]

Joe Intel.... spare me....

I've spent 4 days and 5 hours a sleep a night strait on this issue just on this card alone, and this is an issue across various cards, more so yours, but others also, Atheros only other that I know, and killer, but I heard they have you under them. Of course, that doesn't make sense because Atheros has killer?.

Anyway, With the 7260 the ONLY driver I can find to get to work is the 16.0.0.62 Microsoft version the default of Win 8.1.

Even then, it connects to "g" ONLY and not "n" like it should, and on the 2.4Ghz I put to AUTO and on Roaming Aggressive I put HIGHEST.

Now, I also see, that your latest driver (one released just prior to 9/23/2013) has BOTH of those settings set the way I do, unfortunately you've done something else to it so it actually constantly disconnects the same as all other drivers. In other words, it's flawed.

I should note I also changed my Wireless Radio channel, and that also helped, but with auto or others it's would drop more. As well, even this particular driver and setting isn't "flawless", it sometimes disconnects also, but just very briefly and rarely. I've played will all settings of the Router, it's also updated, etc. This is a mainstream ISP router, CenturyLink.

So, if you actually want to fix the issue that people are having, I would get that router, and start working on the problem. Because I've had three different computers, three different cards, and two different card manufacturers all Win8, and it's the same issue. Of course, my older laptops with XP and Win7 both work fine.

Also, it's not simply the "n" that's at issue, because other drivers even at "g" the dropping still occurs.

But, at least I have some connectivity now, having found a driver that "mostly" works.

Anyway, if you guys want to actually fix the problem, instead of having the same problem for A YEAR, please get that router, and learn what it is about that router that is causing this problem to occur. After all, if it occurs with three different cards etc. then it's a very good test subject.

I'd be happy to get you the exact model if you like.... if Intel is "real" about fixing this serious problem with the latest wireless cards, Win8 and certain routers. But, I won't hold my breath.

[LG4]

Where do you see 9/23 drivers? I'm willing to try it. I'm running 8/29 16.1.5.2

[idata]

I said "before" 9/23.... I couldn't remember the version # so I said that instead. That one or close to it is the last if I recall.

Again though, my issue only works with the earlier version, changing some settings and changing the radio freq/channel to one less used.

[LG4]

I kind of have similar issue with 2.4 band only.I'm using Netgear R6250 and sense I introduced 7260 ac adapter to my network I'm getting a very slow throughput on 2.4 band and it does effect other laptops on the network. I have 30/5 mbps cable so when I connect on 5 ghz band I would get full speed both direction, but on 2.4 ghz band I would be lucky with 2-3mbps down, but the upload speed is 5. That is very interesting. I still believe it's intel card drivers issue, because if I turn off laptop with 7260ac card and reboot my R6250 router(have to) the whole network becomes a life again.

[MLuer]

I just purchased a Dell XPS12 Win8 64bit which has the 7260ac dual band.. wifi Bluetooth combo card. out of the box new this card is consistently dropping wifi and Bluetooth. I spent some time trying to see where the issues were and of course I upgraded the drivers. amazing I had to do that on a brand new day old machine.

this is what I found.

I have 26mbps connection from uverse.

speedtest.net

After having several download and speed test that crashed with cant file read errors etc. I turned off my Bluetooth mouse. without the Bluetooth connection I downloaded over 20mbps and uploaded close to 5mbps. no crashing and most of the tests actually completed.

Then I do the same exact test with Bluetooth connected I found that the download speed dropped over 1/2 to like 10mbps and it would always crash on the upload test. Also if I moved the mouse during the download phase it would sputter and skip across the screen as if it has very little compute cycles for it. And it usually crashed the download.

I am currently at a loss. I had the card 7260ac replaced - it produced the same issue. I am not sure what else to do as I have updated all the proset drivers for that level of card. I am going to have to send back this machine which is very nice because the network connection and Bluetooth doesn't work.

Any thoughts.

[LG4]

We all know it's a driver. I switched my network to 5 GHz band and it's more stable, but now have only one card that has issues on my network. Guess which one....

You guessed correctly, it is 7260. It quits seeing 5 GHz band and switches to 2.4 band and than I would loose internet on laptop with 7260 card. All other laptops are just fine. INTEL FIX THE ISSUES.

