Wireless Network Problems in ASUS z70va

So now I am getting down to some of the last issues that I cannot resolve on my own with my new ASUS. So I thought I would start a new thread. Loving the laptop more and more.

My wireless connection on the z70va oscillates between Excellent 54 Mbps to Poor 1 Mbps and mostly hangs around Poor. I am not having this problem on my old Think Pad.. I have checked.

I called my ISP and the only thing they could suggest was to check all my Windows files to see they were not corrupt. I did that. Didn't help.

I have a Belkin wireless router that has never given me problems. Nor does it on the ThinkPad... though there I am using a Belkin Wireless PC card.

About 40% of the time I get "Can't display page"

If I turn the wireless connection off and then on, it connects immediately with an "Excellent" connection and then I can get the page. But after a few minutes it drops down to the poor to fair range at 1 - 20 Mbps with extremely slow loading times. And pretty much settles there.

Right now I am suspecting that it is some settings on the ASUS.

Any suggestions?

 

I think it's an issue with the Intel Pro Wireless cards... are you using the Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG? or 2915 ABG?

 

... We haven't used the 2200 in about 9 months... so it should be a 2915... but her IPS isn't going to help with jack.....

1. update your routers firmware.... if you give me the model, I'll look it up on belkin's site and help you from there....

2. if you've already updated the asus wireless drives and downloaded the newest pro/set version.... you've got everything set...


... your router is going to have options, which if you don't know what you're doing, it honestly isn't cost effective to try to walk you through it.... but I can tell you what needs to be adjusted.... 1... most routers out of the box are set up open and unsecured.... that's issue number one, especially where you are with other people maybe getting onto your network.... But, 2, they're set up for auto speed change... and considering even the fastest digital cable is going to give you to more than 5mb/s if you're lucky.... you're not going to see a true "speed change" in your internet speeds between 5mb and 54mb..... now, if you have dsl, that download speed will be closet to 1mb... so consider that, but you have to look at the router if you've already gotten the latest drivers and software installed on your system.... routers have firmware, which is the software that runs the router.... they need to be updated to work properly with the newest devices.... if your router is older than a year or so.... there's no doubt it needs updating...

Find your router here and get the lastest firmware and follow their directions:

http://www.belkin.com/support/download.asp?category=9&lang=1&mode=

 

Thanks, Justin.. you did post before to update the drivers... I forgot... too much new stuff to cope with. I couldn't get on Belkin's website yesterday... I think that was Belkin.. their 24/7 tech support wasn't working either. I am sure they would have suggested downloading the drivers.

Do you mind telling me how to update the ASUS Drivers. I have been having a ton of automatic updates that get downloaded most times that I turn off the machine. I think one said it was for the Intel wireless card. Is there a way I can check?

(Just spent 3 hours modifying the new (for me) WordPerfect 12 to my particular needs. I hope when the 13 comes in, it will keep the settings. Only about 10 more programs to go.... )

 

Here you go justitia
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/M6VA/WLAN_XP_050127.zip or
http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/M6VA/WLAN_XP_050127.zip

 

SO I am a little nervous here.... the file is 27 MB zipped.... This is just for the wireless drivers?

 

Do you live in an apartment or very close to your neighbors? It is possible that another wireless network has gone up, or someone has started using a 2.4ghz wireless phone, or even started cooking more often with a microwave.

Another option may be to go into your router's config and change the channel it operates on. Typically 6 is default, you may want to try changing to 1 or 11.

I've also had better luck using Windows Zero Config wireless networking than 3rd-party utilities.

 

Yes, it's JUST for the wireless. It includes the driver and the updated Intel software...

 

Yes like someone mentions. Do not use the pro wireless client. use the Windows Zero Config it has less issues than the intel one.

 

So have patience with me.

I am going to focus on just the drivers for the moment.

(I do live on the top florr of a 30 story building and I know that there are other wireless connections around as I see them listed. But it has not bothered my think pad with the Belkin wireless PC card at all. But I will troubleshoot that part later.)

