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?

[JMich13]

Hello,

I bought Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook S904vPro with Intel Dual Band Wireless 7260 card few days ago. From the begining I have similar problems with that card like others. I checked two different routers, 2.4 and 5 bands. My router is placed on the second floor in my home, my laptops on the first-floor. On my old laptop I have 8 Mbit speed, on my new laptop with 7260 card I have about 1-2 Mbit (laptops are placed in the same location). Better speed connection is on the 5Ghz band, 2.4 GHz is terrible (less than 1 MBit). This card must have issues with range or something because if i go with my S904 to the router closer then my speed up to 8 Mbit. I use Windows 8.1 x64, I checked different drivers. On the Windows 7 x64 is the same situtation. Can you give me any advice? Is it the chance that Intel fix this issue?

[FYuso]

Hi guys,

I own Dell Inspiron 14 5000 (5447). Bought it 1 month ago. It comes with Intel AC-7260. Had a lot of issues on performance. Call Dell and finally after 3-4 visits, they replaced my AC-7260 with AC-7265. They even gave me dual band AC-3160 and single band N Dell -1707 (Atheros) card for spare. AC-3160 is better than AC-7260 in performance on N networks. But the AC-7265 is much better. With the new card, so far, it is very much better than 7260. I have driver 17.1.0.19. It doesn't disconnect, doesn't disabled after waking up from standby and have a better throughput performance for download for both N on 2.4Ghz and 5 Ghz. Did not test with AC as I haven't an AC wifi router. I am using Asus RT-N66U wifi router. If you own Dell, please call and ask for replacement, Free of charge. As long as you are within warranty periods. I could not try Intel Advance N-6235 as it does not comes with M.2 PCIe 2230 option. I believe that is the best option for N network. My laptop uses M.2 interface for WiFi. On the side note, my HP laptop with Ralink WiFi card outperforms Intel card anytime for N network.

Just to let you guys know.

[PTomo]

Lol i'm not the only one who have this awesome lag with Lenovo Y50? I intalled the latest 17.12.04 driver and it has become worse xD Now i more likely have " internet connection spikes" instead of lag spikes so in every minutes now i can ping www.google.com 1-2 times, than i lose connection.... The previous "17.1.0.19" driver was more stable then this.

I use it to connect to a 802.11.n/2.4Ghz network.

Peter

[PTomo]

Since i have found an error description about the 7.1.0.19 driver.

There it is (translated to English by me so there might be mistakes.)

Description:

The error caused by the application located at: C:\Windows\System32\wlanext.exe

Problem subscription:

Issued event's name: BEX64

Application Name: WLANExt.exe

Application Version: 6.3.9600.16384

Application Timestamp: 5215e075

Fault Module Name: IWMSSvc.dll_unloaded

Fault Module Version: 17.1.0.0

Fault Module Timestamp: 53a1e4a3

Exception Offset: 00000000000d73a1

Exception Code: c0000005

Exception Data: 0000000000000008

Operating System Verison: 6.3.9600.2.0.0.768.101

Location-settings identifier(?): 1038

Other datas about the problem.

Collective Identity(?): 047e2eb97abf239c4bc161a00b12fd74 (81682438685)

[CSayr]

So I was having issues with my card waking up from sleep, and finally got that resolved by tweaking some router settings I THINK. I sure hope so. Everything was working fine for a few days, and I was on the latest drivers, but then all of a sudden my speed kept cutting down to nothing, and sometimes I would even get only 'Limited' access as labeled by Windows. I've rolled back to some very old drivers and so far all is working well again. I just don't understand why this card can't work well. Do I have to buy an AC router to get this thing working? Right now my router is provided cheap/free by my ISP and I'd prefer not to buy and configure my own but what a nightmare this has been. Not sure what Intel was thinking with this PoS card. Nor why laptops first being sold late this year are still using this piece of garbage when it has so many issues, even after endless amounts of complaining and updates! I don't even know what to do, I love this laptop otherwise.

[ARosc1]

Shadow, I can certainly tell you that you do NOT need an AC router to use this card. I'm having issues with it too with an AC router. Just wanted to help clarify that for you.