I talked some tech support guys at work and they all said "STAY AWAY FROM INTEL CARD". They say they have issues with all N-card.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

For those who were not able to fix the issue with the latest drivers, we are looking for volunteers willing to assist testing and debugging drivers. The people who would like to help with this task must be using our latest driver (15.10.3.2 for Windows* 8) and still have connection drops. Please note the following considerations:

• Be a technical savvy person in wireless networking.
• Be willing to install/uninstall drivers and provide feedback.
• Have software skills. If possible, knowledgeable in software debugging.
• If possible within the United States (Portland, Oregon is a plus).

In order to participate please send me a private message.

[LG4]

Joe

If you need a tester for Windows 7, I'm willing to try it. I'm software architect(with development background). I know more than enough about networking and debugging to qualify. Let me know.

Thanks

[ALewc]

I bought a Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus a couple months ago which includes the Wireless-N 7260 adapter and have had constant and seemingly random drop-outs ever since on Windows 8.1. I have tried several different driver versions (currently running 16.7), and played with all adapter settings with no success. I am using Apple Airport routers at home, and Cisco wireless access points at the office. I have completely reformatted and re-installed Windows 8 and 8.1.

Last week I convinced myself that the adapter must be defective and after a frustrating interaction with a useless Samsung support rep that led to nothing, I decided to replace the Wireless-N adapter and ordered a new Wireless-AC adapter from Amazon. Just installed it tonight, and no change. Still experiencing the exact same drop-outs.

@Joe: I would be happy to participate in testing. I meet most of your requirements.

[ALewc]

If it's not apparent to anyone else here, Intel is clearly not interested in solving this problem.

I purchased a USB WiFi dongle which now gets to hang out of the side of my brand new ultrabook for the rest of it's life because two different internal Intel NICs couldn't do the job. Problem (sort of?) solved. At least I have a consistent connection now, albeit via an ugly joke of a solution.

I purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars of computer equipment each year and this is completely unacceptable.

Intel is dead to me.

[AU2]

I can only second to AaronL. It's been several months already when the problem was first reported and no improvement so far. I own brand new Asus UX302DL with the same dual band AC7260, and surely I experience network drops. Driver update (including Windows Update and joe_intel's suggested links) did not help any more than a mere PC reboot, and problem occurs with several different APs, including rock-stable industrial Motorola/Symbol ones. The only workaround was to give 802.11n up and disable HT mode in device properties. However this is exactly not the reasons why I paid for new expensive ultrabook.

AC7260 also displays problems with Bluetooth (namely loses connection with mouse), but that's another story.

Windows 8.1 x64 and Windows 7 Pro x64 (dual boot on same machine, same network speed drop experience)

[idata]

Here's the only real fix I've been able to find.....

Basically you have a junk router that simply isn't compatible with newer wireless tech.

I know this because 3 different computer manufacturers, 3 different wireless card models & two different manufacturers, and even 3 Wireless Extenders models from two different manufacturers wouldn't connect well to my router.

Can't really blame Intel on this, because an Atheros card and three wireless extenders NetGear and Belkin did the same when connecting to the router.... It's more so a problem with crappy routers.

[TLaur2]

I just purchased Intel Dual - Band AC 7260 HMW 2x2 AC+BT - Sistem information WIN 7 Prof 64bit + Asus G73JH I720QM, previciuos WLAN adapter "atheros ar9285"

Test that i made:

- with Atheros 150M + Router Asus RT N10E 150M - around 70mbps - without any problems in 6-8 months

- other laptop other adaptor e.g Inter Centrino 6200 etc + same Asus RT N10E around 70 mbps - withou any problems 6-8 months

- with 7260 AC +Router TP-LINK WDR3600 DUAL-BAND 300+300 4+1Gb port(newest firmware) - all posbile drivers included those from https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=23231 HERE in both 2.4 and 5ghz without channel overlap or bonding with Channel Width: AUTO - ~40 mbps (but connected at 300mbps)

- same schematic but with Channel Width: 40MHZ - ~60mbps - still slow (connected at 300mbps)

