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?

[tvete]

bacon612 wrote:

What driver version number are you using? Can you list the version that comes with windows 8.1? I am running windows 7x64 and tried the latest intel driver 17.0.0.34 and still have latency spikes on either the 2.4 or 5.2 ghz band when pinging my wireless router....

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ZERO problems here with 7260N on 5 GHz. 2.4 GHz has ping spikes on mine due to 33 radios nearby (apartment complex). Ping is ALWAYS 0 - 10 ms to the router! I'm using Dell's 16.8.0.6. drivers Maybe some antivirus or firewall or BIOS setting or power management stuff that makes your WiFi "go to sleep state" which is what causing your spikes. Also there might be some 2.4 and 5 Ghz radio interference which also causes your spikes! I suggest to change your router. I'm using the $25 Netgear WNDR3400v1 refurbished router and connected at 5 Ghz. In addition, mine NEVER drops and can keep the connection INDEFINITELY!.

[KCaud]

I have the AC7260 for desktop with Bluetooth and having similar problems. Windows 8.1 and ASUS mainboard with Intel i7-920. I can connect with 2.4GHz just fine but 5 will sometimes connect then drop and other times it won't connect at all. These problems all seem to be centered around Win8. It still amazes me that Intel can't get this right. Joe, I hope you're not the PM because that person should be replaced. This product should have never been launched yet. It isn't ready yet even though it's been in the market for at least 6 months.

Should I keep this or send it back for the ASUS that seems to work?

[Jose_H_Intel1]

Would you please verify if you get events with the IDs 5007 and 5055 in the Windows* Event Viewer (Control Panel, Administrative Tools) at the time the issue occurs? Kindly share the details from those events if available. Information such as operating system, AP brand and model, firmware version and authentication method is also valuable.

[MMISS60]

Just bought this from amazon and immediately noticed frequent disconnects (every 30 mins or so). The cheapo USB adapter I was using before, while slower, almost never disconnected me. Thankfully, amazon has a grace period where I can return the product.

1) Has anyone found a WORKING solution to the frequent disconnect problem? Using a slightly slower bandwidth is okay, as long as it's not too slow.

2) Can anyone recommend a similar long range wifi adapter product that won't disconnect me on windows 8.1?

[tvete]

thc wrote:

Just bought this from amazon and immediately noticed frequent disconnects (every 30 mins or so). The cheapo USB adapter I was using before, while slower, almost never disconnected me. Thankfully, amazon has a grace period where I can return the product.

1) Has anyone found a WORKING solution to the frequent disconnect problem? Using a slightly slower bandwidth is okay, as long as it's not too slow.

2) Can anyone recommend a similar long range wifi adapter product that won't disconnect me on windows 8.1?

A1-2. You probably got a fake generic card from China. A legitimate 7260 has a part number from OEM embedded with the card. Also, there's nothing to solve here since many people who complain about the 7260 were the ones bought from online stores then complain that WiFi isn't fully working since they put it in to their laptops that Intel and OEM haven't tested yet.

Mine connects indefinitely, never slows down, and works PERFECTLY. It has NEVER disconnected on me at all but it used to have throughput issues (suddenly slower than 50 Mbps on a 144 Mbps connection) until 16.8.0.6 drivers fixed it.

[MMISS60]

Well, considering the amazon seller was INTEL I doubt it was a fake part.

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Wireless-AC-Bluetooth-Adapter-7260HMWDTX1/dp/B00EKQN2KK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1397418413&sr=8-3&keywords=intel+ac+7260 http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Wireless-AC-Bluetooth-Adapter-7260HMWDTX1/dp/B00EKQN2KK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1397418413&sr=8-3&keywords=intel+ac+7260

And on further inspection, the issue is more like you describe. Suddenly, the throughput is less than 1 Mbps for no reason. I am using 17.0 drivers btw.

[NChua5]

i see there's a thread for the AC7260. I just posted in N7260.

I bought a new laptop from Gentech with AC7260 installed. So i doubt it's fake. It works but when I am gaming it does get intermittent lag spikes. My 5 year old HP junk at least doesn't suffer lag spikes. I tested the same game on my desktop and there are no lag issues. It definitely is this card.

I've tried using only 2.4ghz and even 5ghz and checking the signal strengths with SSIDer and to no avail. I have the latest driver installed as well. I remember when I use to use the bluetooth it would disconnect intermittently as well. But it's not as annoying as unstable connection.

[MMISS60]

Using a suggestions from other threads, it SEEMS that turning HT mode off (or possibly some other settings I messed with) solves the problem. I'm going to continue to monitor the situation over the next week or two, and if I see any more BS disconnects, I'm just going to return the product.

