Killer Wireless Discussion Thread - Look for Solutions and Ask Questions Here

Moderator Edit: We had 4 separate threads with related, redundant or overlapping information regarding problems with Killer Wireless. Those have been merged in this thread to make the process of finding solutions easier for those searching for answers. Many are new members of the Community, or people simply "Googling" for help. Many don't know how or don't bother looking for information before creating a new thread to ask for help. We can move those to this thread as well.

Those having performance and stability problem should try the settings in post #145 and see if they help.

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UPDATE (13/12/12): Dell have replaced motherboard, wireless card and antenna's, but they have now given up on me! Hopefully this community won't!

Hello, I have joined these forum's because Dell's technical support is to be quite honest, ####, and I know a lot of people have had their own techical issues resolved here. So here's hoping someone can help me with mine too.

I bought a refurbished Alienware M18x R2 from the Dell outlet and ever since having it I have been getting fluctuating signal from my wireless. The Killer is supposed to be superior to other network cards and yet I am getting less signal bars than the other wireless devices I have. Bizarre!

I have tested my Alienware on two different routers and locations, and still get similar results on each end.

What I have tried:
- Resetting the wireless adapter: Most of the time after resetting I get full signal and am able to pick up lots of other networks in the area. But when trying to connect to a router the signal will drop dramatically and the other networks go out of sight. I can still achieve some signal. However, even with signal it doesn't connect a lot of the time. I need to move myself within very close proximity of the router to establish a secure connection.

- Booting up the system in safe mode with networking enabled: No changes there!

- Restoring the computer to factory default, and without adding any programs or allowing Windows update to automatically download any drivers I went onto Dell's website and downloaded the latest driver from there: Again, no changes.

- Even though I knew this wouldn't work I switched off all possible interfering devices just on the off chance that maybe it improved somewhat: Surprise. No changes!

- Dell sent out a technician to replace my wireless card: To no avail.

Just to note, I know how security software can conflict with some connections so I've made sure no security software is installed on my computer.

I did study computer science at college so I do have a fair understanding of how things work but any insight would be much appreciated.

 

Hey i would suggest you try different driver versions, both newest and one or two previous, i believe these can be found at bigfoot's website, and i remember hearing that either the most recent or one version previous was very buggy and had issues... but have no fear, its not a hardware problem, i do very much remember someone saying it was software and was fixed with a driver, either newer or older, just try different ones, make sure you do a complete uninstall and use Ccleaner to get rid of any registry entries there may be. i also uninstalled any intel wireless control, as that only seems to make matters more complicated in my situation

 

I agree.. sounds more like a driver problem.

 

Do you have McAfee installed?

 

mate if you can open the bottom and trace where the 3 antenna cables are going. they should be white,grey,black. just check where it is looping to. if the card itself has been replaced i would look at the antennas. also how bad is the fluctuations? is it dropping signal? eg// going from 300Mbs to 75Mbs? i run all dlinks in my house and not had a problem. when i switched over to linlsys i could not get a stable connect on wireless-n. wireless-g was fine. try forcing wireless-g and see if you still have troubles with connection. also what type of router do you have?

 

Thanks for the replies. I have uninstalled the driver I downloaded from Dell and instead downloaded the latest driver from Bigfoot Killer networks but with no change in the stability of the signal / connection.
When I am connected to the internet, even with low signal, the download speed / upload speed remains the same and does not fluctuate like the wireless signal does.

@Alienware-Natalia_J I have uninstalled Mcafee as I am fully aware of the effects security programs have on connections sometimes.

@Arcticsoldier I will try what you have suggested and look for the antennas. It would make sense if one of them was loose or isn't where it should be. Thanks, I'll get back to you on that.
I have tested this on a Belkin 54G (F5D76320-4) router and a Thomson router which if I remember correctly is also a wireless-g.

 

ok so are they both wireless a/b/g/n or only a/b/g? from what i can see the belkin 54g is wireless a/b/g
does anyone of your device support wireless n? if both devices are only wireless a/b/g, what you can try in the router settings is set wireless g only and see if that helps
now if one of your router has wireless-n, set it to wireless-n only and see if that makes a difference.
another router setting you should set is either channel 1,6 or 11
a silly question but how far away are you from the router? are you in the next room? is the signal going through a wall?
does your neighbours live close to your place and do they have wireless networks? because that could also interfere with the wireless channel your on
alot of things can interfere with signal strength but at the end of the day, if your download,upload and pings are good then i wouldnt worry too much about it

 

I was going to recommend looking under the bottom cover to confirm the antenna wires were secure... good suggestion, Arcticsoldier.

