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Intel Dual Band Wireless AC-7265 drops my wifi connection unless VHT mode is turned off

JSo1
Novice
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I recently got a HP Envy laptop that came with the AC-7265 wireless adapter. Let me just say I have exchanged my laptop 4 different times and they all exhibit the same issue, so this is definitely not an isolated hardware issue. Laptop is running Windows 10 Enterprise 64-bit (version 1703).

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Laptop is currently running the latest driver version from Windows.

4/12/2017

19.51.1.1

Two issues I have encountered with this driver (version 19.51.1.1).

1) During heavy wireless traffic, such as having multiple tabs of YouTube videos playing at the same time, the network driver would crash and the following errors logged in event viewer:

Error 6/18/2017 10:51:53 PM Netwtw04 5007 None

Error 6/18/2017 10:51:53 PM Netwtw04 5007 None

Error 6/17/2017 9:32:24 PM Netwtw04 5007 None

Error 6/17/2017 9:32:24 PM Netwtw04 5007 None

Error 6/11/2017 9:24:30 PM Netwtw04 5007 None

The details of the errors are as follow:

5007 - TX/CMD timeout (TfdQueue hanged)

When that occurs, every single device on my network would drop off for about 30 seconds. That issue goes away when I disable WMM on my router (but that causes other performance issue so I need it enabled).

2) The second issue is it would cause my laptop to completely freeze up every other day, and requires a forced shutdown by holding down the power button. Here are the event logs when that occurs.

Critical 6/18/2017 9:20:30 PM Kernel-Power 41 (63)

Critical 6/16/2017 12:21:03 PM Kernel-Power 41 (63)

Critical 6/15/2017 12:12:48 AM Kernel-Power 41 (63)

Critical 6/14/2017 9:09:19 PM Kernel-Power 41 (63)

Critical 6/11/2017 5:35:06 PM Kernel-Power 41 (63)

The only workaround for the above issues is to changed HT Mode from "VHT Mode" to "HT Mode". But that also limits my connection speed to 300Mbps (instead of the 866Mbps I can have with VHT Mode).

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So the next thing I did was downgrade the driver version back to the original version that came with the laptop:

7/14/2016

19.1.0.4

With this version, the 1st issue goes away (dropping my network during heavy traffic) but the 2nd issue remains (lockup issues). Again, if I change the HT Mode from "VHT Mode" to "HT Mode", the issue goes away.

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I have spent a lot of time testing the different versions of drivers under different scenarios to arrive to the above findings. Something definitely changed between version 19.1.0.4 and 19.51.1.1 that cause the wireless adapter to crash under heavy traffic and cause the 5007 - TX/CMD timeout error. And the VHT Mode, when enabled, causes my laptop to freeze in both versions mentioned above. The workaround for both versions is to downgrade to HT Mode, which is something I don't want to do as it lowers my connection speed.

As I mentioned in the beginning, I have already exchanged the laptop 4 times at Best Buy and the same issue remained, so it's definitely not a hardware issue, but a driver issue.

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JSo1
Novice
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OK I found a way to install the older driver. I had to:

1. Go into Add/Remove program to uninstall the existing Intel ProSet/Wireless Driver

2. Go into Device Manager, and the driver's properties and uninstall the driver (also check the box "delete driver" if it's there)

3. Install the older driver.

4. Disable Windows from updating the driver in the future. Right click "This PC", then "Properties". Goto "Change Settings" then "Hardware" tab. Click "Device Installation Settings" and then choose "No"

I'm still disappointed after so many months and iteration of drivers the lockup issue is still not resolved. It shouldn't be that difficult to compare the source code of the last known good driver with the next version to see what was changed. But as long as I can run the older version I'm OK. Hopefully by the next Windows release this issue is resolved because by then the older version driver probably won't work.

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