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Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 Random Disconnects/Uninstalls

CUshk
Beginner
4,009 Views

Hi,

This problem has plagued me most of the year and it's become increasingly worse these last few months.

My Specs:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4690 CPU @ 3.50GHz 3.50GHz

RAM: 16.0 GB

System Type: 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

My network driver works fine for days at a time, but on occasion, it'll disconnect at random, lose track of all wireless networks, and I'll have to re-enable it from the Device Manager. At its best, it'll only do this once or twice before working again. Then, on some days, it goes completely insane. It won't stayed connected for more than a minute, and will frequently uninstall the driver throughout the day, just to reinstall it after a five-minute restart. And then it goes back to normal at a random time of its choosing and I don't see the problem for another week.

I've seen many threads covering this issue and I want to detail the things I've tried so far that worked for other people:

-Updating to the newest drivers (PROset10) makes it worse, as the disconnects are now accompanied by freezes, followed by my sound drivers crashing

-I've completely uninstalled the network cards (they always reinstall automatically on restart)

-Scanned for Malware

-Preferred Band set to 5.2GHz band

-Roaming Aggressiveneed set to Lowest

-Transmit Power set to Highest

-Power Management: Computer not allowed to turn off device

At this point, I can't tell if I'm dealing with software/driver incompatibility or faulty hardware. Any help diagnosing the problem would be appreciated.

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13 Replies
idata
Employee
2,645 Views

Hello Datadog,

 

 

As we understand, your system is having different issues with the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260. There are a few things we can check regarding connectivity issues and even for possible driver issues. However, keep in mind that the behavior you describe may also be caused by hardware issues, or problems in the Operating System, specially symptoms like driver being removed/uninstalled and reinstalled 5 minutes later, system freezes, and sound drivers crashing.

 

 

For additional assistance, please let us know the following information:

 

 

- https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility Download Intel® System Support Utility, run the tool and use it to create a report with all sections, on the next screen, Save the report to a file. Then use the Advanced editor options to add the resulting XML file to your post as an attachment.

 

- Provide any errors or warnings you receive about this problem.

 

- Is this the adapter that came built from factory with your PC, or is it a custom upgrade?

 

- Was this working fine before? if so, was there any change made around the time the issue started?

 

 

Regards,

 

Jonathan.
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CUshk
Beginner
2,645 Views

Thanks, Jonathon,

Attached is the report generated by the utility.

The problem doesn't come with warnings. Whenever it stops working, the list of available wifi networks disappears, leaving only my home network on the list. If I try to disable and re-enable the driver the from Device Manager, it might tell me "the device is working properly", but not refresh my wifi list, or it will uninstall the driver, returning the message "no drivers installed for this device".

This network card, along with the motherboard, was a custom upgrade from early last year. For eight months, I only experienced uncommon disconnects, attributing them to bad wifi. It started becoming a problem back in September (no hardware changes were made) and now it happens too often. At present time, I can't get the internet online at all.

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idata
Employee
2,645 Views

Hello,

 

 

We noticed that you have a desktop PC, and that your Motherboard does not have built-in WiFi, please confirm if you are have the http://www.intel.la/content/www/xl/es/wireless-products/dual-band-wireless-ac-7260-bluetooth-desktop.html Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 + Bluetooth* for Desktop, or if you are using a different adapter model. Also, proceed with the following actions:

 

 

- We strongly advise you to check with https://www.msi.com/support/ MSI Support, and make sure you are using the latest BIOS version for your Motherboard.

 

 

- The log shows that you are using driver 17.15.0.5, which is outdated. Please follow these steps to perform a clean installation of the recommended driver:

 

 

1. https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26528/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-and-Drivers-for-Windows-10?product=75439 Download and save Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows® 10 [19.30.0]

 

2. Go to Control Panel, Programs and Features and Uninstall "Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software", if it is installed. When prompted, choose the option to "Discard settings".

 

3. In Control Panel, Device Manager, Network Adapters, right click on the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260 and Uninstall it. Make sure you mark the option to "Delete the driver software for this device".

 

4. Reboot the PC or scan for hardware changes, check device manager and if an older wireless driver is detected and installed, repeat the actions to uninstall and delete it as well. Repeat this process until the OS does not allow deleting the driver, or until the controller shows as Unknown Device.

 

5. Remove temporary files: Press the Windows Key + R to open the run box. Type Cleanmgr.exe. Press OK. Select the main drive, usually C:\. Check Temporary Files and uncheck everything else. Press OK.

 

6. Install the Intel Wireless driver. During the first steps of PROSet/Wireless installation, make sure to customize the installation and install all driver components.

 

 

If the issue persists, please provide a new report from Intel® System Support Utility, with the adapter connected to the network. Also, let us know the model and firmware version of the Wireless Access Point.

 

 

Regards,

 

Jonathan.
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CUshk
Beginner
2,645 Views

The bad news is that after updating the BIOS, uninstalling the old driver, and reinstalling your recommended driver, I'm back to the old problem where my network crashes and take the sound driver with it (this only happens with the Pro10 driver).

The good news is that the network stayed connected long enough for me to make a new system report (See attached).