McAfeee is the worst security software and that is probably why Natalia asked. It is causing a number of issues with new systems and I hope that Alienware will shift to using Vipre, ESET or some other security software for new systems. Not only does McAfee cause issues, it performs poorly compared to other options. There is no option for end users to configure exceptions to false positives and overall it is just a poor security option. Microsoft Security Essentials is fine as a free option, and so are the freeware versions of Avast and Avira.

 

Hi, has anyone found out how to reduce these brief 1-3 sec periods where your games have lag spikes using any Killer Drivers rather than Atheros drivers? Atheros drivers fix it, but would rather use Killer drivers for the extra QoS features they have. If so please enlighten us on how you have done it.

Currently trying this (may help/fix problem):



Edit: so far so good with this

 

i did the above, and i still notice small lag spike in league of legends from time to time.

 

Throw in garbage those killer cards! Had 2 examples of killer 1103 which gave me horrible lag spikes in online games, switched to intel 6300, increased ping by 5 ms but i've gained stability. Stablity -> 5 ms

 

i think with a driver update they might fix this, or maybe its hardware side which will suck.

 

Uncheck the Bigfoot Networks Bandwidth Control. That solved my lag spikes.

You can also try the new driver (6.1.0.437) @ their website.

 

I havent touched my settings at all and have zero spikes and very good ping. Just got my rig a couple days ago.... Maybe driver if yours is older?

 

Wow, I have also had these issues and though it was my ISP. I had tons of techs come out thinking it was my internet. Can someone please link me to these atheros drivers that are compatible? Also, I would like to retain the original drivers if possible so where would I find this "Bandwidth control" checkbox? I'll also try updating to the newest version but I doubt It'll work. I tried other older versions in the past but it still was awful. In BF3 and other games I'd get horrible freezes only while using my WIFI. I even got a dual band router thinking there was interference and tried all available channels.

 

Im using 2.4ghz G band. Regular router verizon installs.... maybe theres some bunk cards out there?

 

I have opened up the bottom cover and checked that the antenna's were secured in place. I also had an engineer come around and replace the screen + antenna's to see if it would fix the problem. No luck there.

@Arcticsoldier, I changed the settings in all of the routers I have tested them on to either just 'G' or just 'N', but it doesn't change anything regarding the signal. I have tested the connection out in a couple of detached houses with the neighbors being a fair distance away. Also, have removed any possible interfering devices and can obtain a secure connection with strong signal on different laptops.

I find it odd that I have seen my network adapter display really strong signal, picking up lots of other networks in the area, but for too brief a moment (about 2 seconds after resetting it; sometimes not at all) and then it will go back to having half the signal. And even when I do have signal it still won't connect, unless I'm pretty close to the router (within 5 meters from it).

Anymore suggestions would be appreciated as I have given up on Dell.

I will be trying to pursue them in court, as this whole experience has been beyond awful.

 

Hey 7idal are the antennas in the right order. It is white top, grey middle, black bottom with the battery side of the system facing you.

 

I had this problem. Frustrated, I spent 35 bucks on an Intel 6300, installed it and have not had problems since.

I just got tired of running in circles trying to get the bigfoot to work.

I would really like to have the bigfoot work, I can always use the intel in another laptop. But for now I will wait until I see some solutions posted.

 

FIrst off lets just say this is a replacement mx18 r2.

I am having an issue trying to figure out if the problem is my wifi or my killer network card. If i disable and reenable it i am back to 4 bars. I can run a speed test and i get exactly what i should be getting but a few mintues later i am back to 1 bar and crap on speed test. My phone seems to be getting a consistent signal and better then the my mx18. I have tried to reinstall drivers but didn't seem to help me. Anyone else have problems like this. I did notice signal was a little bit weaker when i had both laptops but really didn't think about it.

Please help with some trouble shooting.

 

one other idea - from my personal experience - go to adapter properties via control panel/device manager and try to uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" - I do it as standard on all computers I handle to remove driver issues with power management - could work

 

Hi there and welcome back to notebookreview.com. If you are talking about the killer wireless card, try to install the latest driver from killer's website Killer Gaming :: Support :: Driver Downloads

Also, try to disable the power management from device manager (Network Adapters - Killer Wireless-N 1103 Network Adapter Properties - Power Management - Allow this computer to turn off this device to save power <- please make sure this is not selected; save and close).

 

Power management should fix the issue. Let us know how it goes.

