Intel 4965 ABGN card performing poorly

Hey gang,
I have a Sony Vaio CR here, and the integrated Intel 4965 ABGN card is not performing very well.
Charter High-speed Internet(or is it "Charter Pipeline" ?)... cable internet.
Wireless-B router(model Linksys BEFW11S4).

Speeds recorded so far(courtest testmy.net):
PCI-E ethernet cable directly connected to Cable Modem: ~1100kbytes/sec
Integrated 4965 ABGN card w/ LATEST drivers from intel site: ~100kbytes/sec
External USB wireless network adapter utilizing wireless-B: ~550kbytes/sec
All on the same notebook...

So you see, the integrated card is just not handling the network very well...

Did Intel **** up the chip's support for wireless-B(it is obsolete), or do I just need to tweak my card/router/etc? Is it possible I have a lemon card and need to contact Vaio before the warranty runs out?

Any input?

 

I would start by installing the latest driver from Intel.

John

 

Yes, visited that site just a little more than an hour ago...

"Integrated 4965 ABGN card w/ LATEST drivers from intel site"

edit: Thanks for your response, though.

 

I also played around with some of the options for the driver in the Device Manager... disabled 11n(not sure if that helps ..), switched from 11b/g to explicitly 11b(not sure if that helped either), and also enabled "throughput enhancement"... between those tweaks, I'm up 30kbytes more to 130kbytes/sec.. but that's still a far cry from 500 or 1100 kbytes/sec as with the external adapter or ethernet cord.

 

Be sure that you aren't too close or too far from the router, all go to the properties of the card and see to it that the roaming is on the lowest level, check to see that the all the options are enable (throughput enhancement, etc), and put transmit power to max. And finally, see to it that your router is not limiting bandwidth, and if it's not, change the channel of the wireless network.

 

ISP speed of almost 9Mbps is quite good for cable.

Your Intel card will match the router standard B, which is 11Mbps max. Now, 800kbps with the 4965AGN is quite low and 4.4Mbps for the USB adapter is reasonable for B.

W/r the 4965AGN check if you have maximum transmit power in your adapter's option. Try to change the channel to see if the throughput improves.

How far are you from the router?

 

Distance is fine. Check.
Roaming at lowest. Check.
Check.

I changed channels last night, to no avail.

I think it's high time to upgrade to G(I'm not gonna adopt wireless N when my cable throughput is what it is), so I'm going to order this belkin "F5D7231-4". Right now we have a few B cards, a few G cards(b compatible), and this lappy's ABGN... so I'll get the new router running, and see how the vaio throughput improves.

I really can't think of any wireless settings left to be played around with, so I'll get the new router and see what happens.

That belkin, available on newegg, costs $37 and has a $15 mail-in rebate for the month of July.. $22 is very inexpensive.

Thanks for the responses,
Patrick

 

Belkin ?

 

IMHO you should not get a Belkin, is trouble. Get yourself either a Netgear or Linksys, next choice would be D-Link.

 

I haved use the belkin router And it highly sucksed!!!!!!!!!!! i suggest you stay away from it

also you linksys model have old but they some firmware upgrade depend on winch one you already run on it

 

I haven't had any Belkin hardware that lasted more than 30 days if it worked out of the box. Yes, I have had serveral pieces of hardware from them that would not work straight out of the new box. And the one that did constantly dropped connections. Netrend is better than Belkin and is about the same price. I prefer Netgear, Dlink and Linksys, and have Buffalo hardware to but these are no longer available in the US. It's one of those you get what you paid for. Don't buy Belkin or you will be taking it back.

 

I thought I would let everyone know how things are working out.

Update:
I purchased the Belkin Wireless-G router.
I tried using the wizard to configure the router, but it couldn't get me connected--I had to connect myself to the modem, and then MAC-clone my laptop's address on to the router at 192.168.1.2... Worked.

Results? This notebook now connects at 9.5Kbps/~1100KBps.. which is optimum for my cable connection! Very nice.
So yes, it would seem the Intel ABGN wireless card was not very compatible with Wireless-B(which connected at 70KBps) or at least that particular linksys B router... but I'm very happy with it working on G now.

As far as the Belkin router, so far I have had zero problems.
Many have posted in this thread critical of the brand, but so far I have not even had to cold boot the router--it's been on 24/7. I frequently had to cycle my old linksys B router on/off(2x weekly or so).

I'm very satisfied, but of course, the router could still prove problematic in the future... but right now, everything functions great.

 

sorry, noob question, but why didn't u just go with a wireless-n router to fully utilize yur network adapter?

i just reflashed my linksys wireless-n router with DD-WRT, for the first time. let me tell u...it is leaps and bounds better than the factory firmware.

 

for the record, Intel AGN never likes Linksys. I used to have those problems using with a Linksys wireless router: had problems connecting and slow speed. I switched to ActionTech one and it's blazing-fast. So in my opinion, it's not the Intel AGN's fault, it's just a hardware conflict (specifically with Linksys).

 

I support vi3tscorpian comment that 4965AGN works very well with Actiontech, that's my current configuration.

 

yep, quite well. again AGN works like a charm with any other brands (and of course except for linksys).

does CISCO hate INTEL that much?

 

Hahaha, may be they do.

My Anctiontech died yesterday, so now I have a portable D-Link AP/RT/Client device and my 4965AGN is working well with it as well.

 

My linksys WRT and 4965AGN works like a charm.

OP: make sure you have SP1 installed if your running Vista. That should improve network transfer speeds.

 

In fact I think the 4965AGN is the best wireless adapter out there.