Intel® Wireless-N 7260 - slows

[SGowr]

Hi,

I have a problem with Intel Wireless-N 7260. The card works just fine, but after a few minutes transfer slows down to about 4Mb/s (802.11n -> 802.11b?).

I tried with all drivers and always have the same problem (now I have ,16.6.0.8). Sometimes the card loses connection and I must reset it.

Windows 7 64bit Professional on Lenovo Z510

Sorry for my english.

[JSaud]

I cannot emphasize how much I agree with you. Intel goofed big time with this, and they're only digging their reputation further in the grave the longer they let this go. I'm so sick and tired of this "well just flip these 19 switches and see what happens" comments on here. No. Fix the card, Intel. People are sick of playing games.

The only catch to replacing the wifi card is if you have one of "those" laptops. A lot of laptops from HP and Lenovo like to whitelist the wireless card, so swapping the wireless card would cause a hard lock on boot at the BIOS/POST level before the OS could even get started. It's mind numbingly irritating, and I've done (and continue to do) everything I can to voice the monumental amount of frustration I have with this questionable behavior. I mean, why lock down a removable card? Really? Fail.

With that said, here are my recommendations.

1) Swap the wireless card.

2) If you are unable to swap the wireless card due to nonsense whitelisting, call the manufacturer of your computer. Let them know that their foolish tactics put you, as a customer, in an impossible spot since Intel clearly won't fix this issue.

In regard to number 2, I would not take no for an answer. Either swap the card with a different, non-blocked wireless card provided by the manufacturer of your laptop, or demand they swap the entire laptop.

I mean, hey. They're the ones that put the problematic Intel card in the laptop, and they're the ones that locked it to that problematic chip. An end user has every right to get what they paid for - a working device.

[FYuso]

Intel

Please solve this. This card has serious download speed issues. Speed is very slow. Upload surprisingly not so bad but still under par comparing to other WIFi card. Speed also fluctuate, not very stable. When located maybe 20 feet away in another room (where there is a wall, and maybe other interference), the download become ridiculously slow, like 50 Kbps of something. When there is no obstruction where there is clear LOS maybe at less than 10 feet, the speed becomes better but still not up to other card's standard.

If cannot solve this, please issue a recall. I specifically select a higher spec and more expensve laptop just to have AC 7260 (dual antenna) because I thought it is top range and can be faster than AC 3160, but how wrong was I. We should have a card where you don't need to set and remove all the features just to get it to work (if it does work, it still doesn't now).

Anyway, hope for any response. TQ

[tstob]

I have the 17.12.0.4 drivers i posted a while back and uAPSD disabled, seems to stay connected to my Asus RT-16 (Merlin) router at home, still slow tho.

Problem is when i travel and connect to unknown routers.

Is the 3160 going to be the best card i can install? one of the Amazon reviews said the 3160 has a "1x1 radio system (One transmit; One receive)" and the speed/range would be limited?

mostly G and N routers where i will connect.

[PMans]

my dell has an ac7260HMW card in it, described here:

https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/www/us/en/wireless-products/dual-band-wireless-ac-7260-bluetooth-brief.html Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260: Product Brief

there appears to be a few variants of them, the key is whether it's an M.2 or USB/HMC. Perhaps all the problematic cards are a 7260HMW variant?

I have been looking for a 6235 instead, which comes as 6235ANHMW:

https://www-ssl.intel.com/content/www/us/en/wireless-products/WirelessTechDocs.html Wireless Products Technical Documents

as far as I know my Dell E7440 doesn't have whitelistings in its BIOS, but my work's Lenovo T540p almost certainly does so I can't switch in a new card.

[PMans]

possibly the Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 card would work too, but it doesn't have bluetooth.

there's a Qualcomm/Atheros N+bluetooth which might be suitable too - AR5B22 AR9462

[tstob]

From what I am reading HP also whitelists cards. Not really sure which ones would work. makes it a bit harder. if I hit one that works will post here.

[NKraf]

My understanding is ONLY Lenovo and HP whitelist cards. I took a chance on an Acer thinking it would be junk when it turns out to be a great machine EXCEPT for the wifi card. And since they don't whitelist cards, they've become even more appealing option for future upgrades.

[INowa]

Hi!

I have finally find a solution. Intel has made a terrible mistake with new driver 17.1.X. First of all, you must uninstall your wifi drivers. Then, install 17.0.2.5 or 17.0.3 drivers and it is all. You don't need to change any properties, just install and the Inernet is yours.

Here, you have 17.0.3:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=23942&lang=eng&wapkw=intel+wireless+7260 Intel® Download Center

[FYuso]

Sorry Pablo

Tried 17.0.3 and it doesn't solve the slow download issues problem at all.

