Please bring back Global BG Scan blocking setting

[goosegrease]

There were related thread(s) in the past (https://community.intel.com/t5/Wireless/Global-BG-Scan-blocking-Setting-missing/m-p/1406055) which seem erroneously closed even though the issue is not resolved.

I have 2 PCs with intel wifi adapters (AC9260 and AX200). I have to use older drivers for both PCs (22.40 on one and 22.130 on the other) because newer drivers don't have Global BG Scan blocking setting. Unless I set it to "Always" or "On Good RSSI", I can't stream desktop locally either via Steamlink or Sunshine/Moonlight because there's a lag spike every 5 minutes (and lasts 10~30 seconds) which disrupts audio/video enough to be unuseable. The exact same behaviour is seen with newer drivers without this setting.

In the linked thread above, an intel employee said that the newer drivers eliminated or reduced the impact of BG scanning so that the setting is obsolete, but it's clearly not true.

Can you please bring back this setting? At the very least, can you make older drivers (22.140 and older) readily available for download so that we don't have to rely on shady external sites?

Thank you.

[Earl_Intel]

Hello goosegrease,

Thank you for posting in the community!

Several changes/improvements were implemented in driver 22.150.0 to reduce/eliminate the impact of BG Scan on user experience.

A background scan is typically performed to figure out what other apps are available in the vicinity in case you need to roam. In other words, a background scan is now performed much more efficiently and reduces the impact on other activities that the user might be performing.

With the new improvements, the global BG Scan blocking setting is no longer needed in the latest driver 22.150.0.

Best regards,

Earl E.

Intel Customer Support Technician.

[goosegrease]

Hi. That's what Jean_Intel said on the other thread, but it's not true. The problem is very easy to reproduce with new drivers. Simply share desktop locally (I assume anything will work but I tested via steamlink and moonlight/sunshine combo), play random youtube video and play it and you'll see both video and audio stutter at regular interval. With older drivers with global BG scan blocking this does *not* happen.

So, either:

A) The said improvement never made into the 22.150 driver, but global BG scan blocking setting was mistakenly removed.

B) The improvement wasn't big enough to actually remove the lag spike (if it's at all reduced, it's seemingly not apparent).

C) There's some other bug that's newly introduced in the newer drivers that are causing lag spike every 5 minutes that manifests the same way as global BG scan.

[NormanS_Intel]

Hello goosegrease,

Thank you for your response. Could you please check your email? I've sent you a message regarding this matter. 

Best regards,

Norman S.

Intel Customer Support Engineer

[goosegrease]

Hi. Thank you for the email, but it's a frustrating response. The cause and solution to my problem is seemingly very obvious, yet the response so far as been to either deflect it or claim it's non-issue with the newer drivers.

Your recommendations to update router firmware and switch wifi-channel were of course tried and didn't work when I was first troubleshooting this problem. Disabling MIMO Power Save Mode (I assume you got this solution from https://www.reddit.com/r/MoonlightStreaming/comments/194w1kl/35_second_lag_spike_when_streaming_on_wifi_solved/ ? Or is there any logical explanation as to why this setting matters?) does not make any difference either.

There are a number of examples of users having to downgrade their wifi drivers in order to access the Global BG Scan Blocking settings and fix their issues, proving that the new drivers do not address the impact of background scanning:

https://github.com/moonlight-stream/moonlight-qt/issues/739

https://www.reddit.com/r/MoonlightStreaming/comments/1cgyrdc/random_lag_spike_every_510_mins_for_few_seconds/

https://www.reddit.com/r/cloudygamer/comments/17sbclu/periodic_stutter_with_moonlight_stream_global_bg/

https://community.intel.com/t5/Wireless/AX210-Periodic-Lag-Spike/m-p/1566089

https://community.intel.com/t5/Wireless/Global-BG-Scan-blocking-Setting-missing/m-p/1406267(the link from my original post)

The thing is, I'm willing to bet that this problem is a lot more widespread than what's being reported.

Most users would automatically assume that Wifi is unreliable, so lag/stutter is inevitable, and they wouldn't even think to seek out a solution.

For myself, one afternoon - by pure luck and happenstance - I noticed that the stutter was happening at regular 5 minute intervals, which made me I suspect that it's no mere signal inteference. The magic "5 minute" term in the search engine allowed me to find the Global BG Scan Blocking setting and solve my problem. I don't think others would be so lucky, and they'd just live with the problem in ignorance.

[DhannielM_Intel]

Hello goosegrease,

Thank you for the feedback, I will surely raise this with our Engineers. Since the issue has been resolved I will not close this thread. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards,

Dhanniel M.

Intel Customer Support Technician