Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 & windows Mobile Hotspot drops idling mobile Clients

[mahli]

I have the same problem as the person in the thread:
Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 Mobile Hotspot | Clients "Connected without internet" 

My setup is:

My home desktop PC: TUF GAMING B660M-PLUS WIFI with Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz Windows 11 Pro, 22H2, build 22621.1635

My phones: Various Samsung models (android)

My PC is connected with an Ethernet cable to the ISP. The connection works fine and is stable.

My phones connects to Wi-Fi everywhere else.

Problem:
I switch on Mobile hotspot. My phones connect to it. Phone says about current network “Checking the quality of your the internet connection...” then says “Connected”.

My desktop PC Mobile hotspot says “Devices connected: 1 of 8”. Now the connection between my phone and PC is fine.

However after about 5 minutes idling (with no network traffic ie. not touching my phone), when the phone screen saver kicks in : Mobile hotspot says Devices connected: 0 of 8.

My phone says about the current network (desktops Mobile hotspot) it's "Connected without internet". My phone now is now without internet.

My phone does not re-connect to desktops Mobile hotspot. Unless, I turn off and on my phones Wi-Fi or I turn off and on my desktops Mobile hotspot.

After searching the internet for this problem I found the aforementioned thread and realized I have exactly the same problem as the user @rajthampi 

He got it working by rolling back the driver to a previous version.

I also got it working by rolling back the Intel Wi-Fi driver to version 22.130.0.5

This problem seems to occur when a mobile device client (phones in my case) goes to sleep etc. to save energy.

[rajthampi]

Hi, surprising to see someone mentioning me in a thread that deals with the same situation and solution! Well, sorry to see that you also faced the same issues. As I said on closing my thread, this IS A REAL issue, not getting much traction because not many are using Mobile hotspot from their computers.

I'm not convinced by Intel's claims that the issues are not NOT caused by their drivers,  because drivers until a particular version works and higher builds don't.

Let us hope, one day Intel fixes this issue for good.

All the best.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello mahli, 

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities. I am sorry to know that you are having issues with your Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201.

In order to better assist you, please provide the following:  

1. Is the issue present with Intel and/or Asus drivers?

2. Do you have a connection issue when connecting to a router/AP via wireless?

3. Is this the original adapter that came pre-installed on your computer or did you change/install the adapter to this one?   

4. Do you have an issue with both (2.4GHz, 5GHz) bands?

5. Is the issue present with any driver higher than 22.130.0.5?

Regards,  

Deivid A. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[mahli]

I'm glad to answer your questions:

1. Is the issue present with Intel and/or Asus drivers?

Far as I've tried the issue is present with both Intel (from the Intel® Driver & Support Assistant) and Asus drivers (from the Armory crate app)

2. Do you have a connection issue when connecting to a router/AP via wireless?

My mobile devices (android) have no issue with other APs or routers. They connect and stay functionally connected. That is, I can put them in my pocket for ten minutes and take them out still connected  to the internet (no "Connected without internet" status).

If you mean does my PC connect to a Wi-Fi AP, well I don't usually need to connect it since I have wired connection to internet. But I tried to connect it to my phones mobile hotspot and it connected without trouble. 

3. Is this the original adapter that came pre-installed on your computer or did you change/install the adapter to this one? 

This is the original adapter pre-installed that came with the motherboard (ASUS TUF Gaming B660M-PLUS WiFi Motherboard)

4. Do you have an issue with both (2.4GHz, 5GHz) bands?

Yes the issue occurs with both bands

5. Is the issue present with any driver higher than 22.130.0.5?

Well my Intel® Driver & Support Assistant Install History shows I've installed these versions and they all had the same issue.
22.200.2.1
22.190.0.4
22.190.0.2

Hope this helps to reproduce or troubleshoot the issue.

Cheers

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello mahli, 

Thanks for the confirmation, Before I continue with the investigation, I would like to confirm the following:

1. Run all the optional Windows updates.

2. Try manually a clean installation of the Intel driver: 

• Driver: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19351/windows-10-and-windows-11-wi-fi-drivers-for-intel-wireless-adapters.html
• Steps: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000022173.html

3. Check with Asus to confirm that you have the latest BIOS (2402) version installed.

Regards,  

Deivid A. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello mahli,  

After checking your thread, I would like to know if you need further assistance. 

If so, please let me know. 

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[mahli]

Hello Deivid!

So I tried those suggestions. Installed the latest BIOS, the optional updates and clean installed the newest driver 22.220.0.4 for Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201.

But the problem still persists. Mobile clients get silently dropped out

I have three Samsung models:
Galaxy J5, occasionally gets dropped out (2.4 GHz)
Galaxy A41, never seems to get dropped out
Galaxy A33, gets dropped out in few minutes after idling

This is a peculiar problem. Where's the fault? In the mobile client (A33), Windows OS, Asus or Intel hardware?

[rajthampi]

Hello @mahli 

I've used multiple devices while I was experimenting with these mobile hotspot issues. One device, LGv20 that I had has Android 7 & like your A41, it was the only one device didn't drop the Wi-Fi after idling. It is certain that, later versions of Android Wi-Fi stacks additional power saving that is not compatible with Intel drivers higher than version 22.130.0.5.

I've access to an iphone now, so I will resume the testing once again & post my findings. Thanks for mentioning my thread.

[rajthampi]

Hello @mahli 

I continued the testing with an IPhone today & after idling a while, this phone shows WiFI connected, however the Mobile Hot Spot on my computer doesn't list it as connected. Remember the "Connected without internet". So I don't think the issue is with specific hardware/brand, instead it has something to do with the WiFi/power saving stacks incompatibility between Intel's new drivers and OEMs.

Regards,

[mahli]

Hi @rajthampi 

About the iPhone, did the internet connection actually work (tested with disabled mobile data)?

Before finding your post about the problem, I got a suggestion from ASUS support to try setting my phone 's (A33) network IP settings from DHCP to Static (connection to my PC's Wi-Fi).

https://www.androidhelpcenter.com/2019/10/static-ip-address-on-android-tablets/

In that case, after:

• restarting the PC's mobile hotspot
• toggling phone's Wifi off/on
• disabling mobile data

Windows mobile hotspot showed "Devices connected: 0 of 8"

But I still had a working connection (for a while ...)???

Of course this is not the default setting for my phone's networks

[rajthampi]

Hello @mahli 

I used an iphone without SIM running latest IOS 16.4.1

As I mentioned in previous reply, the only device that didn't drop connection was LG V20 running Android 7.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello mahli, 

Thanks for the confirmation, in order to investigate this behavior, I will need the report from the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU):

• Download the Intel® SSU and save the application on your computer: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18377/intel-system-support-utility-for-windows.html  
• Open the application, check the "Everything" checkbox, and click "Scan" to see the system and device information. The Intel® SSU defaults to the "Summary View" on the output screen following the scan. Click the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".  
• To save your scan, click Next and click Save.  

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[mahli]

Here you are!

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello mahli, 

Thank you for the information provided 

I will proceed to check the issue internally and post back soon with more details. 

Best regards, 

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello mahli, 

Thanks for your patience. I would like to let you know that I tried to replicate this issue and did not get the same results. The Internet connection never dropped when the phone screen kicked in.

At this point, I recommend you check this issue with ASUS to confirm if there is any BIOS setting or restriction that could be causing this behavior with several cellphone models.

Please keep in mind that this thread will no longer be monitored by Intel.  

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician