Sporadic but recurring connection dropouts on an Intel 6235 wireless adapter

[idata]

Dear all,

I have the same issues of intermittent sudden connection dropouts as reported by others with the Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 Wifi adapter and the Intel Proset 15.x drivers!

My system is a brandnew desktop computer with an Intel i7 3770 Quad-Core CPU, an Intel Z77 chipset, an Asrock Z77E-ITX mainboard, 16 GB of RAM, and Windows 7 64-bit.

Previously, I already encountered the issue with this adapter's predecessor, the Intel Centrino 6230 and only managed to resolve it by going back to an older driver version. If my memory is correct, the Intel Proset 14.x version range worked flawlessly, but the 15.x drivers lead to the dropouts (I always use 64-bit drivers).

These can occur randomly after 5 or after 50 minutes. The adapter suddenly disconnects and won't reconnect to the wireless network unless it is reset. The wireless router itself is fine as there are over a dozen devices from all types of brands that connect regularly to it without any problem at all.

The fact that the problem occurs on two different cards (6230 and 6235) leads me to believe that there is a driver problem.

On the 6235, going back to a 14.x driver does not seem to be an option on the table, because the device seems to be only supported by 15.x versions. I already tried going back from the recent 15.2 version to the previous 15.1.1 (after uninstalling through the device manager), but the problem still persists. Now I just went back to 15.1.0 and it's been ok so far, but i'm not very optimistic.

I have tried different changes in the driver settings but with no success. The problem persists!

I'd be thankful for a solution.

Best regards,

Steve

Edited 9/5/2014 by John S. (Intel Customer Support).

The "/message/169514# 169514 Sporadic but recurring connection dropouts on an Intel 6235 wireless adapter" thread will be locked. This thread will remain on the forum for you to reference, but no new posts will be possible on this thread.

The 17.1.0 version of Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers has fixes for connectivity related issues with the Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6235 wireless adapter. If you are still experiencing connectivity issues after installing the very latest software and drivers and you require further troubleshooting, please contact Intel Customer Support. If you prefer to ask questions, make comments, and/or receive answers on this support forum (Wireless Networking Support Community), please start a new thread or find an existing thread that matches your specific issue with your specific hardware/software.

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[PM5]

joe_intel wrote:

The https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=23065 version 16.1.3 is intended to solve most of the connection drop issues. We will continue monitoring your results.

Aw this is great help for Windows 7 users !

Are you (intel) kidding?

"We will continue monitoring your results."

Oh I see it, congrat.

[JGuzi1]

Użytkownik joe_intel napisał:

The https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=23065 version 16.1.3 is intended to solve most of the connection drop issues. We will continue monitoring your results.

Is this final driver response on the end of Q3 as you mentioned earlier ?

Is it dedicated for all user or only selected windows versions (W7 ? W8 ?) ?

What about bug info ?

[NAmbe1]

Joe this driver does not work either.

Have tried it on Samsung NP900x3c a02 with windows 8 64 and it still drops the connection and wont connect again until either powering of the laptop or uninstalling the driver.

[PM5]

"This download is valid for the product(s) listed below.

Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6205

Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6235

Intel® Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300

Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

Intel® Dual Band Wireless-N 7260

Intel® Wireless-N 7260"

What's up with Centrino 2230 ?? Have you heard about these ? All Centrino driver is shit, on Win7, Win8 too ( Dell, Sony, Lenovo, Samsung, Asus.....)

Some of the many forum:

/thread/38676?start=0&tstart=0 - Intel centrino wireless-n 2230 keeps dropping connection.

/message/168421# 168421 - Intel Centrino Wireless N 2230 conectivity issue!

/thread/32899?start=0&tstart=0 - Intel Centrino N2230 lose Wifi connection since...

/message/187654# 187654 - Ongoing Centrino N2230 connection at boot up issues

etc....

Please read and see !

[ARumi1]

Joe, what win7 users should do? Is this all the support we can get from Intel?

[AGrad]

My Windows freezes and crashes everytime i try to install the latest drivers...

[AGrad]

I've unpacked the exe and try to install the 16.1.3 manually, because the installer crashes my systeim with DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE, but i see in the unpacked sources only the infs with the version 15.10.2.1 and nothing with 16.1.3

Why??

[DA5]

I THINK (very important word) that I fixed this issue on my own system. I signed up for this forum just to tell people, because it took me a month of tweaking and I never found my particular solution while searching the internet.

First, so those interested will know if this applies to them, here's my setup:

System: Thinkpad T430

Wi-Fi: Centrino Advanced-N 6205

Router: Netgear WNDR3700 (DD-WRT v24-sp2)

OS: Ubuntu 13.04 (but the random drops would happen on Windows as well)

For those who aren't Linux users, it's possible to tweak how you load the drivers for this card by specifying different module options at boot/load time. I mention this because I focused my effort for the first few weeks on those options, and the ROUTER was the culprit. I won't go into the details in this first post (because there are many), but this Kernel archive post -

http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1201.3/00938.html Linux-Kernel Archive: Re: iwlagn is getting even worse with 3.3-rc1

- let me know that the most likely problem was that my card was trying to send on a channel where it hadn't yet received clearance. This would then cause a firmware reset, which is why the connection would drop and then I'd be unable to see any SSIDs for several seconds.

The reason for this was DD-WRT. In my case (and I think it was the default), RTS/CTS protection was disabled.

