Samsung series9 wireless

I am of the opinion that we need a separate thread for the series9 wireless. I took my sammy to my attached garage about 45ft from the router , made 3 tests & here is what I found.
1. no usb attenna. 3 bars in task, wireless network connection speed 78 mbps, speakeasy test 2.54 mbps
2. Disabled broadcom, Alfa short antenna 4 bars in task,wireless network connection status 65.0mbps speakeasy 2.56mbps
3 Alfa long antenna, 5 bars, wireless network connection status 65.0, speakeasy2.54mbps
Now I tested it in the same room as the router & here is the results 5 bars, wireless network connection status 130 mbps, speakeasy 2.61 I am asking from knowledgeable people do I have a wireless problem? I am not qualified to answer this. jimjoh By the way I have never opened the back of my sammy.

 

Seems to be a serious issue, for sure.

 

Maybe this applies to you, maybe not.

I was humming along until I decided to hook up a Bluetooth headset for audio and my wireless took a dive immediately. I didn't connect the dots for a while, but once I disconnect the BT headset and turned off the BT (via Fn-F1), everything was back to normal.

Not sure whether this is the Sammy's design fault or my headset, annoying nonetheless.

 

My 900x3A has not had any wifi issues since I received it. It actually has done better than some of the older laptops I own as far as download/upload speeds and actual signal strength.

About 25ft from the router my connection is around 130Mbps getting around 10Mbps download speeds (ISP limit) on Long Island from NY on speak easy.

It seems that there is some confusion on the limitations of the broadcom wifi adapter.

It can use both g and n type networks @2.5Ghz. I have not found any issues using a mixed b,g,n mode vs just n mode router, and in my house, I get better speeds using that mode then just an n mode.

I have read it is not capable of using n type network @5.0Ghz, but I have not tested this.

I have also used it at work with no issues. I does seem that there are models with serious wifi issues but I for one do not have that issue.

Amazon.com: UberRob "Gadget Fetishist"'s review of Samsung Series 9 NP900X3A-A03US 13.3-Inch ...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...-series-laptop-zx310-900x3a-unveiled-150.html

 

I guess it is time for me to eat a little crow. I have been maintaining for weeks that I don't have a wireless problem with my sammy & broadcom card. At home I have a excellent Linksys E3000 n router& throughout my home it works great. However when I go to a public hot spot it works good when close to router but if I go any distance it drops off pretty bad. I must say I am very happy with the performance otherwise & do plan to keep it. I bought a Alfa $30 usb adapter but cannot say the it works great either so I am on a look out for a USB adapter that increases the range and normally will not have to use it except in certain cases. I would rather not have to open the cover & replace the broadcom card but would if I was sure it would give not some but good range. Have we ever heard from the Swedish computer editor who had direct contact with Samsung about the wireless range?

 

I haven't had any trouble at hotspots, it shows similar strength as my other laptops. I still maintain that a lot of the problem is router compatibility issues (particularly on the "N" bands), but nevertheless you could still blame Samsung and/or broadcom for this.

BTW, I believe the the tech editor was from Norway, not Sweden, but he hasn't reported back...so its safe to assume that no news is bad news, and Samsung continues to roll out versions with the broadcom card worldwide (big sidewalk promotions for Series 9 here in Singapore) so they clearly aren't acknowledging a problem.

Unfortunately I ordered the external Alfa wifi as well, I wish I had heard of your bad experience before I did so, I was previously under the impression that it works well. A mini USB dongle might have been a better (and much more compact) option.

 

I bought the Patriot 802.11n Wi-Fi adapter at Fry's. It works fine and was on sale at the time for $10. Don't know if it is still on sale.

 

I am a happy camper again. I purchased a Netgear n600 dual band n usb adapter and now have decent range when I need which I believe be not very often so am very satisfied with my sammy jimjoh

 

Posted in the other thread but will post the same thing here:

I have had 6 of these now in my possession. YES 6! Don't ask. Out of that three have had WiFi issues but the touchpad was good. Meaning the touchpad worked well and sit perfectly in the case. I have had three bad touchpads that didn't sit flush with the case and had a slight "drop gap" on the bottom portion (mostly bottom right). One was really bad and stuck when right clicking. Three of these had good WiFi. I returned the first one because the touchpad was really bad even though the WiFi was good. The speedtests were all getting close to my max ISP speeds (25mb down - 25mb up fiber) but the internal speed was horrible.