Intel, get your act together. Come on.

[tvete]

azrael201 wrote:

i see there's a thread for the AC7260. I just posted in N7260.

I bought a new laptop from Gentech with AC7260 installed. So i doubt it's fake. It works but when I am gaming it does get intermittent lag spikes. My 5 year old HP junk at least doesn't suffer lag spikes. I tested the same game on my desktop and there are no lag issues. It definitely is this card.

I've tried using only 2.4ghz and even 5ghz and checking the signal strengths with SSIDer and to no avail. I have the latest driver installed as well. I remember when I use to use the bluetooth it would disconnect intermittently as well. But it's not as annoying as unstable connection.

Can you try turning off the HT mode on the device manager then ping your router's IP 500 times? I see some people having success with eliminating sudden ping spikes (above 10 ms ping to router) with this HT mode off. Turning off HT mode results to operating in A or G mode which is 54 Mbps max. However, I don't consider this as a fix since my 7260N (doesn't matter if it's AC or not since they use the exact drivers anyway) doesn't have any ping spikes while gaming or pinging the router with HT mode on. I use 16.8.0.6 drivers and will never update the drivers since "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

You can see from my screenshot below that it stays connected for 5 days straight and gets 0 ms ping average with 10 ms ping as max. I consider the WiFi ping stable if pinging the router 500 times doesn't get the max ping to above 10 ms as pings above 10 ms can cause WiFi lag while gaming.

[NChua5]

I remember someone suggested turning HT off but I mind as well buy a G card right?

I will try pinging myself but since I do experience lag it'll probably spike.

[NChua5]

just did ping test and I did get one random spike up to 223ms just once in a few hours. maybe just variance? I can do it again later.

[tvete]

azrael201 wrote:

just did ping test and I did get one random spike up to 223ms just once in a few hours. maybe just variance? I can do it again later.

If it's only once in a few hours, then it's fine since the router might just be releasing and renewing DHCP which can cause a spike. If this keeps happening every ping test you do, then it's not good and would cause poor throughput and unplayable online gaming. Maybe you're pinging the router continuously. Try this command to ping the router exactly 500 times and see if you get spikes greater than 10 ms.

ping [insert your ipv4 default gateway address here] - n 500

[NChua5]

I just let it run all until my laptop shut down. I did it again with the syntax you provided. I did get at least one spike and my max was 220.

Granted I was surfing the web but wasn't doing anything heavy.

[tvete]

azrael201 wrote:

I just let it run all until my laptop shut down. I did it again with the syntax you provided. I did get at least one spike and my max was 220.

Granted I was surfing the web but wasn't doing anything heavy.

That's going to explain the dramatic gaming lag you experience every 4 minutes or so while gaming. I think it's just that the drivers released by Intel doesn't work well for some but the majority of the reviews from amazon are 4 - 5 stars and many don't have problems that you experience. Well, I guess it's a luck of draw that Intel's drivers work perfectly for a lot of people who purchased from online but not so much for few others.

[NChua5]

maybe best thing is to switch to a different wifi card. maybe more hardware than driver?

[tvete]

azrael201 wrote:

maybe best thing is to switch to a different wifi card. maybe more hardware than driver?

It might be the case. Well, you can return the card and the same card from a different seller (just in Amazon or a different site like Newegg) and see if you still have issues.

[NChua5]

just found this article. I remember reading someone set roaming to highest, but seems like it applies more to your adapter finding a better router/ap to connect to as oppose to maintaining a stable connection. This may be relevant.

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-006205.htm http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wlan/sb/cs-006205.htm

My only concern about turning off power management and maximizing transmit power would be battery life. Seems ridiculous I need to maximize this setting when my router is sitting on the floor next to me. I think last thing I have put off trying is ethernet cord before I dump this card.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

We are working on a solution for some throughput issues. In regards of disconnections please check if you get the event IDs mentioned above.

[MMISS60]

Can you give a more detailed explanation of how to find these events? I looked through the event viewer, but did not figure out which category to look under.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

thc, you may use the Find option in the Event Viewer, it is on the right pane.

[AKule2]

Any update on drivers? 17.0.0.34 is still not functioning properly...

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Tested with Asus RT-n16 on 2.4, Linksys WRT610N V1 on both 2.4 and 5Ghz and also Asus RT AC68U on 2.4 and 5 ghz and 5 ghz AC. Same result.

Resuming from standby does work, however. It didnt used to see any wifi networks at all after a resume. I would have to reboot laptop.