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.

US

• Phone: 1-916-377-7000, Monday – Friday, 07:00 to 17:00 (US Pacific Time)
• http://intelsupportchat.force.com/icslivechat Live Chat
• http://supportmail.intel.com/scripts-emf/welcome.aspx?id=1783 E-mail Support

Worldwide

http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support Intel Customer Support

[etaus]

Boz,

I have 3 Samsung NP530U4C and 1 NPX900C, all of them with blessed N6235. They have had the same problems you and all the others were mentioning but all of them have stabilized except 1 NP530U4C which I had to send back to vendor for repair. They exchanged the notebook for a new one because they couldn't fix it. So, why don't you consider the possibility that if what has been a solution for almost everybody doesn't work for you, maybe your problem is a compound one and there is another issue still going on that needs to be fixed ? Did you consider sending back the notebook to vendor ?

Hope this helps.

[JB26]

Elias,

It is a brand new laptop, I'm not going to send it in to have them send me a refurbished one or one that has less than the 1 year warranty. (Note I had a Samsung 23" LCD monitor, that was bad after 1 month, they sent me a refurbished model and that died after 2 months, the replacement was then sent and it only had 3 more months of warranty... You can guess where this is going.. The monitor died right after the 3 month warranty, no help from Samsung) I like the laptop a lot and only have 15 days to return it per Worst Buy return policy. I don't want to get a replacement laptop and still not have the WiFi issue fixed once the laptop goes with all of the updating once you turn it on.

Pretty understandable right?

[idata]

I can confirm that updating to the new drivers and following Intel best practices have resolved my issue.

[idata]

Alright...After working fine for 3 days I am still having the same problem...

Latest driver update didn't resolve my issue.

[RKell3]

I have been following this thread closely, as I suspected some issues a while back. The system I was using, had the antenna in the hinge area and was covered with some shiny metal, so I suspected that was some of my problem.

When I was doing this, I was in contact with someone from Intel(Sep 27, 2012), via email communications. I took the Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6235 adapter and was swapping it with the computers I had in my residence. I was in the same location for all tests. I did tests under load and emailed the results to the Intel Rep. I decided to reference the emails, which I leave on the server and information for the adapter/drivers was...

Adapter Information:

Name: Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6235

Driver Version: 15.3.0.16

I see these drivers are NOT available on Intel's website. If you have a Dell computer, the drivers are still available at...

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/xps-15-l521x?driverId=4KND4&fileid=3001722119 Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 drivers

Download the drivers and save them to your desktop.

Make a system restore point.

(Windows 8) Hit the Windows key and the x keys at the same time

control panel, device manager, network adapter, right click on Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6235, left click uninstall. Tell it to remove the drivers and software.

Restart your computer.

When you log back in, the new hardware wizard will try to install the adapter but fail. Install the drivers you saved to your desktop.

What happens? I have seen issues with some virus programs and firewalls causing problems with the connections, but when that happens, you cannot get online at all(in most cases).

Rick

[idata]

Hey everyone, ok here's an update and my experience with sending it back for service on this issue. First of all below is my original post:

Samsung 7 Series NP700G7C-T01CA running Windows 8

Just bought it and had similar symptoms when connecting both to my home router (an SMC Docsys 3.0 provided by my ISP) and now with my new pocket router for when I travel at hotels (A Dlink DAP-1350).

Exact same issue with both of these routers. Full signal strength, connects right away but get "limited connectivity" warning icon and no internet functionality. Meanwhile my iPhone and Nexus 7 tablet are connecting no problem.

I have just discovered that in my case it is DIRECTLY related to 802.11N functionality. The minute I right click my wireless adapter in device manager-->properties-->advanced, and disable 802.11N mode and reconnect to the Dlink, it works immediately and consistently. The minute I flip 802.11N mode back to enabled, reconnect to the router, I get the exclamation instantly with the dreaded "limited connectivity" again.

I have also updated to the latest drivers via Samsungs SWUpdater and also tried the Win7X64 drivers mentioned previously with a link. Exact same behavior no matter what drivers are in there. If I switch N off again, it works instantly.

Love this laptop but unacceptable that a $1400 machine can't connect with wireless N. I called Samsung tech support tonight but after explaining this issue technically I was getting the silent, crickets in the background, response. They said their "specialist" will call me back in the morning. Now that I know precisely where my problem is, and that this thread exists clearly showing a substantial following, I will hammer them until they either offer me a new wifi adapter, a new laptop (equivalent or better), and keep reproducing the problem (if it does) until they acknowledge this is a prevalent problem.

I've heard others mention some "killer" wifi adapter but also read that it doesn't have WiDi so I won't make that swap as that's not what I paid for unfortunately.

Report back if you more of you are finding that disabling N mode yields the same result." - end quote

So what I elected to do shortly after was open a service request with Samsung and have my laptop sent in for repair. I cc'd them on all the info I had already, and gave them a reference to this thread. The whole process took nearly 4 weeks as they said they had ordered a new 'part' (at the time I was assuming a new adapter). The last week was 'testing'.

Just got it back and so far here's what I've noticed. It's now connecting immediately to my home router (SMC) and speedtest's are normal. Not really sure how to check for packet loss, etc but so far my connection hasn't flinched for a couple hours. It is the same model adapter (6235), N mode is 'ON' and interestingly driver tab shows:

Intel

Date: 2012-10-04

Version 15.5.6.48

What I can't recall is if this is the same driver version that came installed when I purchased it in December or if the service center put on an even older driver. Having said that I'm curious as to whether or not I should even attempt to do the update. Also I haven't tested it yet with my pocket router which was also giving me grief as per my previous post. The only other info included with my laptop once I got it back was a slip with very little details about the repair, stating 'part replaced' and that's it.

