Intel Proset wifi dropouts on W2

Since the arrival of my W2 I experienced regular, unexplainable WLan dropouts on my W2.

After cleaning out a lot of the unnecessary processes my W2 was burdened with I found out that the wifi reception so far has been flawless. One of the processes I killed with startup was the Proset utility.

The whole system is a lot faster now, I only have left the PCCilin Internet security processes.

I don't know if this works for all W2's, but I found it interesting enough to mention it here............

 

I don't like ProSet Utilities... I installed them once and I think they are pretty useless; they are nice to play with them once or even twice but once you have played with them; I'm quite sure that you won't play with them anymore. The only useful part of this utilities is the wlan wizard, but windows has one so... I use it.
I only install the drivers and let Windows Zero Configuration control WLAN config as it was intented to do this task. Though I read in other forum that (for the first time in my life...) WZC was better than Intel ProSet.
If I need more information about a network, I use NetStumbler

I'm not a friend of installing all the crappy apps that manufacters include with the hardware packages... so I try to install the driver and anything else (if there's a very useful utility from the manufacter... that I cannot replace with a freeware-GNU/GPL alternative... then I stick to the manufacter tool).

By the way, these driver versions are very stable because with previous versions there were a drop-out and speed issue with WRT54G(S), Intel said it was Linksys' fault, and Linksys said it was Intel's fault (in fact it was Intel's fault). But, Intel finally released a working version (the latest one and the previous one) and since then... I'm working without any problems (Both the wireless card included with W2V and the Intel 2200BG), so you should think about getting rid off ProSet utilities.

 

I had been having problems with my wifi connection dropping out too. Even with the latest drivers I wasn't having any luck. Now I've gone back to the 8.1 drivers and things are better if not perfect. The connection doesn't drop any more but it seems kind of slow. When I was using the latest drivers whenever I would reset my connection it would work really fast for a minute or so before getting progressively slower then dropping out. With the 8.1 drivers it seems to be at 70% all the time but at least it's not dropping out every 10 minutes any more....

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

Have you already tried to eliminate the Proset utility and have Windows configure the Wlan?

 

I own a Z71V, and is thinking about replace ProSet with WZC.

But if I do that would I still be able to use the hardware button to turn WiFi on and off?

 

The intel connect def scews with my w2V i stopped using it.

 

Hi Jeroen,

I tried WZC a few times when I was messing around. After some searching I found a lot of discussion on this issue and apparently the newer 2200BG drivers are very aggressive with their power saving and certain routers aren't good at stopping the card from being put into low power mode all the time. Other people were saying it was because the card was constantly contacting the router and confirming dhcp config and geting bounced every so often. For me the connection speed seemed to drop followed by the router going off line altogether at a fairly regular interval even though the signal strength remained high so the power saving explanation seemed to make more sense.

Also the WLAN switch still works with WZC, no problems there.

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

I too tried deactivating and uninstalling PROSet utilties, however that didn't really help. I also set Transmit Power and Power Management settings to maximum in the advanced tab of network card properties in device manager - same story.

So according to my research, the problem was common to all Intel Pro 2200 and 2915 cards - nothing to do with W2V. What fixed the problem for me was updating to latest drivers from Intel site. The package I downloaded is 9.0.2.1, and the driver version is reported in the properties after installation as 9.0.2.31. The download page itself is here.

There is also a workaround somebody found that works with the old driver, supplied by Asus, version 9.0.1.9. I've tried it myself and it worked. On the Advanced tab in network card properties, set Wireless Mode to "802.11b only". While I ran the card in b mode, no packets got dropped. The maximum speed between the router and the notebook in this mode is 11Mbps instead of 54, but hey - that's 1.3 Mb per second - obviously way higher than what you typically would get through cable modem and such..

Anyway, the 9.0.2.31 driver has now worked perfectly for me at 54Mbps speed; for a good 40 minutes the shoutcast audio stream I am listening to never got interrupted. With the old driver the same stream was being interrupted literally every 1-2 minutes.. Thanks to Intel for getting this fixed!
:centrino:

 

Update your drivers!