[MK22]

For fuck's sake is intel realy so incompetent?! This crap card works just barely (extremely slow) on my other computer, whereas on the other I can't even connect to the router. But when I plug in my Tp Link all is fine, the nearby interference doesn't bother it much. So with all the billions Intel has it's completely helpless to make this work. Or if it's a fatal hardware issue, they should call it in or something. Unbeleavable.

I swear I'm never buying an intel again. Should it be an ssd or a processor. Incompetence, incompetence...

[SBo1]

Ok guys, my sad story with 7260 has happy end. finally. Connection drops , limited access, no connection after sleep and constant blutooth connection drops are in the past. I just get used qualcomm killer 1202 off ebay for 25 bucks and those problems are gone. No any drop in Now 7260 in the trash can , after 6 months of tinkering with drivers and wasting time reading useless threads with no solution. My advice is to stop begging for drivers, they will never pop up, i think the card is a crap and have some bug in it, just check ebay and replace it with any other product and save your time for something more important =)

Intel , you sucks ! It happens really rare but in this case you have to recall that faulty crap and replace it or refund your customers.

[Cde_G]

"It happens really rare but in this case... "

- Not that rare for Intel. A few years back I sunk a ton of money into some servers and bought a copy of the latest Microsoft server O.S. The servers were single processor but could be expanded to dual processor which I needed for the workload. After installing the second (INTEL) processor I noticed it wasn't being detected by the O.S. Turns out it was a faulty "look aside buffer" on the Intel processors.

Intels advice? "Repurchase an entirely new system with our next version of processors that's coming out. Maybe that will work"

...And they wonder why Qualcomm and ARM are just obliterating them.

[tvete]

Intel is still the king in x86-64 instruction set. Unless Qualcomm and ARM can use x86, Intel will still be there if user needs full OS on mobile. Anyways, massive WiFi issues only started when MS released Win 8 and 8.1, and it's not only happening on Intel but also other WiFi manufacturers. Ralink cards are still the most stable for Windows 8, 8.1 but then they only make the slowest configuration though (1x1 single band N).

[SBo1]

7260 is no go under any OS , win7 , win8 , 32 or 64 bit. Its crap anywhere, it can be slow with less glitched on 16x drivers or slightly fasted but full of bugs with 17x. I still wonder how ppl have so much patience to wait for nothing.

[Cde_G]

I think you're right. It's time to start up a class action.

[SBo1]

I could never imagine that losy wifi card can bring so much PITA for just 3 months i own my new PC. I had around 6 notebooks, most with intel cards no any problems .. But this one is a real b.i.t.c.h. Now i have that qualcomm 1202 card and type this message with one hand and remove tears of joy with my other hand LOL ))

[LG4]

I used to have all sorts of issues with 7260ac. I bareilly have any on windows 7 pro with latest 17.x drivers. This is what I had to do. I had to uninstall all previous drivers from Device manager. Continue uninstalling drivers until windows tells you that it can't find any suitable drivers for wireless device. Do a final reboot and download the latest Intel 17.x driver and software. Install without doing a custom install.

I have Netgear R6250 and it works very well with 5 AC band, but R6250 does have issues with speed on 2.4 band. I also can confirm that my old TP-Link 841 2.4 only can achieve full speed with 7260AC without any issues.

Hope this helps.

[tvete]

littlebo wrote:

7260 is no go under any OS , win7 , win8 , 32 or 64 bit. Its crap anywhere, it can be slow with less glitched on 16x drivers or slightly fasted but full of bugs with 17x. I still wonder how ppl have so much patience to wait for nothing.

Nah. it's not under any OS in my experience. On my Windows 7 laptop (originally came with Win 8), 7260 works perfectly with no sleep issues, disconnects, slow downs, ping spike issues whatsoever. I get perfect streaming with very good transfer rates of 50 to 57 Megabytes (not bits) per second from my 802.11ac router. Windows 8, 8.1 has lots of issues with WiFi regardless of manufacturer though Ralink WiFi cards are very stable on Windows 8.1 based on my experience.

[SBo1]

We have different experience . My N550 comes with win8.1 out of the box. And i had wifi issues all the way till i installed win7 x64 on it . Problems are exactly the same with win7.

[RWidm1]

Under this and other threads you can see many Win 7 issues with these 7260 cards. Assuming that because you have no issues w/ Win 7 and therefore there must not be any issue with the card holds no water whatsoever.