Out of curiosity, and in the interest of directing others on here, I was thinking of calling the shop that did the repair directly (It was in Quebec) and asking them for details about what they did and how they solved it.

Good luck for the ones sending theirs in.

[Jose_H_Intel1]

Thanks to all of you for posting the results.

It seems to be the update has solved the issue for most of you. For the rest, I would recommend getting in touch with the computer manufacturer as the cause might be integration, a defective adapter or a similar specific issue.

Please keep in mind the component was included as part of an OEM system, so the warranty is provided by the computer manufacturer due to an agreement with Intel®. The same applies to other OEM provided components such as chipsets or processors.

[idata]

The latest current driver caused me many problems with my Samsung Gamer 7 with 6235. Rolling back seemed to fix the issue.

[JB26]

Also check your WiFi speeds, I have been unable to go above Wireless G speeds even with disabling everything but N. Mostly maxing out a little above 54Mbps, with an act of Jesus himself sometimes I can hit almost 80Mbps but then it has the packet issue again.

[idata]

Been having the same problem as everyone else. The new driver 15.6.1 dated March 19, 2013 seems to work great, right up until I restart my computer! I get the dreaded yellow no internet connection exclamation point, after the restart. Can uninstall the software and driver....reinstall and it works great again until I restart. Intel, looks like you have made a good start, but still have work do do.

[idata]

I have updated the driver and while the performance is improved, I am still getting dropouts, just less frequently. While at work, I stream internet radio and YouTube streams on my tablet, and I still can't make it through an hour-long stream without losing internet connection to the router. Other devices on the router do not have this issue, and I did not have this issue when using Microsoft provided drivers, so I feel absolutely certain that the issue is with Intel drivers. The update is an improvement, because instead of having to disconnect and reconnect every five minutes, I only have to do it every 30 minutes.

[idata]

Joe,

This issue has not been resolved yet. I was fine for 3 days until sporadic connection drops started again. I would say that most people in this thread who confirm that their issue had been resolved will find out in the next week or so that they are still having exactly the same issue.

[JB26]

Have you checked your WiFi performance too? I have logs of the communication and speed between the router and you can clearly see the dead spots in the transmission. If you've ever seen a logic analyzer graph when the sub routines of the system max out the processor, that is exactly what it looks like.

In packet logs the card clearly forgets what is happening and sends out a request for an IP.

[JB26]

Joe, still not working. I ended up returning one and getting a new replacement should be here Saturday. If the Intel Centrino 6235 WiFi card is still operating correctly, it will be switched to an Asus with AMD and Broadcom chipsets. Can't afford to wait for Intel to twiddle their thumbs or ignore the issue and hope we go away.

[idata]

Update.....My computer with the Intel Wimax 6150 is a 32 bit Windows 7 system and works fine with the 15.6.1 driver on both Wifi bands. Is anyone having issues with a 32 bit system? Looks like it may be just the 64 bit systems, as both of my 64 bit systems have a problem with the 15.x driver but only on the 2.4 GHz wifi band, 5.2 GHz band is steady at 300 Mbps

[oskil]

I can confirm that on the ASUS UX32A, the issue has been resolved with 15.6.1 drivers. I've restarted, have "Power Saver" on with Maximum Power Saving on battery, as well as Wireless N mode enabled. Currently at 104 MBps and it seems smooth.

[JB26]

Well looks like Bestbuy has discontinued the Samsung Chronos Series 7 15.6" with the Intel 6235 WiFi card, it's been backed out of their inventory and also the website. It would have been awesome to learn that in the store!!

[idata]

I would like to confirm what Simon has found. I turned off my router's 5.2GHz band (so I am only connected on the 2.4 GHz band) and have all the issues that have been reported for months now. I reverse it and connect only to the 5.2 GHz band and things are great. Connecting at home on the 5.2 GHz band is fine and all; however, I travel for business and 99% of public wifi spots are only 2.4 GHz. So, good news is: Bluetooth works fine, 5.2 GHz works fine.....but if I want wifi when travelling, I have to stick a Cisco-Linksys dongle thingy to my nice sleek new laptop. The irony is that the Linksys USB adapter has a Broadcom chip in it.

[idata]

The notion that the issue lies with connection to a 2.4 GHz wireless-G router makes perfect sense to me. I only have the problems when I am trying to connect at work, and lo and behold, when I checked the router itself, it is a 2.4 GHz wireless-G router. I don't have the issues at home apparently because I use a 5.2 GHz wireless-N router. And, as Chris mentioned, most of the public hotspots are wireless-N. I will re-iterate here that I used the wifi on my Samsung Windows 8 tablet for months with no issue, only seeing problems when I started using Samsung's drivers instead of the ones installed by Microsoft.

I would simply continue using the Microsoft drivers, but I recently purchased a WiDi adapter, and the Microsoft drivers do not support the WiDi functionality.

[idata]

I have already installed newest update for 6235 wifi card but still slowdowns and dropouts recur,then I have read another forum about that issue. someone wrote that he fixed that issue by installing 12 March 12 driver. then I installed it as he said . after installation the dropouts stopped but when playing League Of Legends ping rate suddenly changes between 60 to 250.

what can I do for balancing ping rate???

ps: we have two pc's at home both of them connect via WiFi. other pc's ping is always 60

[oskil]

I spoke too soon. The issue is back with the 15.6.1 drivers on the ASUS. Seems like the fix is only temporary, then after a few hours it goes back to dropping and cutting out.