[NKraf]

I was going to chime in -- I must have tried that driver at least 3 times. It made absolutely no difference. Maybe for people who kept losing their connection, but as for people simply experiencing abnormally slow internet speed, the 17.0.3 does absolutely nothing to fix that.

[DMeye5]

To the people who are still having problems, I tried every official driver I could find and had no luck (including many 17.0 versions) , but I installed the unofficial driver (17.12.0.4, see post # 159) and it resolved the problem completely. I also turned of uAPSD on both the router and the computer. No more speed drop outs, I have a solid 5 bars on the status bar (it was all over the place before) and no more "Limited Connection". Trust me, I know how frustrating this is, but please give those drivers a shot and make sure uAPSD/APSD is turned off. My card is a dual band N7260 but I'm running only at 2.4GHz as a reference point.

[tstob]

Win7 or Win8?

I have Windows 7 pro x64 and with 17.12.0.4 I would lose the adapter when coming out of sleep, and need to reboot the machine. Looking at an AC3160 card at the moment.

[DMeye5]

Mine is Win 8.1 x64. Try checking the UAPSD setting on the card (in properties->advanced). Intel is recommending it should be disabled, or possibly the APSD setting on the router. UAPSD stands for unscheduled automatic power save delivery, so I think it could be related to coming out of sleep mode.

As a side note, I've found reinstalling the network driver will get the speed back (still "Limited Connection") without having to reboot, and its a lot faster and easier. However, I suspect you are having issued with UAPSD since you said your problem occurs after coming out of sleep. My problem was that I'd get "Limited Connection", and it would work for a while and then the speed would drop off after several hours, and reloading the drivers would again temporarily work for several hours.

[PMans]

hpmax, I think that what is happening is that reinstalling is simply doing a hard reset on the hardware.

if you have a physical switch to turn wifi on and off, try that. Or, you may have a Fn key combo to do it - some laptops have this as an extra function on an F key. I have to use that on my work Lenovo as it doesn't have a hardware switch, but my Dell does.

[DMeye5]

Yeah, I can totally believe its a hardware reset. Mine doesn't have a switch but you can hit fn-f2 twice to cycle it (not sure if that actually does a hardware reset). Anyway, that's better than rebooting if it works. However, like I said the new drivers fixed my problems.

[tstob]

http://www.station-drivers.com/index.php/articles/1164-intel-proset-wireless-wifi-software-version-17-12-0-5 Station-Drivers - Intel Proset/Wireless Wifi software Version 17.12.0.5 WHQL

will try these tomorrow. please be careful on this site.

[PMans]

some evenings I can operate for hours without problems, other times the wifi drops out every ten minutes. last night was really bad, so I caved in and spent a little under £10 (US$16 equivalent) on a 6235anhmw off ebay, that included delivery. Even if I only valued my time at £1 per hour, far less than legal minimum, this card has cost me far more than a replacement.

I'm a fairly persistent person, I can work round most problems and get stuff working that others fail to do, but there's a time to admit defeat. Intel, you beat me. I shall never look at Intel products again and have faith they will work reliably and to specification, I shall always hold back and wait for other suckers to be early adopters and wait for reviews.

[NKraf]

Your confidence made me curious so I swapped out my 3160 and put back the 7260 and tried the unofficial driver. It's actually much worse. With the 7260 using various 'official' drivers, I used to get 5mbps to 9mbps -- now with 'unofficial' driver I get 4mbps - 7mbps at most.

It's a testament to the wretchedness of the 7260 how for every person who THINKS they found a solution, there are countless more for whom it doesn't work. I must have encountered a dozen "I think I fixed it" declarations in this thread and elsewhere and these claims are NEVER followed by "You sure did--thanks!"

Needless to say I quickly reinserted the 3160 and am thankfully back to 20mbps--25mbps.

People -- give up. Intel has. They refuse to recall this garbage and are stringing you along with updates and suggestions that make no significant difference. Get another card and get on with your life. If your laptop is one that whitelists, find out which ones are allowed and grab one. They cost very little and between ebay and amazon and newegg, you're bound to find it. Best of luck.

[FYuso]

Hi anybody in Intel, please response. Looks like we are struggling ourselves trying to solve a problem which should not be our problem first place.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

We recommend you getting the wireless driver version 17.12 from the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm system manufacturer's website

The system manufacturer may provide a customized version specifically intended for your computer model.

[JSaud]

Joe, I'd like to know what Intel is doing about this. As you can clearly see, people are extremely (extremely) irritated with responses such as yours just above. (Sorry, just being honest). Are our frustrations falling on deaf ears?