This has been going on so long, there is obviously no reason to believe Intel will fix this. It appears to me that many of the issues involve an AP/Router with a Broadcom chipset. I wonder if these 7260s have some fatal flaw/incompatibility with the ubiquitous Broadcom chips that cannot be overcome with software. Seems hard to believe that a manufacturer wouldn't have released a successful driver by now (about a year after product release) if it was fixable.

So I have to assume this is unfixable, and rather than address this with a recall which obviously would be very costly, Intel is waiting it out and hoping no class actions are filed. OK, message heard loud and clear, I will get on that today Intel.

Aside from the frustration of not being able to use my laptop which is almost a year old with constant WiFi connectivity issues... which is about half of its useful life... I am strapped because my laptop OEM (Lenovo) only supports certain wifi cards. Actually, replacing the card voids my warranty. So I can't just go get a Broadcom replacement and send the bill to Intel with a demand for loss of use/warranty for my laptop... I would have to buy another Intel wifi product. The OEMs must not be happy either given average joe's probably call them first about the defective 7260.

[BB4]

<<I wonder if these 7260s have some fatal flaw/incompatibility with the ubiquitous Broadcom chips that cannot be overcome with software.>>

My Lenovo with this card plays quite nicely with my Broadcom AP.

I think that it is true that the card doesn't play well with some routers, though, but I don't think that it's limited to Broadcom-based devices. More broadly speaking, I think it's Windows 8 that introduces some issues of its own.

There are settings to manage on the card, on the router, and in Windows, apart from drivers which is yet another variable. It's somewhat of a pain, especially if one isn't too familiar with how to mess with these things, but it can be made to work quite successfully. --I'm addressing Windows 7 here. I don't use 8 so I don't have confidence that the chances of success apply equally between the two OSs.

[RWidm1]

GattoNero wrote:

I think that it is true that the card doesn't play well with some routers, though, but I don't think that it's limited to Broadcom-based devices. More broadly speaking, I think it's Windows 8 that introduces some issues of its own.

It does seem the 7260 is most problematic on Win 8/8.1.

Yeah, only Microsoft and Intel know whose to blame... I don't care, just want the thing to work, and with less downtime than 7 to 12 months. Shameful.

[tvete]

GattoNero wrote:

<<I wonder if these 7260s have some fatal flaw/incompatibility with the ubiquitous Broadcom chips that cannot be overcome with software.>>

My Lenovo with this card plays quite nicely with my Broadcom AP.

I think that it is true that the card doesn't play well with some routers, though, but I don't think that it's limited to Broadcom-based devices. More broadly speaking, I think it's Windows 8 that introduces some issues of its own.

There are settings to manage on the card, on the router, and in Windows, apart from drivers which is yet another variable. It's somewhat of a pain, especially if one isn't too familiar with how to mess with these things, but it can be made to work quite successfully. --I'm addressing Windows 7 here. I don't use 8 so I don't have confidence that the chances of success apply equally between the two OSs.

I have connected my laptop with 7260AC and another with 7260N (both Win 7s) to various APs from home (Linksys with 802.11ac Marvell chipset), school (Aruba Networks with most likely Marvell and less likely Atheros chipset), and my friends (Netgear Broadcom chipset) and none of them showed any connection, latency and speed issues with the 7260 for hours. There wasn't any change in the power options on my laptops aside from extending the time to keep the screen awake (I use the Balanced plan) with the Medium power saving on battery and Max performance while plugged in and allow to turn off is checked. Also on all APs I tested, no limited connectivity or disabled card when waking up whatsoever. I really wonder what percentage of 7260 users are having this problem on windows 7. Considering the whole world, I would guess less than 2 percent on 7, but I would say around 5% - 10% on 8, 8.1. Anyways, in software world there is essentially no fix for everyone since the drivers may work perfectly for some but not for others.

[RWidm1]

theveterans wrote:

Anyways, in software world there is essentially no fix for everyone since the drivers may work perfectly for some but not for others.

Intel couldn't have said it better! Or maybe, "just buy our product, and maybe, just maybe, it will function in a year or so"....

Its probably better if you are right that Win 7 is not a problem w/7260, but evidence in these threads points elsewhere. If you are right, then the issues in Win 8/8.1 must be software not hardware and can be fixed with software. Then the problem is, why hasn't it been fixed if its fixable?