New R4 - Wireless is terrible

Just got my R4 today and the wireless is terrible. It'll go from fine (slightly faster than my other laptops roughly 8000/9000 Kbps down at dslreports) to awful (125Kbps down, if the page loads at all). I have the intel 2230 wireless card. Signal strength is usually reporting excellent/strong the entire time, though the throughput measure drops to under 10 once the connection goes sour.

Tried all of the updates from the Dell website. Repositioned my router, updated the firmware on my router, changed a bunch of the settings (enabling and disabling bands, changing the channel). Messed with the settings on the card as well. Nothing is addressing the continued drops to low speeds. Anybody have any advice? I understand the 2230 isn't a great network card, but I expected some sub-optimal pings, not completely unusable. I tried downloading the 7970 drivers from the dell site as a test. My 3 year old Studio 15 got them in 20 minutes. I cancelled the M17x at 30 minutes and it still had half the file to go.

Any advice?

 

I have Killer Wireless on both my M11x and my M17x ... it's always been sketchy. I know you probably don't wanna hear this, but I'd invest in an ethernet cable.

 

Killer-N being sketchy? When I upgraded my m14x to the Killer-N 1102, it worked flawlessly and much better than the Intel crap. Right now, I have the same issues as gx5ilver. Just waiting on my Killer 1103 card to come in to swap it out... I suggest you upgrade to another card even if it's not the Killer ones... as long as it's not Intel...

 

darkdomino - I appreciate poor performance, but I can't believe they'd sell something this terrible.

GQ Ukyo - If you can let me know how you make out with the killer card. I can wire to the router for the time being, but long term it's not a great option.

 

I have the same card in my R4 and I haven't had any issues getting my full 10mbps connection. I swapped in my SSD and did a new Windows install when I got mine.

 

I have the 2230 and it works absolutely fine. I suspect there's a problem somewhere setting-wise.

Just ran a speedtest - 16Mb/6Mb.

 

Just finished all the windows updates for the machine (grasping at straws here). Still no dice. Also removed and reinstalled the wireless card and again no dice.

 

Did you try connecting wired and evaluate the stability of your connection? Are there other PCs in the network that's having the same problem? I'm just asking this so we can rule out the possibility that the problem comes from the router.

Sometime routers are acting weird also and normally require a (hard) reset. When I see some problem with my connection, I also check it with my other PC and cell to verify if its network wide.

 

i stripped out the intel card and replaced it with killer..

 

He said he tried downloading the 7970 driver on his studio 15 and that worked fine compared to his r4. I'm not trying to sound rude by the way, just trying to help

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I had a similar problem with my 6250 and my router until I turned on the QOS WMM settings in my router. Now I have no problems. Might want to check router settings?

 

Lol its ok. I didnt see it. Was trying to post before going to bed

 

gxsilver, what kind of wireless router do you have? What channel are you running? is it set to N only?

I have found that the intel cards like up to channel 9 only...anything above will cause slowdowns for some reason. I'd definitely experiment with your router settings before you call the card crap. When i picked up my 1102, i had to configure the router a few times and install the generic atheros drivers and now, the card runs like butta

 

Hmm, I never thought of that. I'll try it next time and see how that goes.

 

Yeah, count me in as one of the people extremely disappointed with the R4's wifi. Yuck.

I haven't toyed around with it much - but from what I saw, it doesn't support 5.0 ghz signals, just the 2.4. Which is a bummer because I've got N being pushed on my 5.0 signal and G being put out on my 2.4 (because I have some devices that don't support N - thanks Vita/PS3)

 

Check your settings in device manager and make sure everything is configured correctly.

 

Have you checked your power options? Assuming it's plugged in and all, but check Control Panel > Power Options > Change Plan Settings > change advanced power settings > Wireless Adapter Settings > Power Saving Mode

Mine is set to Maximum Performance, and that is whether its on battery or plugged in. I really never run off the battery so it makes no difference anyway. But take a look, sometimes it's the simple things that get over looked!

 

I received my m17x r4 2 days ago and i agree the wireless is bad for the stock intel n2230. I enabled WMM in my QOS settings as well on the router, made no difference. Connecting with my Ethernet i get 22/6 while with my wireless im getting 11/3. Anyone have a clue whats going on?

 

also try and configue the settings in the bigfoot network manager. uncheck the box that monitors applications. because if one app has higher priority than another it will cuz that other program to not even connect.

 

Bigfoot network manager? I have an intel card. Do you mean in my router settings?

 

So you recommended to upgrade bigfoot killer .....

 

In reference to R4, if you change your wireless card to Killer than you loose the Bluetooth functionality too because they skip installing the standalone bluetooth module in those systems configured with Intel Wireless/Bluetooth Card.

If you had ordered the R4 with Killer Card, only then do they install a standalone Bluetooth 4.0 card.

Also the Intel card uses 2 antennae. Killer uses 3 antennae. This is going to be a major issues with people who wish to upgrade their Intel wireless/bluetooth card to any other.

