Windows wireless problem

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Username1

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#169719 23-Mar-2015 21:28

Hi all

I have been having issues with the wireless on my windows 7 laptop and I am wondering if anyone can suggest ways of diagnosing the problem.

It works fine most of the time but at times the wireless speed drops quite significantly. I use this laptop mainly as my plex server and when it happens the video steaming on my chromecast starts buffering like crazy.

None of the other wireless devices in the room seem to be affected including my nexus 5, chromebook and chromecast. When I restart the router the windows laptop immediately starts working normally and the wifi is back to full speed.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

michaelmurfy

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#1266327 23-Mar-2015 22:58

What type of router do you have?

Have you read this? http://www.geekzone.co.nz/sbiddle/8728

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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Username1

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#1266333 23-Mar-2015 23:47

I am using a Mikrotik 951G-2HnD.

I did have a look at that post but didn't get very far. If I put the windows laptop and my chromebook side by side and do a speed test one after another when this happens the windows laptop gets speeds of 1Mbs/0.5Mbs while the chromebook gets 70Mbs/20Mbs. Could there be something wrong with the drivers or is there some setting I've messed up?

TonyR1973

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#1266341 24-Mar-2015 00:19

What's the WiFi chipset on the laptop? I've had endless speed and reliability issues with the Intel 7260-AC in the laptop and and the 7260-N in my NUC to the point I've disabled it and I'm using a couple of USB TP-Link dongles I had laying around instead.

michaelmurfy

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#1266394 24-Mar-2015 08:09

TonyR1973: What's the WiFi chipset on the laptop? I've had endless speed and reliability issues with the Intel 7260-AC in the laptop and and the 7260-N in my NUC to the point I've disabled it and I'm using a couple of USB TP-Link dongles I had laying around instead.

Indeed. The drivers often pulled via Windows Update have issues. Try updating the drivers off your wireless cards manufactures website.

timmmay

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#1266395 24-Mar-2015 08:09

Use an app on a phone to do a wireless survey, before and during the problem. I use Wifi Analyzer on Android.

Username1

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#1267039 24-Mar-2015 17:32

Thanks for the suggestions. The wireless card on the laptop is an Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter. After playing around with it some more I've found disabling and re-enabling the wifi with the button will fix the speed for a while and then it goes back to the same problem later. I'll try updating the drivers from the manufactures website and wifi analyzer.

Samsung

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Username1

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#1285841 16-Apr-2015 20:50

Updating the drivers definitely helped the problem. Instead of having this issue daily it only happens every couple of days now. I also tried Wifi Analyzer but didn't find anything interesting.

I just gave up in the end and bought a powerline ethernet adapter because the problem was so frustrating! I am much happier now :) Anyway thanks for the suggestions!

Jase2985

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#1285854 16-Apr-2015 21:13

try doing a continious ping, and see if there are any huge ping spikes

can also try doing a speed test via a program like 'lan speed test' and see if there is any significant drops in speed