Wireless
Participate in insightful discussions regarding issues related to Intel® Wireless Adapters and technologies
7368 Discussions

Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265

KRopk
Beginner
2,856 Views

Hi,

I have a one month old HP Spectre which has an Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 that is not working.

WIFI drops out shortly after I connect.

The 'as supplied' WIFI drivers work for about 50% of the routers I commonly use.

The suggested fix from HP was update the drivers.

All the updates I have tried have make the situation worse.

HP tech support seemed for some reason to think I was experiencing a unique problem.

However, even a quick internet search (on another machine obviously) suggests there are a lot of people in the same position.

(I have also tried a lot of the fixes reported online because this is a machine I would actually have liked to use.)

(But sadly none worked for me.)

(Again, looks like I am not alone there either.)

 

Currently in the process of returning the HP, but what I was really wondering is

(1) Does anyone have any idea when this issue will be fixed? and

(2) In the meantime, what machines do not have the 7265 wireless chip?

Like to avoid the same issue with another machine.

 

0 Kudos
10 Replies
ASouz7
Honored Contributor II
1,461 Views

Karl35,

We are sorry to learn you are experiencing this issue. So, when you updated the drivers, you did it from HP* support page, correct? And we understand the issue remains, with that being said, as a second option, you can try our newly released drivers for this adapter version 18.21.0. Please make sure to donwload the drivers that is compatible with your OS and architecture (32 or 64 bit)

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/75439/Intel-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC-7260 Downloads for Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

Downlad and save first, and before installing it, you may do the following:

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

2 - In Control Panel, Device Manager, Network Adapters, right click on the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 and Uninstall it. Make sure you mark the option to "Delete the driver software for this device".

3 - Reboot the PC or scan for hardware changes, check device manager and if an older 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.

4 - Install the Intel® Wireless driver you have saved. During the first steps of PROSet/Wireless installation, make sure to customize the installation and install all the 3 driver components.

0 Kudos
KRopk
Beginner
1,462 Views

aleki_intel,

Thanks for your reply. But I think I have already done all that.

I original did all the updates that the HP support utility recommended.

I then factory reset and did just the wireless updates.

I had a number of goes at that because HP kept updating the drivers, and then saying 'no there is a newer one. try that...'

That got me to one of the 18.00.** versions of the drivers. (Sorry not sure which anymore)

(BTW, I have 12 versions of the drivers on the machine one day)

 

The HP guidance was then to go to your site because you had more recent updates.

 

(I queried the possibility that the hardware was faulty. HP it was not and insisted that it just needed the right driver update.)

(If so, not sure this wifi chip is exactly fit for purpose if a month of the customers time it does get you a working wifi?)

I did that. Up until yesterday that have got me to 18.20.0.

Installed it, and it did not work.

I followed you advice re 18.21.0 this morning.

On the interesting side, at the least this one is different.

Normally, I connect and then either the connection drops out 1-5 mins later and is no longer visible until I reboot.

Or, and, this had been my household's all-time favourite up until this morning, the home network is knocked out until I turned off my wifi.

This time it knocked out the household wifi when I turned the wifi on but it can not come back on since.

All the other machines are now saying they cannot repair connections because they cannot clear the DNS server.

So, different but now impacting on others.

As I said before it is a huge shame.

If the wireless had worked that would have been a nice machine.

But then, if HP had any respect for their customers it would them not me talking to you now.

I am still waiting for my refund from HP.

(Strangely, HP don't seem to prioritizing anymore than they prioritized fixing my laptop.)

I will try any fixes you suggest in the meantime but I could really do without something like happening again.

I would also really like to know what machines do not have a 7265 chip in them if possible?

I really do not want a repeat of this with another machine.

0 Kudos
ASouz7
Honored Contributor II
1,462 Views

karl35,

We really understand your frustration and on our best effort to help you, perhaps you would like to contact us for live troubleshooting with one of our technicians as with your permission, they can connect to your computer and take a closer look on the issue and see what else can be done to help you resolve thi issue. Please access this link for your nearest Intel Contact Center: http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/contactsupport Contact Support and from the drop-down menu, select your region then on the second drop-down menu, please select the option that says Intel(R) Wireless Networking and hit submit.

Then, select Wireless Networking so you will be able to see other means of communication other than just communities, perhaps, for this issue it is best to call.

0 Kudos
DPott4
Beginner
1,462 Views

I too have the HP Spectre 360 with the AC7265 wireless adapter. I obtained my laptop in May of this year and it has worked flawlessly until about 3 months ago. It came with Windows 8.1 but I upgraded to Windows 10 the end of August. That's when things started to deteriorate regarding my wireless connection. Having been on the phone with HP several times over the past 4 weeks. This is what I've learned.

Hp had me install the latest drivers, of course, and that did not help. It's not just dropped connections it is like the adapter just disappears.

So thinking it might be hardware we reset the laptop to initial factory conditions (at this point I had been running Win10 for 2 months so I had to go back to Win 8.1)

Amazingly, it worked flawlessly for 3 weeks with no dropped connections and fine throughput.