 

the bluetooth part is correct, can be solved by getting a dell 375 module if you really need bluetooth.
but the third antenna is there, it's taped to the base of the laptop so no problem there.

 

Yes Xenn, what I meant was that Intel uses only 2 of the 3 antennaes available. Are they not selling the 4.0 module?

 

Count me in with the group having issues with the intel centrino wireless-n 2230. At first I didn't think anything of it, because I have pretty ty internet. However, today I went over to a buddies place who has high speed cable internet and I was still having issues with his connection. My problem is with erratic download speeds. One moment it'll be giving me the proper dl speed and the next it will give me a 0.5mb dl speed on a 15mb connection. It never consistently keeps the proper dl speed of the connection, it's constantly fluctuating.

I tried messing around with some settings that were recommended in the basic troubleshoot guides. I even tried updating the drivers through intel's website, but that just seemed to make the problem even worse. I had to end up reverting back to the dell drivers. I really don't know what else to do. I can't think of anything that will really make any difference. I think this card just sucks (at least mine does).

 

Dunno if dell 380 bluetooth module is out there yet. Only get it from dell now maybe?

 

is this only on the r4? i upgraded to the killer-n afterwards and still have bluetooth.

 

Same here. I upgraded to the killer aftermarket in my r3 and I still have bluetooth.

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Either this information is false or I am an exception to the rule. My R4 has separate Bluetooth. I upgraded to the 1103 aftermarket and I still have Bluetooth functionality.

Also, the second point is false. Both the R3 and R4 have 3 antennas regardless of your wifi card. If your card only uses 2 then the third antenna will be taped to the side.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX Using Tapatalk 2

 

and again, if you buy the R4 with intel 2230 you will not have seperate bluetooth module and will lose bluetooth on upgrading to killer.

the intel 2230 has bluetooth intergrated on same card.

i got my r4 with 2230 and did not have separate bluetooth card, had to install a dell 375 to get BT again.

The R3 always had separate bluetooth card under the palmrest, for R4 location is the same but now the msata card is located above.

 

Dude read the lines again.. Killer 1103 uses 3 antennae and Intel uses 2 antennae....

I never mentioned the system doesnt have 3 antennae for use!

As for the Bluetooth module issue, there is a thread that clearly elucidates this amongst users who had ordered Intel Wifi/Bluetooth originally and changed it later to Killer 1103.

Dont use the phrase " false information " too liberally without researching or verifying what a person has stated. Its maligning.

There is a good possibility that if what you stated is accurate then Dell may have possibly omitted installing the discrete Bluetooth module under the palmrest in the initial batches during production

I am eager to know if there are any other form of explanation for this.

Did u remove the Intel Wireless/Bluetooth Card before installing the Killer 1103 N Card.

 

Have you tried using a WiFi analyzer tool and do some logging? I know you've changed channels but perhaps the channel you changed to is also used a lot in your area? I like INSSIDER from metageek.com to check out my wireless environment.

inSSIDer – Discover the Wi-Fi Networks Around You | MetaGeek

 

UPDATE: Going back to what the OP reported being his issue, I would say it's the same problem I was having with the wireless card. Here's how I fixed the issue.

Running the Intel PROSet manual diagnostics, it would sometimes successfully complete the test and other times fail on the ping test with a no response: dhcp server. I did some googling on the no response to dhcp server and found someone's advise to change the router's channel to 1 or 6.

I went ahead and changed my router's setting to channel 1 and ran the diagnostics multiple times afterwards, and it successfully completed the diagnostics every time. I also ran some speed tests on my DL speed and it seems to be consistent now.

 

I did upgrade aftermarket from the 2230 to the 1103 and maintained Bluetooth. That's interesting.

Why would that be a major problem, then? Sorry, I missed your point.

I haven't seen the thread, I'll look for it. I just know my R4 came with the separate module and the Intel card. I have a friend who just purchased an R4 recently and is going to add the 1103. I'll see what configuration they sent him.

I'll give you the last point, it was bad word choice on my part.

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Its ok buddy....Well on the no. of antennae, its well known 3 wireless card modules using 3 antennae have better range and throughput.

I am also confused now as to why some havent got a separate bluetooth module installed. I will be receiving my system anytime now. Let's see.

 

Do you have a wireless internet/smart tv. I noticed huge drops (mainly upload) when my usb wireless adapter is in my powered up tv and I'm using the 2230. Fortunately, I can remove the wireless tv adapter and use the TV for other sources while using the 2230. This also happened to the Aethros card in my previous laptop. TV is a LG 55LW5600.

 

Try using a different channel for your wifi router configuration.

 

bit offtopic maybe, but i just realised dell dropped the ultimate-n 6300 for the m17xr4 and now just sells the "crappy" 2230.

i seriously will never ever understand why they are always downgrading their systems :sadface:...

 

Right, the mid-grade option for the M17xR4 is now the 6250. Xoticpc's mid-grade wifi option is still the 6300, fwiw.