 

I, too, was having problems with dropped/lost connections on my W2v regardless of whether I used Proset or WZC. I thought it was my new Belkin Pre-N (MIMO) router and was about to return it (Had latest firmare version). Thought I'd try one more thing. Downloading the new drivers last week was the panacea. I haven't tried WZC yet because the Proset now works so well. Not one lost connection or dropout all week and speed is great. Locks on like nobody's business!
Like Justin said, "Update your drivers!"
Do it NOW!

 

Yep! Been using the latest drivers for 3 days now and no more dropouts! Using Proset. So problem solved.......

 

Hi Andymon and Jeroen,

Are you both using the drivers from the Intel website or Asus ones? I'm still using an older (and slower) version of the drivers that I downloaded because they were the only ones that didn't constantly drop out. I've been hesitant to update because of all the problems I was having with the latest drivers (both from Asus and Intel) but if you're both using the same version with success I'll bite the bullet and give them a go too.

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

i also updated to the latest intel drivers - where my connection was consistently dropping out, i have not had one drop out since. Speed is also a lot more stable - with older drivers if the connection wasn't dropping out, the speed was terrible.

Have had new drivers for 4 days now - no drop outs!

get em!

 

Phil, I am using the ones from Intel mentioned in the link provided by Lexee here. So far no problems anymore......

 

Thanks very much for that Jeroen. I'll give them a go too and post the results.

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

Cordless phones of the same freq will and can cause your connections to drop. It varies from laptop to laptop for some reason but updating drivers may just cause the freq to go up or down intel is aware of this. I know this is comon knowledge but figured i throw it in for people that did not know this.

 

... that's true..... anyone still on a 2.4ghz phone should get off it anyway, regardless.

 

I've got the new drivers installed and it all seems to be going well so far (knock on wood). The broadband is noticably faster and no drop outs for the past hour or so. Hopefully Intel finally have the problems fixed.

Phil
W2Vc-U005P

 

I've been noticing dropouts as well, but even with the driver updates, if I try transferring large files between my desktop and my laptop via my home network, it drops after a few minutes.

My setup is as follows, intel pro/wireless 2200b/g, belkin wireless g (got it for 50 bucks canadian ~!), and my desktop is hardwired into the router.

I live in an apartment, so yeah lots of interference and like sometimes up to 15 wireless networks detected hahaha

I messed with the settings for the wireless adapter, and my wireless signal strength is now pretty good, and consistent, but with large file transfers it still drops. Not as frequently as before the driver update but still annoying as I have to hardwire my laptop to transfer large files.

Cheers,
Mike
Z70Va 2.00ghz Pentium M 760, 1gb x 1 Apacer ddr2 PC4300, Western Digital WD800UE Scorpio 80gb, CD-RW/DVD-R combo drive.

 

Shampoo, are you using DHCP or a fixed ip?

 

BarnOwl...I'm using DHCP, should I be using a fixed ip?

I will take all the suggestions you guys can dish out, since I'm new to networking, even though I've been a longtime computer geek

Cheers,
Mike

 

I would give it a try, DHCP, however easy, assigns a network adress everytime you log on to your local network. This takes time and can be a reason for dropouts. You can leave your accesspoint on DHCP, but try giving your PC a fixed IP.

Let us know if it makes a difference........

 

Good suggestion Jeroen. I just thought I should clarify that your AP is never actually on DHCP itself as such. It's pretty much always at a fixed IP address but as you say you can leave it's DHCP server function turned on while your computer is using a fixed IP address.

The other thing worth trying is using a different channel. Just make sure you pick the same one on your AP and network card obviously. I've heard the higher the channel number you use the less prone it is to interference but I must admitt I don't really know why. If there are lots of other wireless networks in your area just experimenting with different channels may help. If you're really motivated you could use some kind of network scanner to check what channels other people are using and pick one with the least amount of traffic.

Phil
W2Vc-U005P