Clevo Laptop Killer WiFi Compatibility Testing & Troubleshooting Thread

Well I really hope I'm wrong... but I may already have a problem with my laptop. Between last night and tonight my wifi has dropped 4 times.... literally for no reason and my Alienware sitting next to me kept its connection all 4 times. I will be furious if I have to send a brand new machine back to have the wifi card replaced. it's a killer wifi and yes I know they have their issues... but this is the new model and I was suggested to go with it. I jut looked down at my wifi and lost it again... 5th time it dropped. Not sure how I can figure out what's going on.

 

If it's dropping connections, you need to fix it as below, or it will keep dropping connections

Install the latest Killer Suite, then run the installer again - deselect the Network Manager and Filter driver.

http://www.killernetworking.com/support/driver-downloads/item/killer-suite

Make sure your router is set for WPA2/AES encryption.

Connect at 5ghz if possible, if not then use a tool to check what Wifi AP/Routers are local to you on 2.4ghz, make sure you are on an empty area in the spectrum. For me everyone is on Channel 1 and 6 so I am on Channel 11 + 7 (40mhz).

Check your router support site for newer firmware.

Reboot after the last uninstall of NM/FD, power cycle your router, reconnect and you should be fine.

 

''
I will try all of this.. if it helps whenever I check for problems by simply right clicking the wifi it's saying default gateway not available. When I put that in google I get results like " internet works intermittently default gateway not available" so maybe it's not actually the hardware which is what my mind went to right away.

 

You want to watch the adapters themselves, right click Status, then Details, that will tell you what you need to know:

Spoiler

When you drop the connection you won't have a real default gateway, Windows will fill in a psuedo entry.

If you can, run with ethernet, it's really the best connection.

You do want to get Wifi going, but screwing around with that can frazzle your nerves, if it doesn't go well right now, step back and plug in, and get back to having fun

 

Ok so both the router and drivers needed updating. I am waiting to see if my wifi drops again. I will say my speed test results were snappier and lower ping after the updates so maybe that's a good sign.

 

Wifi just dropped again on me :/

 

Wonder why they dont have this option for wireless http://prntscr.com/9t8o53

Also in mythologic i dont even see an option for sound card. whats up with that.

 

Did you run the Killer Suite software installer a 2nd time to uninstall the Network Manager and Filter driver?

Spoiler

 

Yea I did that.. I just unplugged and plugged router back which I didn't before so I'll let you know...

Sent from my XT1580 using Tapatalk

 

Ah, don't forget to disable power saving for Wifi in the Power plan Advanced settings.

And, right click on the adapter and select Properties instead of Status, go to the power management tab, and disable.

I also disable all the services except for IPv4, but that's just me, but might be worth a try.

Did you look at the 2.4ghz spectrum with a Wifi tool on Android, or inSSIDer 3.x for Windows?

Spoiler

 

When you updated the router firmware, and it rebooted, that should have been enough, check out my other post.

 

Dropped again! Unbelievable I updated drivers... rebooted.. reset router... modified installation as you instructed. What else is there?

 

Right click on the Wifi adapter, and select status / details, use snipping tool to grab an image and post

What about your connection properties?

Spoiler

 

Right click where? No status option in device manager.. sorry :/ Litter more direction on that?

 

There are a couple of paths there, if you haven't been there yet, you have a lot to look at

Right click on systray Network icon, select Open Network and Sharing Center.

Once there look at the left side, select Change Adapter Settings.

There you should see your network adapter icons, for Ethernet and Wifi.

Right click on Wifi icon and select Status.

There is info in Details, align the dialogs side by side and take a snipping tool shot of them, like you see in my examples.

Then close the Details dialog, and open the Wireless properties (not Properties) dialog, and post that.

I just want to make sure you have a good connection, and what your details/connection info is to start.

Did you download inSSIDer 3.x and look at the Wifi landscape?
http://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html

It looks like this...check out how everyone is centered around channel 1 and 6, while I picked a spot off the beaten path centered on channel 11 - no interference with my signal. You will often find most disconnects happen because your router is centered on the same default channel as most everyone else near your location.

Spoiler

 

Ok let me get some info for you.. I will note something interesting in the meantime. I decided to connect to my phone hotspot. I have had no drops and have been connected solid for about 10 mins. I have 2 games being downloaded one through steam and Old Republic installing/ downloading through the launcher. Every time I have had the wifi drop during this process... then had a pain getting reconnected. However since I have been on the hotspot it has yet to drop once...

 

That's always good news, that you have a pairing that is stable and works, makes you feel good doesn't it

It's likely, sad I know, that your router might not be particularly compatible with the wifi card.