 

Awesome!! I was wondering why every time I went into low power mode, my internet service become glitchy as hell! I figured it was part of the power management but, wasn't sure if there was anything to do to change it. Thanks!!!

I'm not having the same prob as the OP.

 

Hey Guys, so I swap my default Intel wifi module to the Killer Wireless N1103 under Win8. It install correctly but then I start to get massive random connection drop. After some research, apparently this affect others as well under Win 8 Unusual Connectivity Issue for Wireless N 1103 - Page 5

Any one has a solution? Seemed like a driver issue.

It would be really suck to change back to my Intel 2230 wifi after spending 80 USD on the killer upgrade.... Thanks!

 

I've been having the same issues, it's the POS Killer Network Manager. If you disable it, your connections will be stable, but speed is also decreased.

Since they've been bought out there has been very little feedback on the forums from them regarding this issue and lots of people saying that they get no response from support after the initial ticket which is disappointing. Hopefully we see an updated driver soon.

 

I tried to disable the network manager from autostart but seemed like the problem persist still. Are you using the Win8 driver from Killer website or from Dell?

I was also told maybe i should try the ones from MS. Just remove all Qualcomm driver and software...

thanks! It is sad that the 'Killer' module comes with all these issues. It is suppose to be a 'premium' upgrade product....

 

I'm using the driver from the killer website, with the network manager enabled. I re installed it the other day and it's been pretty stable.

 

Until the new driver is released by BigFoot networks you will probably encounter issues with it. Sorry about the inconveniences though.

 

How can you get a driver from Big Foot if he is running around in the woods?

Last location unknown...

 

Interesting enough, I remove all killer software/manager.... and let the default MS driver installs.... no disconnect whatsoever since then. 3 Hours of extended BF3 and no drops. This is a first time.

 

Yes it works fine without the Network manager, but you lose the built in QoS / ping reduction features by using the built in Windows drivers. Personally I have noticed a speed improvement using the Network manager over the generic windows drivers.

 

For me is the other way around. Every time I used to restart, I had to wait for about 2-3 minutes for the wifi to be enabled again and sometimes to even run the troubleshooting from the taskbar, because it was not starting. So I removed from control panel the bigfoot driver / restarted and then run the bigfootcleaner (you can get it from here Killer Gaming :: Home), as well, restarted again and running the default windows wifi driver until they will come up with a fix. I find even the download / upload very stable as well...

 

I'm running 100% stable with my card. Not sure why the same driver is giving you guys so much trouble.

 

I have been having issues with this card on the m17x as well. When bandwidth of the card reaches above 5MB/s downstream, the connection will stall, in that the connection stays and windows reports internet connection. Running windows 8 with killer network default installation, I tried the generic drivers and same issue but this time windows identifies there is no connectivity with the wireless network (yellow symbol in taskbar) and the fastest way to get connected again is to re-enable the adaptor or press the flight mode/connectivity button on and off.

 

Dell have replaced the antenna's, wireless card and motherboard. They acknowledge that there is a problem somewhere, but they have literally given up on it, and told me a refund is the only other option.

The thing is, I actually like this computer and after investing a lot of time into the problem already I would have hoped for something a little more than just a refund. I hope someone here can advise me of an alternative route or a way of finally resolving the wireless problem.

 

Hey guys, so with my MS driver, it worked quite well for the past week. I now tried to re-install the Win 8 64 bit driver from Killer site. So far, so good. No drop on 4 hours Battlefield 3 session and a 20G file network transfer worked for the first time without connection drop. I will report back to let you guys know. This all seemed abit random to me....

 

On latest killer driver from website at the moment, no dropouts so far as well. I did change a setting of the receive buffers from 256 to 128, seems to be running stable now, I was having issues with large file transfers which were over 5MB/s, was able to download portal 2 from steam at over 5MB/s and did not see any connection drop.

 

Started dropping out again so I've swapped to a 6300 for the time being. Hopefully they come up with a working solution soon.

 

I disassembled and reassembled my computer today, to change the cpu thermal compound and now Killer Wireless can't connect to available networks although it can see them. I have checked the connection on the wifi card 3 times and I'm not taking it apart again, what could be the problem? I hope the WiFi antenna cable didn't sustain a kink or a break but if it did I shouldn't be able to even see the networks correct?

One more thing worth adding is that when I initially put it back together I wanted to see if it would boot up without problems because usually you know it's the keyboard or something that's that's not connected right, and I neglected to connect the hard drive and received an Atheros not connected error upon boot up. I assume that this is because the hardware couldn't find the drivers that are located on the hard drive.