At the moment on my desk I have two Series 9s - One with a build date of April and one of May. The April build has good WiFi (4 Bars for Signal) but again has issues with the touchpad not being properly seated. The May build WiFi is horrible (2 Bars for Signal) but the touchpad fits perfect! The April build internal WiFi speed is slow. I normally get around 80mbps for transfers and I am barely get 2-3mbps! But not sure if there is another factor here since the ISP speedtest is fine.

 

I just had an interesting conversation with the tech repairing my laptop. My 9 series is in for repair for the 2nd time. Last time it was a defective touchpad and they just gave me a new unit. This time it was an issue with data corruption and they're basically ripping out all of the internal components and replacing them. I really want to love this laptop, but the quality control seriously seems to be lacking.

Anyway, for all of you with Wifi issues: apparently Samsung has put out a service bulletin. The tech told me that Samsung has instructed them to replace the wifi module on all 9 series coming in for repair regardless of whether wifi is the problem. Apparently they're not admitting publicly, but they seem to be aware that the wifi sucks. I will say that I had no complaints, but I know from this forum that people have serious problems. I don't know if this means you can get your wifi module upgraded, but you might as well call Samsung support and try since it's now a "known issue" over there.

 

REGARDING SAMSUNG WIFI ISSUES...

I just quite awhile on the phone with Samsung and, not only has the wifi issue been recognized, a 'fix' has been implemented and all support is being made aware of such as we speak. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to discuss the fix whatsoever but have been told that I could pass on the information.

I have been told that, if you have experienced the problems, please contact 1-800-Samsung. If this does not result in a resolve, please Twitter to @SamsungJessica and your matter will be addressed immediately.

Unfortunately, I haven't got a system that can be repaired so I cannot verify the result but I have been told that I should soon have a new system in my possession (hopefully) in order to confirm that the system wifi works as it should, and further, to update my original review of this unit.

I hope this helps all. Its been a long road...

 

I don't see the point of splitting the - excellent - 9 series thread into 2. It would be great if they were re-united, if possible ....

 

FYI
SamsungJessica(twitter) just turned back to me with this troubleshooting link; NP900X3A Troubleshooting Guide

She tweeted me to call 1800SAMSUNG to set up service in case troubleshooting does not help. I haven't tried the link yet so but will do as soon as I get back home from work.

 

Had a series 9 for about a week and a half and had several problems. Wifi was crap. Replaced with a 6300 card from Intel (3rd antenna was added) and signal strength and speed improved but still not compared to my MBP and Lenovo T61P. I think the problem inherently lies with the case on this. The antennas are quite short and sit within the lower portion of the case surrounded by the duraluminum. Also, spend hours trying to figure out how to instant search in Outlook and apparently Samsung did not delete temporary files in which they had a script that started and then stopped indexing. However, upon removing that file my trackpad stopped working and neither drivers from synaptics or samsung could get it working. I also acquired the micro HDMI to VGA dongle that is the official samsung part and at work I was unable to use a single projector. I think the output is too low to make long cable runs. The dongle only worked for cables shorter than 6 ft or so with external monitors. If you need to make several presentation a year like I do, this may not be an optimal solution. I did purchase a USB to VGA adapter from bestbuy and that did solve the problem but it could not handle motion in Powerpoints very well.

With all said and done, I agree with many people that for $1600 this laptop was released really before it was ready and Samsung needs to make several improvements first and address some problems, which is sounds like they are starting to do. Like another review I read, it would be nice to have some indication whether via sound or a light the unit is charging or in sleep when the case is closed.

Now I am off to find a new laptop.

 

I cannot believe my eyes. My sammy is on the truck to Texas Service Center for the wifi. Yesterday at 1/3 of the cost I purchased a Acer3820T-6480 13inch notebook. I rec'd it today & after getting it started I did the following tests which were the same location as the sammy.
In my same room as the router: sammy 5 bars 130mbps- Acer5 bars 144mbps.
Rest of rooms in home sammy 130mbps 5 bars. Acer 144mbps-5bars.
Attached garage sammy 2bars-58mbps> Acer 4 bars 144mbps.
The speeds were taken from the wireless network connection status. I never realized that my sammy was this bad. Oh well live & learn I hope Samsung reads this & at least bring my sammy up to the Acer level. Except for the heat the Acer seems to be a keeper. jimjoh

 

I think the Broadcom adapter had 2 antenna. The Intel Centrino 6230 does (and seems to perform a little better). The Intel Centrino 6300 has 3 antenna and, when they're connected, appears to perform much better -- maybe even on a par with other laptops. Only problem with the 6300 is that one loses bluetooth capabilities.

