[SOLVED] Motherboard mistakes my Asus PCE-AC88 WLAN for a Broadcom 802.11ac

[Z1oNando]

Dear forum members,

I purchased on Amazon an Asus PCE-AC88 WLAN to replace my old Broadcom, but still the system reads my old card and the download speeds are quite slow, at circa 50Mb when I should have over 200, showing no real improvement.

My motherboard is an AS Rock B550 TV.

Any suggestions? The customer service from Asus was underwhelming, and they basically told me to return the card to Amazon.

Thanks!

 

[Colif]

Asus PCE-AC88

that uses a Broadcom chipset so could be why.
Broadcom BCM4366
https://deviwiki.com/wiki/ASUS_PCE-AC88

Need to get windows to forget old card
take new one out
go into device manager
click on view and set it to show hidden devices,
it should show all old drivers here. I would uninstall the drivers and restart PC
put new card in and see if it recognizes it as a new card.

 

[Z1oNando]

Thanks bud, I didn't know that. I already removed all visible/hidden devices in the device manager, but I haven't tried physically removing it first. I'll try this now.

 

[Colif]

if that doesn't work, could try installing the Asus drivers if you haven't already - https://www.asus.com/au/Networking-IoT-Servers/Adapters/All-series/PCE-AC88/HelpDesk_Download/

Asus often use other makers chips, it wasn't a hard guess.

 

[Colif]

Maybe it mistakes it for a broadcomm 802.11ac as that is what it is.

It’s the first 4x4 802.11ac PCIe® adapter on the market, giving you improved Wi-Fi reception and — when paired with a 4x4 router — the full performance potential of 4x4 Wi-Fi!

above is from Asus website. Maybe you need a router that matches it to get the speed? Something like https://www.asus.com/Networking-IoT-Servers/WiFi-Routers/ASUS-WiFi-Routers/RT-AC3100/

AC isn't even new anymore, latest goes by 3 names

• WIFI6
• AX
• AC2100

its decieving for Asus to name their router AC3100 when its really not.

 

[Z1oNando]

I did as you recommended, including trying the drivers, but I already have them installed, but nothing changed. Any other recommendations, please? I'm really considering returning it to Amazon.

 

[kanewolf]

I did as you recommended, including trying the drivers, but I already have them installed, but nothing changed. Any other recommendations, please? I'm really considering returning it to Amazon.

It may not be the drivers. Why do you believe you should have 200Mbit throughput? What link rate is shown for your WIFI ?
Do you have unique SSID for 2.4 and 5Ghz WIFI to ensure you are connected to the 5Ghz band ?

 

[Z1oNando]

It may not be the drivers. Why do you believe you should have 200Mbit throughput? What link rate is shown for your WIFI ?
Do you have unique SSID for 2.4 and 5Ghz WIFI to ensure you are connected to the 5Ghz band ?

Yes, I've got the unique SSID 5GHz and I'm connected to my 5GHz band. With my MacBook Pro I have download speeds of circa 90Mb, with my PC I never went through 20Mb. The download speed certified by the provider is in the direction of 300Mb.

 

[kanewolf]

Yes, I've got the unique SSID 5GHz and I'm connected to my 5GHz band. With my MacBook Pro I have download speeds of circa 90Mb, with my PC I never went through 20Mb. The download speed certified by the provider is in the direction of 300Mb.

What link rate is reported in Windows ? -- HOW TO -- https://www.windowscentral.com/how-determine-wi-fi-and-ethernet-connection-speed-windows-10

 

[Z1oNando]

What link rate is reported in Windows ? -- HOW TO -- https://www.windowscentral.com/how-determine-wi-fi-and-ethernet-connection-speed-windows-10

Hi, it's 288/135 (Mbps)

 

[kanewolf]

Hi, it's 288/135 (Mbps)

With a 200+ link rate, you should get 100Mbit. Have you checked your Windows autotuning -- https://www.ghacks.net/2016/08/05/windows-10-limiting-internet-speed/
A value of "NORMAL" is usually the best performance.

 

[Z1oNando]

Yes, it's set to NORMAL. I'm starting to think that there may be an issue with my PCIE slot.

 

[kanewolf]

Yes, it's set to NORMAL. I'm starting to think that there may be an issue with my PCIE slot.

That would be my last diagnosis.
Where do you have the antenna array sitting ?

Can you post the link to your motherboard ? I don't find an " ASRock B550 TV" ...

 

[bill001g]

288/135 is very strange.

What is the model of your router.

Those numbers are not really the speed they are what is called a MCS value which lets you know which encoding method is being used. If you look 288 up in the table the only possibility is that it is running 20mhz. You see that much more when it is running on 2.4 rather than 5 radio. Most 5g are running 40mhz or 80mhz which is why they are faster.

What makes this more strange is 135 only appears in 40mhz. I can't see how you can get a 20mhz download channel and a 40mhz upload. I thought they had to be the same.

You need the exact values to look them up in the MCS tables but since 288 is strange number I will assume you copied this correctly.

I do not know if the nic has settings, some do and some do not. See if there is anything limiting the radio channel width. Try to force it to 80mhz if you can or even 40mhz.

You also need to check the router to see if there is a limitation set on there also. This value is negotiated at the highest possible rate that both accept so in theory it should get 80mhz channels using 4x4 mimo. You should see a MCS value of 1733

 

[Z1oNando]

It turned out to be an issue with the motherboard's PCIE socket. I tried another card and it was also super slow on upload and download. I just got on Amazon the TP-Link Archer T9UH and I finally have a decent connection, though there is a huge discrepancy between download speed (10Mb/s) and upload speed (290Mb/s). I'm opening a separate thread.

Thanks all for the lovely support!