Killer-N 1103 Wireless Stability Question for the Massess.....

Howdy Everyone,

There have been a number of posts concerning various Wi-Fi issues with the M17xR4, and I have read and participated in a few. However, it is normal for unhappy folks to make lots of noise, and happy folks to keep quite. So, I am wondering if there is anyone out there using a Killer-N 1103 on an M17xR4 and Windows 8 (or 8.1) that is stable and working normally? I purchased my M17xR4 in July of 2012, and it came with Windows 7 (Ultimate) with a free upgrade to Windows 8 (which occurred in Oct of that year). I don't recall any issues with the Wireless under Windows 7, and only ran the "stock" drivers that came pre-installed on my laptop. I upgraded to Windows 8, and started having sporadic wireless issues that manifested with network issues using Parallels Workstation (now a discontinued product BTW), and sporadic bouts where the adapter would just stop processing packets, but remain connected. I solved 99% of these problems (through many hours of troubleshooting including working with Parallels support) by uninstalling the Killer Networks drivers and software, and using the default Atheros drivers included with Windows 8. Over the past year, I dabbled and tried several of the drivers released by Killer Networks, to only have none of them work as stable as the Microsoft Drivers. So, I have been enjoying mostly-stable performance, but experiencing none of the accelerated features that I purchased back in July 2012. Well, this past Oct I upgraded to Windows 8.1, and immediately started having the same stability issues with the Microsoft Drivers, so I installed the "latest" drivers from both Dell and Killer Networks, and neither fix the issue. The Microsoft drivers proved the most stable, but late last week the situation got worse. I would watch my wireless card connect and drop the connection several times over a couple of minutes, to the point it was effecting file transfers and gaming. So, I went back to the Killer N site, and found new "beta' drivers, which I am now running. I must admit, that the connection is much faster (files download much quicker now), but not stable. I can still see the connection drop, but fortunately it reconnects quickly. Granted, the Microsoft drivers seemed fine too for a while.

So, the point of this long story is to just see if we can get some feedback on this card from everyone, that is people with problems and people without problems. Are there folks using this card with no problems? If so, I may need to bite the bullet and contact Alienware support to see if I have any options :-(

BTW, I run the 5 GHz band exclusively, and there are no other 5GHz networks within range of my home. So I know it is not a network connection issue, not to mention many times the connection stays solid, it is just that it stops processing packets.

Thanks!

Rich S.

 

I've been rock stable on over 5+ networks that I connect to on a daily basis with 8.1 and the latest killer drivers. Not sure why some poople have problems while others don't.

 

Stock Microsoft drivers seem to be the most stable for me. Nothing else seems to work on windows 8.1

I never had a issue on windows 7 running Killer manager and drivers. Of all the research i've done and material i read most people get the default microsoft drivers to work best at peak times.

 

You may try any of those 2 options. Using the latest Killer driver from the manufacturer's site could also help.

 

Hi Everyone,

Well, I have been running these drivers for the past week: http://www.killergaming.com/driverlists/KillerSuite_BETA_1.1.37.1044_Win7_Win8_Win81.exe and so far they have worked Ok. I have also found a blog where a technical writer discusses how he determined that there is a compatibility issue between Windows 8.1, Atheros and Bluetooth. Fix Wi-Fi keeps disconnecting in Windows 8 and 8.1 He indicates that he solved his issues by disabling Bluetooth. I am running Bluetooth, which is how I connect my mouse and my external keyboard, so can't really test this fix. However, for those of you that have it working fine, are you using Bluetooth? Thanks!

Rich S.

 

I personally have bluetooth on, but its not connected to anything.

 

^^ how would one downgrade if A12's the latest revision? No causing an argument, just curious.

 

Its a copy and paste post, used same answer on the threads with similar topic. No later BIOS that I know of tbh.

 

I am really really unhappy with my Killer wireless adapter. I have the 1202 but it's terrible. Used some tweaks posted by some people to use some generic Qualcomm drivers which did help a lot but the 5Ghz band is still unreliable with the signal frequently dropping to 3 bars.
I have an external USB wireless adapter which I use for my 2nd laptop and the 5Ghz signal is always stable. In addition transfer speeds over wifi from laptop to a media center hard-drive don't go over 8.5MB/s on the Killer while using the external adapter I get at least 11MB/s.

 

I also have the 1202, and have found it to be terrible for gaming (random packet losses happening every 1-2 minutes. The "disable bluetooth" fix did work on Windows 8.1, though, but it kinda sucks that I can't use bluetooth any more.

 

I use my 1103 with the drivers just installed and updated through device manager. It is the best for me. Mine does have issues in that it hunts for 5Ghz networks far less frequently than 2.4. It's so bad that I can never actively connect to a 5Ghz network, I have to wait for it to automatically detect one as preferred and then connect by itself. It's not a huge issue and once connected, it is rock stable. I am able to max out my 60Mbps and I see no difference between wired and wireless (I live in a small flat).