Wireless-AC 9560 is intermittent

[bsturn]

New Lenovo AIO, Intel I7-10700T, Windows 11. This my second new Lenovo, the first was returned the first week I had it because the system refused to connect to my 5g router and then the next day it did connect and was good for two days, then the speed dropped to under 25 mbs download and would fail to connect to web sites so I returned it. 

Now I have another new Lenovo that is same as the first  and while it connected to my 5g ok and runs very good at over 200 mbs it has now started to behave just like the first one. Download speeds drop to below 25 mbs and fails to connect to internet sites and sometimes will not even connect to the speed test. I checked the driver version, 22.90.0.5 9/27/2021 so I replaced it with the latest version 22.130.0.5, this worked ok for about three days and now it works good sometimes and then it slows down.

BTW, I have a 8 yr. old Lenovo AIO I-5 Win. 10 sitting next to me that works perfect and I verify that the internet and router are ok when the new computer starts acting up. I have noticed that on the Windows Settings page for the adapter that the "Link speed (Receive/Transmit):  866/866 (Mbps)" changes to 54/866 when it slows down and even 60/60 Mbps was observed.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[n_scott_pearson]

If the version is still 22.130.0.5, then you need to reinstall the Lenovo-based package using the Clean Install method. Here is the process:

1. If you haven't already, download - but do not install just yet - the Bluetooth and WiFi driver packages from the Lenovo site.
2. Disable Internet access. Unplug Ethernet cable and/or disable wireless. Keep disabled until told to re-enable.
3. From the Apps & Features applet, check for any instances of Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Intel Wireless Bluetooth. If none, skip to Step 6.
4. Uninstall each instance of Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and/or Intel Wireless Bluetooth that is present. When prompted, choose to "Discard Settings".
5. Manually reboot your computer, keeping Internet access disabled throughout.
6. From the Device Manager applet, check the Network Adapters section for an entry for Intel Wireless-AC 9560 and check the Bluetooth section for an entry for Intel Wireless Bluetooth that has an intel driver associated with it. If neither is the case, go to Step 10.
7. Right click on the entry for Intel Wireless-AC 9560 and uninstall it, choosing to (checkmark) Delete the driver software for this device.
8. Right click on the entry for Intel Wireless Bluetooth and open its properties. If it has an Intel driver associated with it, then uninstall it, choosing to (checkmark) Delete the driver software for this device.
9. Go to Step 5.
10. (Optional but recommended) Clean out all temporary files using the Windows Clean Disk tool. Ensure you have enabled cleaning of System Files. I recommend that you then checkmark all categories offered, even if no files currently in this category (so it leaves it set up for next invocation).
11. (Optional but recommended) Clear each of your browsers' cache.
12. Install the Bluetooth driver package (my rule: always install Bluetooth first).
13. Install the Wireless driver package.
14. Manually shutdown and reboot your computer.
15. Reenable Internet access. Restore Ethernet cable and/or reenable wireless.
16. Test.

Hope this helps,

...S

[bsturn]

First of all, I certainly appreciate your input and I did look into the roaming aggressiveness setting as you suggested earlier, it was set at #3 medium.  Since it is working now I left it set at that but the first time the problem starts again I will change it to a lower value. BTW, my technical ability goes back to the days when I worked on D.G. Nova 1200 and the PDP/8 mini's, when the hard drive was a top loading washing machine sitting in the middle of a Halon protected computer room. In my spare time I wrote machine language display programs for the Zilog Z-80, couldn't afford an assembly program.

This brings me to the point where I need ask you a question concerning your post today. What would it accomplish to put the same driver package (22.90.0.5) from Lenovo back in when it was that same driver package that was in use when this problem started?

Also, the readme.txt file for that driver package states "Select the driver inf file in "driver/Intel_WIFI" folder of the package" That INF file does not exist. I have contacted Lenovo about that.

Since the problem seems to have taken a few days off now and everything is working good I am going to wait until it goes bad again and then I will try your suggestion.

Finally, I did some searching and found a bad review for this computer on Amazon dated 2/3/22 citing a defective WiFi card that lenovo would not fix. Seems that I am not the only one and this is my second computer with the same problem.

Thanks for your help

Bill

[n_scott_pearson]

I believe Jean wanted to see whether this version was perhaps customized. I was describing the clean install process, but I believe that you should be using this process to reinstall the latest versions.
I have TP Link WiFi 6 routers and mostly use AX200 and AX210 cards. I have never seen any of these issues - and I am using/have used practically every Intel M.2 wireless card.
I believe that the two issues you need to look at are related to channel width and aggressiveness.
...S

[bsturn]

I will use your clean install procedure the next time the problem occurs. When I ran the install package it produced a log.txt that indicated there were no errors but did notate several instances of "already in system"  

I always thought that when changes are made to a driver that the version number is changed to reflect the change/customization.

I picked up a TP-link AC 1300 USB adaptor the other day since it is a realtek device which my 8 yr. old AIO Lenovo has a original adaptor and works great still. So I won't be dead in the water when this Intel adaptor fails again.

This is a sample of the WLAN report from the other day;

11004 2022-05-08T09:13:48[+] Wireless security stopped.
11010 2022-05-08T09:13:49[+] Wireless security started.
11005 2022-05-08T09:13:49[+] Wireless security succeeded.
11004 2022-05-08T09:13:50[+] Wireless security stopped.
11010 2022-05-08T09:13:51[+] Wireless security started.
11005 2022-05-08T09:13:51[+] Wireless security succeeded.

This went on for several pages and took place when the Link Speed had dropped from 866/866 to 60/60 Mbps, Internet speed had dropped from 300 Mbps to less than 10 Mbps.

It is working good now and has for almost a week now but then again the first failure took place two weeks after I started it. Somehow I don't see how a software problem would act like this.

Will let you know if anything happens.

Thanks very much for your help.

Bill

[n_scott_pearson]

RE: "I always thought that when changes are made to a driver that the version number is changed to reflect the change/customization."

Yes, this will be the case - if the driver binary was actually modified.

You must not confuse Driver Version with Package Version. Many Intel driver packages - LAN, WLAN, GFX, BT, etc. - contain multiple drivers to cover the various hardware versions that are supported. These drivers are independently numbered and their numbering is updated only when they are actually modified and rebuilt. As a result, you could see a new driver package being released but, if the driver for your particular hardware product did not change, then it will have the same version string that it had in previous packages.

Just for completeness, let me also say that you should never rely on date-time information for Intel drivers. In many packages - and indeed in many individual driver releases (the chipset device drivers being a good example) - the date-time fields are used to carry non-date-time information. Thus, you may see a driver that appears to be from many years ago when, in fact, it is not.

I wish Intel wouldn't do either of these things, but they do and we have to live with it.

...S

[bsturn]

Hello Scott

Well after working perfect for seven days the problem came back. I was going to perform your clean install but i have run into something I am not sure about. Lenovo's support site shows WiFi and Bluetooth driver packages to download but the Bluetooth driver package is for Realtek adapter 8822CE. My computer shows a Microsoft driver version 10.0.22000.653 dated 6/21/2006 for Bluetooth.

Your thoughts please

Bill

[n_scott_pearson]

There are two possibilities here: (1) Lenovo has customized the part and disabled its Bluetooth support in favor of this other part, or (2) Lenovo simply decided to not provide this driver on their site (you can get it from the Intel site here: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18649).

...S

[bsturn]

Thanks, I will try it tomorrow and let you know.