It's a good idea, I have found over time, to not sweat that and suck it up and buy a new router that takes advantage of all the new features of the newest wifi card I have.

The 1535 has MU-MIMO, and having a router that supports that gives you better congestion relief when sharing with lots of devices in your wifi network:

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Networking/Killer-Wireless-AC-1535-Review-MU-MIMO-Era-Begins

Check to see if your router implements WMM in the Qos settings, and disable it, reboot the router and try to connect again. That can cause disconnects. If you don't see that option to tweak in the router, look in the Wifi card properties. If it was disabled, try enabling it

WMM is supposed to be supported and enabled, but it can be incompatible with / between some devices - so flipping it can sometimes fix a connection dropping problem.

 

If I need a new router I am going to scream. I only just updated mine like 6 months ago. this is what I have. Please give me you thoughts. If I still need a different one if you can recommend something best buy has I will go tomorrow and pick it up. This is frustrating!

Edit: My current router http://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear...lack/7201035.p?id=1219257124935&skuId=7201035

 

That's a nice router, I would think it would be working.

Maybe a config issue, did you find WMM setting yet? Try flipping that on/off from where it is set now, reboot, and reconnect.

 

The 1535 drops occasionally when downloading really fast. I can play for hours online with no drops but when I start downloading a lot it'll drop occasionally. I even bought a brand new router. Again it only happens if you saturate the connection.

I've seen similar posts about the Killer cards. The 8260 is really cheap to pick up and I may do that to test. I kinda liked some of the Killer options but if I had to do it again I would have gone 8260 instead.

 

Did not find any WMM setting. Not really sure where to look for that. Do you think I still need a different router?

 

I had the option of the 8260 over the 1535 and Mythlogic suggested the killer -_-. I really will be upset if I need to get this card replaced.. I will have to send the machine back and I waited over a month for it as it is!

 

The R8000 doesn't support MU-MIMO , although it's fast it doesn't support it.

The 8260 doesn't support MU-MIMO either.

You do want MU-MIMO support long term.

I am not seeing any R8000 / 1535 pairing problems or anything between them in google searches.

I would file a ticket with NetGear and see if they have a configuration tweak for the R8000 to improve compatibility.

Are you connecting on 2.4ghz?, or 5ghz?... set up 5ghz, and try there - that's a better long term place to be anyway.

 

Its super cheap to buy a 8260 ($30 online). And apparently very easy to replace. Don't send it back, just buy the 8260 to test and see if it works better. For the price of half a game it may be the best thing for gaming. I was on a Linksys on wireless N network, and a new Asus on AC, and the behavior was the same. It's definitely the wifi card. Since it only happens rarely when I download new games on steam or something similar (Origin etc) I haven't bothered yet to replace.

http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-AC-8260NGW-867Mbps-Microsoft-Windows/dp/B016D7YB94

 

RTFM man, RTFM

I will download it and read it for you...

 

Here's an article I read with the same problem. I debated a while which one to pick, just ended up choosing wrong.

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19658353

BTW, if you just wait a little bit, it'll re-enable and connect again.

 

R8000 support
http://support.netgear.com/product/R8000

R8000 User Manual
http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/R8000/R8000_UM_23Dec2015.pdf

Page 54 has instructions on WMM and how to disable

 

I tried both but I usually use the 5ghz. I can't say it only disconnects with higher speeds.. it does do that but also seems to do it randomly without taxing the bandwidth.

 

You can look at the Intel support site and find thousands of complaints about the 7265, and plenty on the 8230.

If you get an incompatible pairing, you need to work through it. It can happen with any card.

I don't have any problems with my 1202, 1525, or 1535 based connections, but then again I am pretty good at fixing / optimizing Wifi connections.

It's too bad that Wifi has always been such a PIA to set up. It should all just work, but it doesn't always do that.

I am just saying, you could buy a new card and have the same or worse problems.

The grass on the other side of the fence isn't always greener

 

Thank you for finding that.. so disable them and leave disabled?

 

Pick one and stick with it, don't be swapping back and forth, lets focus on 1 and get it working first.

Are you close to the router, or are you going through multiple walls? 5ghz has problems with that.

Did you download inSSIDer and look at what other wireless APs/routers are within interference distance?

 

Leave it disabled if it helps, otherwise restore the settings after testing.

There are lots of settings for the newer routers, easy to flip a switch thinking it is helping, and it isn't.

How about screen shots of the connection status I wanted to see? Once you get connected again, please do the snipping tool shots and post them.

 

Here is

Here is the info you requested!

 

NotebookReview - Error
This attachment cannot be shown at this time. Please try back later.

 

My last image says error let me try posting these again sorry if it's working on your end I can't tell with how spotty this is being.