After tons of testing - with http://www.asus.com/support/Download/3/111/WIFI/30/ THIS DRIVER Version V15.9.0.5 but is in fact this version 16.1.1.3 there (i don't know why) i was able to have this results

- in 2,4 Ghz - everything default - still connected to 300mbps only ~65mbps - only 3-4MB/s with drop

- 5GHZ every thing default FULL SPEED without any drop low signal or other problems - this means 95mbps (this is maximum from my provider)

In the next days i will have 1Gbps connection from provider and i can not wait to see how wil be the results on speedtest. i'm sure that i can achieve minimum 170mbps in 5 ghz

I wans't been able to find a driver for 2.4 to work properly - i'm sure that the drivers are the problems.

Time spended 2 days.

Thank you.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

We are looking for more volunteers. Besides the points mentioned above we would like to choose people whose wireless adapters came preinstalled by the system manufacturer.

[ABrad9]

Hello joe_intel,

I have a new Lenovo T440s with the 7260-AC card built-in.

It has Windows 7 x64 installed with the latest Lenovo drivers from October installed. i am connecting to a Comcast wireless OEM router.

I am experiencing the same "drops" as people here - the signal is OK but I will have "limited access". The only way to recover is to disable/enable the wireless adapter. Also, on resume from hybernate it will not want to find and connect to the network.

I would be interested in working with Intel on solving this issue - I am a technical IT manager for a large manufacturing company.

Thank you,

Andrew

[JRave1]

I have recently upgraded my wi-fi card from a Intel wireless n-130 to the AC 7260 as well Andrew.I am getting amazing speeds with my Netgear R6100AC wireless router. As far as your connectivity issues are concerned i have yet to experience that as a problem, however my laptop will no longer remember my network settings. i did some digging and realized that neither Intel or Windows is generating the .xml file needed to be saved as a network profile. currently trying to figure out how to generate that info so i can manually save it. you can view your network profiles by opening cmd (Start+R) -> typing: netsh wlan show profiles . I am 90% sure this issue is related to our problems. hope this helps

Samsung, Intel Pentium B950, Windows 8.1 Pro x64, Intel Wireless Dual Band AC-7260 w/ Bluetooth4: Driver v.16.6.0.8

[MFron2]

I'm having the same issue that Saraqiel was talking about where my wireless profiles aren't saving, has anyone found a fix for this?

[JRave1]

was able to generate the .xml file needed to add the network but i ran into more windows related issues.

1. if you'll all notice I was running cmd.exe with administrative rights.

this of course may be an isolated issue to my machine so it is still worth a try.

2. By entering cmd>netsh wlan export hostednetworkprofile i was able to created the necessary .xml file

3. lastly i tried to add the profile manually using the generated file. cmd> netsh wlan add profile filename="profile.xml" interface="wireless networking card" users="all"

i think that the sectors that windows is trying to save the profiles to are in system components of windows. which by default, users and even administrators do not have permissions to write too.

those savvy enough to tackle some coding, could tell windows to look elsewhere for the profiles would be awesome as i am not.

The only way i could think of is to take ownership of the directory that windows wants to save the profile too, and change them from a system folder to an administrative folder.

another issue that i am facing resides within Intel ProSet/Wireless utility for windows 8.1 x64. The utility is conflicting with windows as the network profile manager. Both windows8.1 and the utility are unable to save network profiles for me (permissions conflict). i strongly feel this may be due to the processor series (i am currently running a Pentium b950). as there are other associated problems when installing/running the utility. additional driver support for the processor series may be needed.

[JRave1]

TEMP/PERM SOLVED!!!!!! to Andrew and Michael

so i dug a little deeper yet into windows and was able to change the configuration of the .xml file associated with my wireless connections.

there are still some issues that need to be resolved with Intel to prevent this issue from continuing but the solution isn't out of reach for users.

1. navigate to the folder where network profiles are saved

2. change the rights of folder. for this i used a program called "Take Ownership". this program can change any file/folder that of the current user including guests and admins. You may want to create an administrative profile before use so that not every user has access to the program.

3. open the .xml file associated with your network. they are labelled in Hexadecimal so read through file until you find the correct profile.

4. change the profile to look like this...

5. save the file and test your results by disconnecting the network and restarting it.