I was wondering:
1. if it would "hurt" the S9 if an additional antenna cable was connected to each of the two antenna connections on the Intel 6230 (or even to the Broadcom) adapter?
2. if those additional antenna cables were connected, would they make any difference to the S9's WiFi capabilities?

I don't have my S9 A03 model any more. Can some confirm which of the Broadcom adapters were originally shipping in that in the USA? Was it BCM94312HMGB, BCM943225HMB or BCM943224HMB? I think it would be the latter. It may even have been another...

 

I returned a new Samsung 9 (NP900X3A-A05US) last week to Costco because the trackpad would not work at all, even after Samsung helped me reload the drivers. I didn't even get far enough with it to examine the wireless issue. Now this site has me worried about ordering another 9. I travel frequently and use wireless a lot (webinars included). When Samsung says they have a fix, will it bring the wireless connection up to what we expect (similar to my XPS M1330)? I don't really care about bluetooth or connection to TV. But I have to have good wireless internet connection.

 

Most people don't need the maximum possible speed on a wireless connection. For web browsing and video streaming a connection of 10Mbs is plenty as long as the connection holds.

John

 

My European NP900 (NP900X3A-A01NL) will only connect to 'G' accespoints. Both my N AP's are not found. It really drives me nuts. I've installed a Cisco E4200 AP within a few feet of the NP900 alas to no avail. The last resort is going back to a wired connection but I wondered if you guys might have a clue what to do.

 

Well, it is March 2012 and my Samsung 9 has made two trips to the Texas warranty repair center. Returned both times with no improvement. They state "they could not replicate the problem".

So much for the technical bulletin.

Solution: An Asus External USB-N10 IEEE WI-FI Adapter. Disable the Broadcom one in Device manager. This one is small, external, robust and works extremely well.
All WiFi issues are gone.

No help at all from Samsung, but I like everything else on the machine. Now, it's just about perfect.

 

I have a 900x...The Wireless performance has been absolute crap! I've been pulling my hair out for 2 months trying to find a solution, including going rounds with samsung.
I thought I might upgrade the wireless card myself after exhausting every solution I could think of...

This morning I open it up, and low and behold...It's been upgraded already! Not sure when It was done, but it did not fix the issue.
Anyway, none of it made sense...so I thought I'd move the antennas to different ports on the wireless card. basically just switched them around. IT WORKS! for the first time since I've had this s-9 it is performing as well as my roommates apple, and as well as the computer that it replaced!

 

This thread is ancient. What model is being discussed?

 

I guess you are talking about the new S9. Did you open the laptop and change the port of the wireless card?

 

I think he meant that he swapped the antennae cables where they connect to the sockets on the WiFi card. It's something I must remember to try next time I have the bottom off my X4C.

John

 

How does the antena work when the cable are connected in the wrong port?

 

There are two antennae leads, one black and one white which connect to sockets on the WiFi card as shown in this photo.



It appears that the normal arrangement is the white cable connects to socket 1 and the black cable to socket 2.

John

 

So is this your NP900X4C? Was it originally like this or you corrected it? From the image Main 1 is for white and Aux is for black, so is it same as T1 and T2? If you made changes on your laptop did you see any difference?

 

That's my X4C as supplied. One day I'll try swapping the WiFi antennae cables to see if it makes a difference, but that's unlikely to happen this week (because I also want to make another attempt to get an Intel 6230 WiFi card to work and see if it is better than the newer card - when I previously tried it the driver wouldn't configure properly).

John

 

Ok I see. I will wait till then. I guess it is better to just try before buying another one. John, did you heard about weak wifi problem on NP900X4Ds?

 

I don't recall X4D being specifically mentioned but most people don't complain about the WiFi in their Series 9s. They have either come to accept that it is not as good as in a notebook with the antennae at the top of the screen or the driver updates of the past few months have made it less bad.

John