I was mistaken about the card. The upgrade from early last year is a Gigabyte Wireless AC Wifi & BlueTooth card (GC-WB867D-I), but under the Device Manager, it still reads as Intel Dual-Band. Updating Gigabyte's drivers has no effect. How would I find its firmware number

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KL2
Valued Contributor I
2,645 Views

There's an internal USB cable that comes with that card, is it plugged into an internal USB header on your motherboard?

I have a similar card, and it's unstable without the cable attached.

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idata
Employee
2,645 Views

Hello Datadog,

 

 

You might want to check again the adapter, since the report shows an Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260, this is also confirmed with the driver version and hardware ID. As I understand, the Gigabyte* GC-WB867D-I uses the AC 8260 controller. Please check on this with http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/support-downloads.aspx Gigabyte Support and let us know.

 

Note: This link is being offered for your convenience and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Intel of the content, products, or services offered there.

 

 

We would like to add that firmware updates are not available for Intel® wireless adapters, we only support driver updates.

 

 

In the log you provided, the adapter looks fine and the configuration is normal for 802.11ac networks. The issue may be caused by factors external to the wireless adapter, since the device should not dissapear from Device Manager and Wi-Fi failure shouldn't affect other components like the Sound drivers.

 

In our best effort, here are few items for your consideration:

 

 

- Make sure that the Wireless adapter is firmly seated into the PCIe Slot. Shut down and unplug your PC before doing this.

 

 

- Remove/uninstall 3rd party applications that may be affecting the way the wireless and sound drivers behave. We've had reports of similar issues with Network monitoring software, Video streaming applications, virtual machine/networking software.

 

 

- Disable the antivirus software temporarily and check if this helps. Also, make sure that the AV is up to date.

 

 

- Try plugging the adapter to a different PCIe slot and check if this helps.

 

 

Regards,

 

Jonathan.
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CUshk
Beginner
2,645 Views

Thanks for the replies.

Yes, Gigabyte uses the AC-7260 controller.

I've confirmed that the USB cable is properly plugged into the motherboard, and I've migrated the card to another PCIe port with the same results. I've also removed all third-party programs from startup (i.e. DropBox and antivirus). The problem persists.

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idata
Employee
2,645 Views

Hello Datadog,

 

 

Since the issue persists after multiple troubleshooting steps, you might want to check with Gigabyte* Support on this.

 

 

From our end, we only have a few options left for your consideration:

 

 

- Go the Device Manager, under network adapters, look for the Wireless Adapter and open the properties. Go to the "Power Management" tab and toggle Off the option "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

 

 

- Go to the Power options of your laptop, in the Advanced Settings for your Power Plan, and make sure that the Wireless Adapter is set to work at "Maximum Performance" when plugged in and on battery.

 

 

- Place the Wireless antenna in a higher location, clear from possible sources of interference.

 

 

As we mentioned, if the adapter "disappears" and the sound driver crashes, this may be a hardware problem, or a corrupted operating system.

 

 

Regards,

 

Jonathan.
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CUshk
Beginner
2,645 Views

Thanks, Jonathon,

I've tried the above already to no effect. I'll look into Gigabyte support and see what they recommend.

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idata
Employee
2,645 Views

Hello Datadog,

 

 

We're sorry to hear that the issue persists after multiple troubleshooting steps, engaging the board manufacturer or OS support are the best options at this point.

 

Feel free to contact us again in case you have any other questions.

 

 

Regards,

 

Jonathan.
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KL2
Valued Contributor I
2,645 Views

Try removing all instances of the PROSet software & drivers, then, using Device Manager, install just the base driver (Netwbw02) from this package: https://downloadmirror.intel.com/26527/eng/Wireless_19.30.0_Driver64_Win10.zip https://downloadmirror.intel.com/26527/eng/Wireless_19.30.0_Driver64_Win10.zip

I had an issue with the Intel Desktop 7260-AC PCIe card while using the PROSet installer a few months back, where the device would show up as disabled in Device Manager after the PROSet package was installed. Maybe your case is similar, but I believe the issue has been fixed in recent packages...

One other thing to try that I've seen mentioned is to install the Intel Bluetooth package before the PROSet package. That's backwards from how I would do it, but I haven't had the chance to try it out.

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JCope3
Beginner
2,645 Views

Please let us know what they determine. I have the exact same issues and RMAd the card and they sent it back stating that it worked fine. I'm at a complete loss at what the problem is as well.

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WButt
Beginner
2,645 Views

I had the exact same problem for quite some time and I performed a lot of troubleshooting.

The drivers that I had installed where it all started was....

- Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

- Driver Date: 01/28/2016

- Driver Version: 18.33.0.2

I had installed the latest drivers thinking it would fix it but it did not help...

- Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

- Driver Date: 04/05/2017

- Driver Version: 18.33.7.2

This just made matters worse, so I finally rolled back to the original drivers on my laptop.

- Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

- Driver Date: 08/15/2013

- Driver Version: 16.1.4.4

The problem was occurring multiple times a day and since going to the 2013 drivers, I've not seen the problem in 3 days.

Hopefully this will help others... it did for me.

Thanks

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