 

That all looks great, the signal strength is 1 bar off, are you a distance away, or did you drop power level?

That's why I like 5ghz, noone else is there

Is that you centered on channel 1 on 2.4ghz? Ah, there it is netgear23 on channel 1, yup.

Another thing to try is to force 40mhz on 2.4ghz. It might not work on channel 1, try channel 11 with 40ghz, it should add channel 7, and look like this: 11+7

Now please get the connection info, click on Wireless Properties instead of Details.

Still testing with WMM disabled? Still connected?

 

Channel one is 2.4 yes. I am not far from the router and normally I am even closer than now. I happen to be downstairs at the moment. 2.4 has always worked really bad with this router which is why I don't use it :/

Here is the rest of the info you need.

yes I still have WMM disabled.

 

Yup that looks good too

You have WMM disabled, and no disconnects yet?

It looks like there are some strong 2.4ghz signals around you.

 

I have yet to really test 2.4 because of how slow the speeds I get. I am downloading a game on steam right and it just dropped when i was trying to type and post this reply..

 

I really don't feel comfortable opening up a brand new machine and replacing parts :/... Not really my comfort zone

 

Wow, that is too bad.

I would contact Netgear support, and let them know what is going on, attach a zip file with details .jpgs to them about the 1535 and your settings, and ask them if they have any compatibility settings / tuning to offer for their R8000 and a Killer 1535.

Then do the same at Killer networks support site.

If I were having the problem I would be going through setup item by item and read the docs from front to back - something else might pop up as a potential fix.

I didn't seen any google hits between the R8000 and 1535, both are probably still too new.

At least you have the stable Hot Spot to fall back on...

Good work btw, we got through this all pretty quickly, still some more debugging to do, hang in there

 

So with netgear support... after 3 months they charge you like 100 dollars or something for support it's crazy. I am going to contact Mythlogic tomorrow and see what they have to say. What are the chances trying a new router will fix things? If I have to spend some stupid amount of money just for netgear support I may be better off getting another router. I can always return it if it fails... thoughts? Or is that not worth it?

 

just return it and get mythlogic to fix, if your alienware is unaffected then it's clearly the laptops problem.

 

Well, in this particular case, you could have Mythlogic send you the 8260(?) wifi card, with instructions on replacing it. I think it's not tough. Just a step by step with lots of screws between you and the spot to access.

That's the cheapest route, right? If it works. It's likely worth trying first. Have them overnight it to you for delivery Saturday.

I don't have a MU-MIMO router, been holding off on new routers for a while, so I can't recommend one I have tried.

The article I gave you about MU-MIMO and the 1535 lists what they used for testing, I would start there.

The article is a few months old, check what new models have released from those makes with MU-MIMO since then too.

Check youtube for 1535, haven't done that yet too.

Spoiler

I would pursue both paths for now.

Try on 2.4ghz again with WMM off too.

Also, check for what other R8000 firmware releases there are besides the newest, sometimes timing is wrong and you will get the newest firmware and it turns out to be a turkey, you could read the release notes for clues as to what other one to try.

 

I will get in touch with Mythlogic tomorrow and let you know what they say. I will do some more reading and see if I come up with anything worth noting in the meantime. For now I am gonna grab some bourbon and get to bed... I am so frustrated as I have yet to buy a gaming laptop without at least ONE issue. This one.. although stupid... poses a huge inconvenience for me. Thank you so much for your time spent with me tonight and I will get back to you tomorrow!

 

I have said it more than a 100 times în this forum, Killer wifi îs a joke. Great hardware spoiled by crappy drivers for many years. Yet, people ignore it and still go for the Killer Wifi as it sounds cool. The only thing it kills is your connection.

 

That's part of the fun

I finally found a search that found netgear community info on R8000 connection drops:
https://www.google.com/search?q=153...1535+connection+drops+netgear+r8000&tbs=qdr:y

One thing to try, is to disable the other radio's in your R8000, so only one Radio is active. One of the posts I read talked about how there might be some connection hand-off going on between radio's in the R8000.
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Ni...rop-5GHz-connection-every-morning/td-p/991763

Try again with only 1 5ghz radio on, and WMM disabled, then if you still drop, re-enable WMM for that radio and reboot the router to try again.

There might be a setting to disable radio hand-offs too...

Roll out the 250' ethernet cable from upstairs to downstairs

Have fun

 

I had the same problem with killer wifi. I have a MU-MIMO router, still constant disconnections, especially when downloading. I switched to intel and have no problems any more. It´s quite easy to replace. I will never ever use a killer product

 

Which make/model router?

 

Linksys EA8500.