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    Acer Extensa 4620Z Wireless connection is very slow.

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by Jsquare, Mar 17, 2008.

  1. Jsquare

    Jsquare Newbie

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    I bought the Extensa 4620Z back on January of this year and it was working fine until last week when I tried to copy a 20MB file from my desktop on the same LAN. I noticed that the transfer was taking too long(+10Mins), then tried another file (700MB) and the system hanged while calculating the transfer time, re-started the notebook and tried again with the same results, proceed to install Net Meter to see was the transfer rate was and it fluctuates between 20Kbps to 3Mbps, also tried uninstalling and installing the latest Broadcom drivers, no cigar. Blaming my Netgear Wifi router I tried with a Buffalo WHR-G54S, then went to friend house I got the same problem.
    Finally called Acer yesterday and after spending almost 45mins on the phone they said that I should take the notebook to the place of purchase (Bestbuy) for service.

    Knowing the reputation of Bestbuy service department I'm not sure that I could trust them with my notebook, specially with my multi OS settings as it's right now, I have a triple boot configuration XP/Vista/Linux and by the way all 3 of them have the same slow Wifi transfer problem, which finally let me to believe that the Broadcom Mini PCI-e card is the one to blame.

    So yesterday I went ahead and purchased an Intel 3945ABG Mini PCI-e card from eBay for $21 shipped, but now my concerns are:

    1. Would I void the warranty if I replace the card myself?
    2. Have any of you guys had the same problem with the Wifi connection?
    3. Is the Broadcom adapter that bad?
    4. Would you trust your notebook to Bestbuy service department?

    Thanks!
     
    Jsquare, Mar 17, 2008
    #1
  2. pixelot

    pixelot Notebook Acolyte

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    You have reinstalled the drivers, right? :eek:
     
    pixelot, Mar 17, 2008
    #2
  3. Jsquare

    Jsquare Newbie

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    Yes I did, I even tried restoring Vista from factory backup as requested by Acer and the problem persists. As I explained, all 3 OS configurations(XP/Vista/Linux) have the same Wifi problem.
    The Broadcom 4311 chipset seems to have a lot of problems, so probably I'll be better off with the Intel.
     
    Jsquare, Mar 17, 2008
    #3
  4. pixelot

    pixelot Notebook Acolyte

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    Yeap.

    (filler)
     
    pixelot, Mar 17, 2008
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  5. wogeboy

    wogeboy Notebook Enthusiast

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    Did you get the 3945 to work in the laptop?
    I am thinking of doing the same for my 4620z.
    Will the 4620 accept most any 3945abg pci-e card?
    thx
     
    wogeboy, Apr 1, 2008
    #5