So I seem to have conflicting advice here. One is to update the Intel drivers that I have just downloaded the zip file for. The other is to use Windows Zero Config.

I can give one a try and then if it's still a problem, I wll try the other. (I will also update the Belkin router drivers before trying the seond one.)

So I will start with the Intel Drivers unless I hear a major Nay..

I have extracted the file and now I am clueless what to do now.

Can someone tell me how I can take a picture of my windows explorer screen so I can put it up here. There is no manual, no hand book no read me file that I can see.

I have no idea what to do next.

 

You should download and install the latest intel drivers. nothing is confilicting. we are simply saying to use the micrsoft client which is that thing that sees the wireless networks and you double click which one you want to connect to. when you install the intel drivers you have to option to use their client but its not as good. so just install the drivers. and you will see a intel icon in the systray after you reboot right click on it and click the option to switch to the microsoft client thats all.

 

First, UNinstall your current Intel Wireless software. Reboot.
Then install the new driver via the file you just downloaded.. you just need to click on "Setup"

 

Here is what the first screen lists... (I woudl still like to know how to take a picutre to post.)

Folder = INTEL
+ 3 files: CHKDEV.EX; DEV.INI; SILENT.INI

In the Intel Folder is another folder: 2915ABG
So that is for my wireless card. I have checked for sure that that is what I have.

Inside that is a folder = APPS

Inside that are 2 folders:
IPRODATA (which contains a bunch of files with an MSI extension, all of which are labeled beneath as Windows Installer Package);
IPROLANG (whihc contains more folders with abbreviations for different languages)
and 4 files:
INSTMSIW.exe;
IPROINST.BMP;
IPROINST.exe and
IPROINST.ini

So what do I do?

I will understand all of this after I do it...but not right now...

AS I said, I want to learn...

 

IPROINST.exe double click it.

 

Justitia, here's a link to the free screenshot program that I use. Follow the link and just dl the free version. Really pretty easy to use. Hope that helps. http://www.wisdom-soft.com/products/screenhunter.htm

 

Or you can just press "Print Scr" on the keyboard...and open up MS Paint, press Paste, and voila!

 

When I click install on hte screen that comes up it says to choose from Modify, Repair or Remove.

If I click modify.. it asks what I want to modify... I have no idea.

I clicked on Repair which says it will repair any damaged, etc files. When I clicked it just started installing automatically. So I assume that will put in the latest drivers, yes?

WH\hat if there have been automatic downloads already to update the drivers...won't this overwrite them?

Well during the process a window popped up from the task bar saying my hardware was found and ready to use.

But it was being used before... is there anything I need to do next? To get more up-dated drivers?

The software I just installed is from December 2004. I am sure there must be updates since then... no? If so, where would I get them. Intel's help doesn't say...

 

Did you uninstall the intel software before you tried to reinstall the drivers?
But if it said it found new hardware it probably just overwrote all the old drivers. and you should be fine. i also would suggest boosting the wireless card power.

 

Thanks, and thanks Aurora for your very easy solution as well.

 

So how do I boost the wireless card power?

BTW what site did you use to get the Intel drivers from?

Also I don't have my wireless connection locked. So anyone can access it. Can anyone tell me how to do that?

And the other exe file on the file I unzipped: INSTMSIW.exe Does anyone have any idea what that is. The icon next to it is a box that is open like when you have downloaded a program and then you click to install, the original download remains and shows an open box next to it.

Well, I guess my sophistication in computers is going to get dragbged up a few levels. :lol: I am already considered over eveyone's head in computers at work... if you can believe...LOL

 

It's best to use the drivers off of the Asus site (which is where SRD provided links for)
If you use the drivers from the Intel site, the drivers may not be compatible with Asus's ATK0100 ACPI driver

 

thats exactly why i didnt get the drivers off the intel site because of the conflict. Justitia dont even work a about the other EXE file you dont need to do anything with it. To boost the power. Right click on my network neighborhood and go to properties or go to control panel to system then hardware. fine the wireless network adapter. right click on the intel card go to properties. in the list go to power management. unlick the default box. then boost the power to high. it will use more battery but not by much. then go to transmit power and do the same boost to highest.

