[SOLVED] Dell Inspiron N5110 & Win 7 64bit - slow wireless Internet

[powerhouse32]

Hi,

Have been trying to find a fix for my wireless troubles, but none found on the WWW helped so far.

Couple of days ago I replaced my old b/g D-Link router for a shining new Cisco / Linksys EA3500 Gigabit b/g/n router. All wireless notebooks/netbooks/iPhones & Macbook work perfect, except one Windows 7 Home 64bit Dell Inspiron N5110 notebook.

At first all seemed to be fine. After a couple of hours browsing and Youtube the wireless Internet became really slow. It was impossible to watch any Youtube video. Another Win 7 netbook works fine.

I did the following on the Dell notebook:

Disabled ip6
Disabled network mapping services
ipconfig /flushdns
and one or two other suggestions I found and can't remember.

At first it worked - Internet speed was back to normal. But a day or two later it happened again - slow Internet.

Again cleared the DNS, checked that all settings were OK (DHCP, all on auto like the other PCs). Checked the router and even disabled UPnP - no go. Now I can't get decent speed anymore.

To test the hardware, I booted the Dell notebook with a Linux Mint 13 live USB stick and wireless Internet works perfect!!!

The Dell comes with an Intel Wireless 1030 module and I suspect that the Dell/Intel Wireless utilities may interfere with the Windows drivers. Lately I get this window popping up (and disappearing after a few seconds) that the Intel Wireless blah blah is ready.

I believe I used Windows utilities to set up / change the wireless network, but I'm not sure anymore.

Any suggestions on how to fix it? Unfortunately my kids need Windows on this notebook, else I would have wiped it off in an instance.

 

[eibgrad]

Let's get some hard numbers, both for a good working PC/laptop, and this troublesome one.

http://speedtest.net

 

[powerhouse32]

Hi eibgrad, thanks for the reply!

Since all my PCs (around 4 or 5 simultaneously) are connected to the Internet, and all others work just fine with Youtube etc., it must be a problem with the specific computer, not the Internet. I will run the speedtest later when I get back, and I will also check to see if there are any applications on the trouble PC that use excessive bandwidth. It's my kids PC so there might be something they installed or ran that causes the troubles.

 

[powerhouse32]

I checked my wireless configuration and changed some settings:

1. Went into wireless setup, and changed the settings of the Intel(R) Centrino(R) Wireless-N 1030 module

2. Selected Advanced

3. Selected RTS/CTS in the first option

4. 4th option: WWM enabled

5. 7th option: Ad hoc channel - entered the channel that I chose in the router

6. 8th option: Selected Automatic for the bandwidth

Seems to work now. Wireless speed to the router is at 130Mbps (Linux gave me 150Mbps, but with Linux there weren't any problems ).

Checked with speednet and results are 10Mbps download and 1Mbps upload. Just as it should be.

 

[powerhouse32]

I was celebrating too early !!!

The problem is back, or still there. Every once in a while the Internet on the Dell N5110 gets real slow until going into troubleshooting and let Win 7 reset the Wifi adapter. Then it seems OK for an hour, or perhaps more, until the next time.

I found some complains on the Internet about the Intel N1030 Wifi adapter this Dell is using. I installed the latest driver for this adapter but it didn't help much. Some say I should replace the N1030 for a N6230 adapter?

Has anyone had problems with this specific Intel N1030 Wifi adapter in a Dell laptop?

 

[AlEinstein]

Go to the Intel website and download the drivers for your wireless card. The model number can be found in your hardware section of the control panel.

My wireless card was like dialup and now I have a 45MPS connection.

 

[powerhouse32]

Go to the Intel website and download the drivers for your wireless card. The model number can be found in your hardware section of the control panel.

My wireless card was like dialup and now I have a 45MPS connection.

Thanks for your help. I had already installed the latest driver, but it didn't help. The Intel N1030 wireless adapter doesn't play well with the Cisco EA3500 router (or perhaps with any type N network).

I managed to convince Dell to replace the N1030 wireless module for the Intel N6230 module. They replaced it and all is perfect now!