So the next step HP Support Assistant wanted me to update the wireless driver again. The current (original driver was dated 12/8/2014 and version 17.13.11.5) the new updated driver that was installed via the Support Assistant was dated 4/16/2015 version 17.16.2.1. This new driver worked fine for 2 days and then today did same old symptoms dropped connection and had to reboot. So I went into Device Manager and rolled back the driver to the 17.13.11.5 version and it has been working all day without a problem.

Since the Win10 drivers are also newer, I'm convinced there is a problem with all the newer drivers since 17.13.11.5. At least that is what I'm experiencing. Until Intel or HP can tell me they have fixed this problem with newer drivers, hopefully in Win10 as well, I'm staying put with the original shipped driver. It works fine.

0 Kudos
KRopk
Beginner
1,462 Views

aleki_intel and dpotts72,

Thanks you both for your suggestions and sorry for my delay replying, but it took a while to get the household wireless network sorted out.

Others here feel that was more important than my new career as an unpaid beta tester for intel wifi drivers. Go figure?

aleki_intel,

Sorry because I am sure that suggestion was well meant but I am not sure how I can use the live trouble shooting to sort anything out unless I can first connect the offending machine to the internet?

dpotts72,

Thanks you for taking the time to detail your experience. I am very pleased that you found a workaround that worked for you.

My machine arrived with 17.16.11.5 and, although it is by far the most reliable version of the drivers I tried, I still have problems with it. At first it works fine, but I typically start having problems with those drivers in less than a week of the factory setting restore.

And, it is Russian roulette what happens when I try to use it with other networks. Some work for a while, but most just does seem to connect ever.

Later drivers basically do same but rarely have a 'honeymoon period' and they pretty much always kill the network in seconds rather than minutes or hours of installation.

Hope 17.16.11.5 keeps working for you, but for me it is not really that much better than later drivers, especially 18.21.0.2...

 

I do hope it is sorted soon because the Spectre is a nice machine, but that wifi makes it pretty useless for anything that needs a reliable internet connection, and even with 17.16.11.5 it is it really not something I can rely on, especially away from home.

 

Thank you again,

Karl

 

0 Kudos
DPott4
Beginner
1,462 Views

Just a quick update. After the big update for Windows 10 (currently using

Version10.0.10586 Build 10586

and driver version 18.32.1.2) I have not had a dropped connection in over 2 months. I submit that Intel and Microsoft have got this worked out. At least on my HP Spectre 360.

0 Kudos
DPott4
Beginner
1,462 Views

So, is there anyway we can get Intel to look at this problem? It's been over two weeks and there has been no update on this serious problem. I would really like to upgrade to Win 10 especially now since the big update (1511) is out. Can we get some action from Intel on this issue?

0 Kudos
KRopk
Beginner
1,462 Views

Sorry. I sent the Spectre back to HP.

A month on, nothing workable, me doing all the chasing, and them farming me off with 'oh the next update'll fix it for sure', "my problem" were very definitely was not a priority for HP. So, I gave up.

I'm happy to pass customer details to Intel if they want to chase up with HP.

(I hope you have better luck than me.)

Karl

0 Kudos
ASouz7
Honored Contributor II
1,462 Views

Karl35,

Did you create a service ticket with HP. If so, could you please provide the number. Send us a private message with it.

0 Kudos
jlawr3
Novice
1,462 Views

How many more weeks/months have to pass before you guys come up with a viable solution for this garbage wireless adapter? Many of us bought machines without ethernet based on the advertised reliability of your dual band wireless adapters. I can't speak for everyone here but i personally spent a small fortune on my ultrabook and this has been the biggest disappointment.

I read review after review before purchasing and all that anyone talked about was intels skylake processor which makes me wonder if intel and pc manufactures pay these guys. How could they not have experienced these connection issues?

If you think I'm going to attach a USB WiFi dongle/extender/adapter/tether/duct taped coat hanger to this thing your stuck in 1998. You wouldn't put a cassette player in a tesla would you?

The amount of threads on various support forums including intels regarding this issue is staggering. I thought i was inconvenienced, schools, businesses etc bought dozens if not hundreds of machines with this adapter installed and the best advice you can give these institutional clients is uninstall/reinstall? That's like my company's IT guy asking if i restarted my desktop when tell him it's taking too long to boot!? If you can't adequately service these institutions what chance do individuals like myself have at recurving an immediate fix!?

I'm over it. HPs, Asuss(Asuss', Asus'ss...?), Lenovos and Intels support can go to "D-ell". You guys should seriously reconsider the word "support" in your job title. How in the hell is HPs warranty dept going to tell me they haven't heard of any issues relating to intels wireless adapter? I'm going to pull this adapter out like tom hanks pulled that cavity in cast away. And unless you want to me send me the 2015 ac-8260, 3165 or tri blend 17265 im going with your # 1 competitor. And when my new wireless adapter is finally clocking speeds that your bs product brief claims im going to screen shot it and copy/paste the crap out of it and let the world know the $20 piece of garbage you put in my ferrari ultrabook is just that!

And please for the love of God, do not reply with advanced adapter settings like change power sleep mode, fat channel intolerant, HT mode or your classic go-to...uAPSD. Unless you have a VIABLE SOLUTION don't say anything. I'll take that as "we sell bad products for a profit" and go about my business.

I feel better already

0 Kudos
Reply