Brand New XPS 15 Wireless Issue

Hello,

I recently purchased a Dell XPS 15 notebook from the Dell website. The device is about a week out of the box now, and already is having an issue I have been reading about.

It seems the wireless connection is very temperamental. Sometimes I can connect to the internet just fine, and other times I get a "connection timed out" on every web page I try to open.

I know the problem is not the router after testing on multiple other devices, and I know the wireless is the only faulty piece in the laptop because when direct connected with ethernet the internet runs spectacular (that's how I'm posting this now).

I have already tried updating the Intel drivers on the card and unchecking the options that allow the computer to power off the network adapters and USB buses to save power. I have read that these are possible solutions on the Dell XPS forums, but the latest post I could find was from February because its appears those forums have somewhat died.

In any case, I was hoping there was a way to resolve the issue. It appears it has been going on in the XPS line for quite a while now, but I have not been able to find a solution.

The exact card in my machine is an Intel Centrino Advanced N-6230.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank,
Joey

 

Sounds to me like you've figured out the problem. I'd call dell and make them swap out the card.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

I was wondering if there was another fix because I have read that Dell will replace the entire unit and not just the card. Needless to say, I'd rather not have to go through and set up an entirely new computer after just setting up this one.

Is there a way I could take the unit to a service center that is approved by Dell rather than sending it in or replacing the unit?

Thanks,
Joey

 

Have you double checked the physical connections?

If you've had the latest drivers and checked the connections, I can only say you have a dud WLAN card. Did you have on site service?

 

I have not had on-site service, and I have not checked the physical connections.

I will proceed to do that once I figure out how.

It's very strange because it is so in and out. For instance, three hours ago I could not load a web page. Now, however, the internet runs as fast as ever.

Does it sound like a defective physical connection or defective card with the in and out constantly occurring?

Again, thanks so much for the help.

 

Intermittent is usually a sign of poor connection. It's rather easy to check the obvious one, i.e the wifi card in the slot and the antenna. But if the bad connection is somewhere else then it's best to just replace the card.

 

It might be due to your laptop being slightly further away from the router.
Is your router running a N network? If there are laptop connecting with G on an N network, it will cause the laptop connecting at N to be affected. Change it to B,G only in a mixed mode environment and issues will be solved.

 

I have had same problem and noticed something very strange. When I used an an old linkysys G router, the problem disappeared. Meanwhile, on my 5 year old laptop, the speeds on the normal N router were consistently 28mbps while the speeds on my xps with 6230 card went from 4-26mbps up and down and couldnt even hold a VoIP call.

 

I used to have a problem with the 2.4 ghz N, but back then I had a draft N dual band AP.

But I replaced it with a final N dual band AP recently, and it ironed itself out. The problem is I don't remember which caused it to fix itself, either I reseated, new AP, or a newer driver (14.0.2.2, newer than both Dell and Intel).

 

@Husky55:
That's what I'm thinking as well, and it seems I've narrowed the problem down to be the wifi card in the new laptop.

@myth1001:
The only things connecting to the router are running N, as is the router, so I'm not sure why that would be a problem, but I can give it a go.

@insidemanpoker:
It seems like something is weird with the N network compatibility, so I'm going to try and change some settings, but I still find it very weird that two relatively new pieces of equipment are not communicating properly.

@Falco152:
I'm going to try to find that driver software because I have the newest ones from Dell and Intel and they didn't fix the issue.
Reseating the card seems to be the next logical step after changing some settings.

Thanks again for all the replies; it's much appreciated.
Joey

 

Update: After updating the firmware of my router and updating my wifi card driver to 14.0.2.2, the problem has changed slightly.

Now, I am not experiencing a drop in connection (yet), but rather an extremely slow connection all the time.

I know this is not a problem that is happening due to the new router firmware because I have tested other devices and they are all running the same.

I also played around with different wireless setting on the router, as advised above, and they didn't change anything.

This leads me to believe that I have a faulty wireless card.

So now, my question is should I call Dell and try and get them to fix it or should I reseat it myself?

Thanks,
Joey

 

How about one last test if your wireless card is really faulty. Go to a nearby starbucks or neighbour's house to connect to a different wireless network and see if the problem persists. If it does, then most likely the card is faulty.

If it's still under warranty why not just call Dell and ask them to fix it. I'm not sure if changing wireless card is a tedious process. If it's not, request for an onsite engineer. Get it fixed on the spot!

 

Since you managed to reduced the dropouts.

Try disabling the the powersave feature of the card or simply use the high performance profile on windows power.

 

The problem persists at other wifi networks besides my own.

I have the card set to never turn off, but it has not changed the situation.

I have noticed after testing, though, when I am constantly using the internet the connection does not drop. The drop occurs when, for example, I type on a word doc for a while and then try to load a web page after about 10 minutes it will not load.

The other unusual thing is that once I totally turn off the wireless antennae using the F2 key and then turn them back on relatively quickly, the connection comes right back to full speed.

Weird.

 

After spending about an hour and a half on the phone with Dell, they told me replacing the card would do nothing because the issue is with all the cards, apparently.

They're sending me a USB wireless adapter to use until they come up with some solution to the problem.

He did tell me, though, that Intel and Dell technicians are working on the problem and they expect a solution soon.

I sure hope that's true because it's not a good sign when an 8 year old laptop is better to browse the web than a brand new one.

 

I'm not sure what you meant "to never turn off". I assumed you actually went in the wireless power profile to changed Medium Power Performance to Maximum Performance.
-----
It was kinda expected there would be problems since the 1030 and 6230 just recently released since SB release, while the 6200 and 6300 been out a couple of years.

The newer hardware tends to expose which section is not really in complaisance with standards or have odd ways to achieving it.

 

I did change the power setting as well.

I hope they get the issue resolved. Seems like its just a simple signal processing issue to me, but I'm no expert.

After a lot of tinkering, I've got the computer connecting and staying connected to networks, but it takes about 5 minutes to connect. I can live with that, as long as the connection remains constant once I get it going.

Thanks again for all the help.