If you're experiencing this problem, make sure you enable RTS/CTS protection on your router. I followed the guide here -

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Atheros/ath_wireless_settings http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Atheros/ath_wireless_settings

- which includes the RTS/CTS setting, and over the last week since I have experienced zero issues with my wireless card. I get full bandwidth, I'm able to suspend and resume at will, I have no dropped packets, and my latency to the router is completely stable at barely under 1ms.

I don't know if it will work for others, but this wireless card is definitely listed among those having random disconnect issues, and I have managed to go from suffering that problem to being a perfectly happy user. I hope at least some of you will have the same luck.

[ARahi2]

I can agree with Daffy. I have ASUS RT-N66U router and used to run it with DD-WRT and had lot of connection issues. Switched back to vendor firmware and all the connection problems were gone. Even the N-mode is working perfectly. I'm not sure if I had RTS/CTS protection disabled while using DD-WRT but anyway had to change back to vendor firmware as the port-forwarding was quite sloppy on DD-WRT and the Asus router.

And the setup is:

Router: Asus RT-N66U

Laptop: Samsung Ultrabook series 5 NP54U

OS: Windows 8 64-bit

I have 1Gb/1Gb connection and speedtest results are somewhere around 60Mb/s / 60 Mb/s so I'm happy with that.

[cmacd1]

Good post Daffy

This may be the root of the problem...BUT... I have two WiFi routers at home and I can say CTS is set to auto on both (there is no on/disable just auto/disable. The new drivers drop out unless I drop my laptop down to G only. So the new drivers are not fully fixing the issue. Secondly the WiFi router in work is probably set as you say to disable but that's not my router so I can't change that and so the wifi fails completely there. Good point here is this seems not be a hardware issue. It is a software issue as most of us here all suspect. I am not sure there is a setting on Windows 8 to force it to disable on the client side... I suspect not.

Problem is Intel really don't have a clue... otherwise we'd have a working driver by now. I've said this before - how hard can a well known technology like wifi be to make work. Argument is it's harder to make it not work than work given the widespread nature of wifi. This should be child's play! Chances are the coders are in Belgrade or Grosny (cause their the cheapest coders on the planet) and we're all here in englishville and so they don't appreciate the issue and we don't get a fix. It's a perfect storm! Or maybe its a party at a brewery where everyone should be getting drunk given intel organised the party, but nobody seems to be getting drunk.

mailto:Joe@intel...maybe Joe@intel...maybe your drivers are hitting the problem above and forcing the syslog error so far reported on windows??? Also Joe... Since these latest drivers still fail to hit the spot... has Intel given up on this issue once and for all?

What I'm surprised of is my local IT retailer still sells these cards. Some poor sap is going to spend weeks finding out the drivers are lame, as we have.

Anyhow thanks Daffy... The issue you've uncovered moves Intel a step closer to understanding and that has to be a good thing, right? Just need to translate these 52 pages of notes to Serbian or Chechen for the intel-code-munchkins to cut some code and throw it back over the fence.

C-

P.S. must say I feel for you, Joe... the back office is really letting you down, man.

[DA5]

I have more information.

My connection was stable for a week and a half, and then yesterday it became very unstable. Working on the same idea that my router was to blame, I rebooted my router and was able to regain stability. It's working great now.

Or it was. I JUST enabled wi-fi on my Samsung Galaxy S4, and my laptop wireless started throwing all kinds of errors.

I'm going to continue investigating this, but at the moment, it seems that RTS/CTS is not enough.

[KHaug]

I made an account here after reading all of the 52 pages of workarounds and stuff. now were hopefully closer to a solution. Daffy's workaround worked for me i think. my connection has been stable in a few hours now with a lot of downloading and surfing. i changed the CTS to active on my router and i also set RTS/CTS activated on the network card in the device manager. this seems to fix the problem. thank you Daffy!!! i am currently using driver: 15.4.1.1 dated 23.01.2013. Hope this will help all of you guys. It's a shame that Intel haven't fixed this issue yet... OS: windows 8. PC: samsung 370R5E.

[IPetr5]

Early to rejoice bro.... Try to send any file from your smartphone to 370R5E over BT and you will be convinced that the problem with the wifi part of the N-6235 - is only part of problems...

[JYap3]

Version:16.1.3

The above new driver do not work. Please advise.

[TCost2]

we need a recall!!!

[ARumi1]

I assume we need a new wifi card. Intel give a damn about this problem. That's what they call client-oriented corp.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

The Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software version 16.1.5 has been released.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=23169 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=23169

[JYap3]

doesn't work. it is still using Aug 22nd 2013 driver even after I install the new driver. Please advise.

[TTock]

Apparently the update is just the proset tool. I was using an earlier driver that seemed slightly more stable and the new software updated it to the 8/22 driver. PROset, however, is now 16.1.5. Crossing my fingers...

[MMISS41]

I have had no problems with my 6235 in my Sony Vaio Duo 11, i have had it for two months and only have the occasional drop-out, days can go by with no problem and i listen to streaming radio for 8 hours a day, below is a capture of me listing to the radio.

John.

[IPetr5]

I'm shocked ... And this company lay up claim as leader of hightech industry. More than a year has passed I purchased Samsung ultrabook NP530U3C with Advanced N-6235 but robust driver for it not written yet. Our Chinese brothers will give a hundred points against Intel currently .... Shame on Intel !!!!!