 

So I did not see your posts about uninstalling the orignal software and reinstalling it. Nor did I see about switching to the Microsoft client. You guys posted while I was writing up my post and I didn't see them.

So that means when I installed the new drivers, they overwrote the old ones.

I won't bore you with the details of how it took an hour of trying to figure out how to switch something that should have taken 3 minutes but for bad tech writing (2! "Advance" buttons to click on the same page !?! the obvious one being, of course the wrong one leading to a dead end over and over again........ ) I am now connected through the Microsoft Client.

Do you guys think I should go back uninstall the software and re-install it. I am pretty sure I can do it now as I think I have hit EVERY pitfall along the way.....

ALso how do I boost the wireless card? If you have posted how while I wrote this post, sorry for asking again...

Also I think I am ready to figure out how to make my net work secure.

Do I do that through the Belkin software (Belkin Router)?

My guess is I shoud update the router software first...with the link Justin provided.....

Strength right now with Microsoft Client seems better for the moment.

 

Updating your router firmware would be a good start like you said. To do this you type http://192.168.1.1 in your address bar and hit enter. This will bring you to your router sign in page. User name and password. Then go into your security setting and adjust those. I just use wep 64 bit setting and get rid of the ssid name. I know just enough to probably get you in trouble so make sure you check out the wireless section in the forum for more details before doing anything. Can get really time consuming if something gets screwed up and you can't get back online to ask for help.

 

Done! That was less painful. The only snag was figuring out that the new version of the ocntrol panel made it impossible to find system and that there was a link to go back to classic mode. From there it was a snap.

The transmit power defaulted on highest so I left it that way. But I did boost the power management from lowest to highest as you suggested. Thanks for the screen shot...

It took me a while to understand what you were saying about intel updates. You were saying that the link SRD provided was from ASUS for ASUS drivers for the Intel wireless card. If I went to Intel's site to get their updates... their updates might conflict with ASUS's drivers... Right!?!

And now I understand the comment about 3rd party clients to see the wireless network. I couldn't understand how Intel's client could be 3rd party for its own wireless card. But now I see that it is 3rd party to the Windows OS... which operates everything.... right!?!

And the Intel drivers are different from the client. I thought the windows client was a competing link in the chain to work the wireless network. Now I see that the client is just another link in the chain to the wireless card. Sooo many links... my head hurts....

Even though the microsoft client continuously reports that my signal is very good or excellent... I am still getting "cannot display page" in fact 3 times in trying to post this post in particular. If you are reading this, it means I finally got it to post... lol

 

So perhaps I should pursue this query in the wireless forum...

 

Thanks everyone, for your time, patience and instruction...

 

Justitia, I recommend investing a mear 60 dollars or so and get an Atheros wireless card, the one in the buy/sell section of these forums.

I had an Intel card and it was horrible. I know the 2915 or whatever is better as I have used it myself, but my experience with the Atheros is just amazing.

You don't have to bother with boosting signals and buying antennae, just get the Atheros and get ready to witness and experience true wireless computing.

The wireless connection with the atheros in my Z70Va is SOLID, like a wired connection. Never drops (so far, knock on wood), and doesn't seem to be bothered much by signal traffic. Also, it does drop in signal strength at times, but only for a second at the most, then it just jumps back up to full signal strength, it's unbelieveable ~!

You'll also get a nice bootup screen change when you install it

My unit displays Asus as an animated splash screen when I boot up. The word Asus comes in two pieces as it flies onto the screen into one. Looks awesome. I don't know if this is from installing the Atheros card or if it's from some kind of bios change by Asus when they changed my screen, but I love it.

Seriously do yourself a favour and get an Atheros card for 60bucks or so.

Cheers,
Mike