ACER Travelmate 8471 Wireless Intel 5100 AGN Network Adapter won't stay connected unless 5 feet or less from router

I hope someone can help me. I have downloaded the newest drivers for the Network Adapter, and nothing changed. I have two other computers working from the same area and they both connect, and one is an ACER Aspire One, but both have different Network Adapters. Is there a setting I need to change, or something I can do to allow this notebook's network adapter to maintain a connection. It is running on Windows 7 Professional.

 

Two immediate solutions- one is to disable Win 7 power management for Wi-Fi the other is to find the bay with a Wi-Fi card, open it and check it the antennas are connected properly.
Intel 5100 is a poor NIC in general but not such a poor one.

 

I'm a novice PC Tech guy, and believe I have disabled the power management function already, but need some help in locating where the Wi-Fi Card is located, and just exactly what I'd be looking for. Thanks!

 

Sorry but I can't find a decent photo of the bottom of the notebook.
All i know is that it's not the smallest hatch- this one is for additional mini-PCI express card. From the photos I've seen it looks like the Wi-Fi module is close to the hard drive.
After you've opened it you should be looking for something like this- you will probably have two antennas not three but it should look like the photo.

 

I can't locate a picture like that one, one of the panels opens to about a 2" x 4" module housing a tinfoil backed pack which I don't think I should tamper with. The only other panels are the smallest one that I think you indicated would be the PCI addition box, and the other is the Memory panel I believe. Would I have to take the whole bottom off of the laptop do you think? I'm trying to locate a schematic diagram of the laptop but am not having much luck in that regard. Thanks again!

 

Could you post a photo of the bottom of your notebook (in decent resolution)?

 

Here you go - I've now looked at the foil covered module, which is the hard drive, and don't see anything resembling your pictures in that slot.

 

Yeah, you are right- no Wi-Fi visible. You might wanna edit-out your Windows product key from the photo though.

EDIT: In this case use inSSIDer let it run for a while and post a screenshot- we'll see how the signal levels are.
You should also update drivers, disable power management for Wi-Fi card in Windows and look at the advanced properties of Wi-Fi device in Device Manager to make sure no power management is enabled there and that the signal strength is set to 100% (if such a setting is available)

 

I just deleted them entirely now that you've had a look at them. I'm now searching in vain for the location of the WiFi Network Adapter Card on the ACER Travelmate 8471 but not having much luck. I might try taking the whole back off the pc, but am hesitant to do that. Is that really something you believe may be the solution (the antenna connectivity)?

 

what else is running in the house?

microwave ovens, cordless phones, wireless electric meters, bluetooth, etc, etc, etc

any of that stuff within say, 100 meters (!!!) of your wireless hub can/will cause interference.

 

The point is that I have two other computers in the same place that run just fine, and I'm only 20 feet from the router. One is an Aspire One and the other a Dell M1710. And there really isn't anything running in the house that could cause interference. A Wireless phone perhaps, but I've had the same issue in another location with this pc where one of the above ones worked fine.