I have since also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers, both the atheros lan driver and the killer 1103 driver from the Dell.com website.

Any help greatly appreciated!

 

I also damage the connector that connects the hard drive caddy to the motherboard, it's the little white plastic thing that wedges the connector in there, where can I get a replacement? the HD is connected but I am not sure how long it can stay like that. I'm writing all this from my android phone using talk to type, very interesting ( and convenient) technology.

 

help, for some reason my last saved system restores ha I can't find them, the only available System Restore is when I uninstalled the atheros driver and it's not doing anything for me. I also took it apart once more to closely inspect the wire and it seems intact. I have no idea what the problem is I'm getting ready to call Dellienware.

 

Hi there. In my opinion the hdd cable connector that holds the cable into the motherboard, cannot be replaced. Several people have asked for that and the Alienware team (available on this forum as well) have said that they will try to send those parts (the plastic holder hooked up to the motherboard connector) as a replacement. I do not know if so far anyone has received a replacement. However you can send an email to the alienware team about this. Mr. Porras is one of their team member (also a member of this forum) and his email address is [email protected]. His profile is available here http://forum.notebookreview.com/member.php?u=508812

As per the network card (killer wifi) it should work just fine. Please make sure you have inserted the card properly in the slot and that you have connected the cables according to the colour mentioned on the card (black, white and gray).

Try to remove the driver for the killer card from control panel and also (if you can) get the killer cleaner from their website ( Killer Gaming :: Support :: Driver Downloads). Once you removed everything and run the cleaner as well (restarted) your card should work by default with windows driver without having to reinstall the killer driver. If this does not solve your problem and your wifi card is still not connecting then most probably you have a fault card at the moment and you require a replacement.

Good luck!

 

Juliant, thank-you for your help! Ok so I am actually typing this from my M18x R2, I think out of willpower/psychokinesis I got it to work, I also uninstalled the Atheros Lan Driver and installed the following one: WiFi_BT_Bigfoot_Win84_X05_A01_Setup-H36M5_ZPE.exe

It didnt work at first, but it seems to work at the moment, hopefully not intermittent.

I will look for Killer Cleaner next if problem persists, but I also uninstalled both the Atheros Netowork Adapter Driver and the device in device manager, along with Killer, and then in Safe Mode used CCleaner to clean the registry. Then reinstalled the original drivers, downloaded directly from Dell.

That sucks that the little plastic tabs that are used to hold the connectors in place aren't replaceable, this is only my 2nd time having my rig apart (first was to replace LCD with LCD sans reflective/protective screen) and I was mostly careful, the parts are very fragile! I assume a lot of owners break them pretty often. Hope it stays in place!

Well, hopefully the wifi holds, thanks again for your help.

 

The Atheros not connected message you got when you first booted was because your hard drives weren't plugged in and it was trying to boot from the next available device which is the LAN. Because you had no lan cable connected you got that message.

For the Wireless card, go to killergaming.com and download the driver cleaner utility and the drivers for the 1103 - The 1103 doesn't have Bluetooth so i'm not sure if the drivers you downloaded from Dell installed extra stuff that's not required.

In any case, there's a slew of issues with the Killer cards and dropped connections anyway, so if you're running Windows 8, the included drivers are actually more stable for most people than the ones on the Killer site.

 

Thanks, still having issues, I uninstall the drivers again, ran killer cleaner, and am downloading 1103 driver from killergaming.com onto my android. I have a bad feeling that it's a faulty wifi card.

I'm on 7.

 

still not working, calling Dell, it sees the networks but just can't connect and I'm getting some "ipv4 address is not been set" using killer diagnose.

 

My apologies.

 

Hey bro, can you please put that code in a spoiler so it does not take up so much space?

For anyone that is curious how to do that, the tags to create a spoiler are simple... the word SPOILER placed between [ ] at the beginning and [/SPOILER] at the end (not case sensitive) of the content you want to have inside of the spoiler.

PHP:

It would look like this in source editing mode: [spoiler]spoiler content in between[/spoiler]

 

Vulcan - I've read that many people are experiencing sudden drops in connectivity etc when using the latest Bigfoot Drivers. The most stable Bigfoot driver I had running on Windows 7 was the .298 version. If you can find them to download, I'd give them a whirl - I'd have uploaded them for you but I can't lay my hands on 'em right now. You could also try resetting your network card and router to see if that helps the problem.

EDIT: Found a link to download .298 for you here: BigFootNetworks Killer Wireless-N 1103 Network driver 6.1.0.298 Windows 7 64