USB wifi dongle works on one computer but not on gaming PC

[discgolfguy]

I have a gaming PC that has the following specs:
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 4790K @ 4.00GHz 45 °C
Haswell 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Z97-A (SOCKET 1150) 34 °C
Graphics
U28D590 (3840x2160@60Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 (MSI) 48 °C
Storage
232GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (SSD) 48 °C
1863GB Seagate ST2000DM001-1ER164 (SATA) 36 °C

This computer has been fantastic for me since I built it in 2015. Everything about this PC has been great. I can play at games like Doom on Ultra. Recently (within ~6-8 weeks) I started losing my WiFi connection. Every now and then I would completely lose it and a reset of the card or computer would restore it. Eventually I got such a limited signal that I assumed the PCIe wireless card was broken. I bought a new PCIe WiFi card (Fenvi Desktop WiFi 2.4G/5G & Bluetooth 4.0 300Mbps Module) and installed it but I got even worse results. I was barely able to connect to my router and speed tests resulted in 1.8Mb/s download rates and 0.3 Mb/s upload rates. My internet which used to be able to stream a sports game and play league of legends was unable to download simple image files with any sort of regularity.

I purchased a second WiFi adapter (USB Wifi Adapter 600Mbps USBNOVEL Dual Band 2.4G / 5G Wireless Wifi Dongle) and tried to see if this was a PCIe problem. The USB WiFi is able to connect to my router but the connection is still very slow. Maybe 2.0 Mbps down and 0.5 Mbps up. This is within 15 feet of the router with line of sight.

I took the USB dongle and placed it into a second computer and ran another speed test. On this computer (which has an i3 and isn't nearly as specced out as the first) I was getting 38Mb/s download and 23Mb/s upload. This indicates to me that there isn't a problem with the WiFi adapter.

I'm looking for suggestions on what else might be failing here. I've used the Intel Diagnostic Utility and that passed. I ran Performance Test 9.0 and ranked in the 96th percentile. It feels like the system should be running fine but this lack of internet connection is frustrating.

At this point I'm looking for any suggestions or things to test before I resort to making a major hardware purchase (mother board first is most likely). Any help would be appreciated.

Router P/N: WI424WR Rev. I
ISP: Verizon

 

[googlyeyedchicken]

Do you have another router you can try? Or have you tried resetting the router with the 20/20/20 (Hold Reset Button - Unplug Power - Plug back in to boot).

You could even leave the router unplugged for a few minutes.

Are all your drivers/BIOS up to date?

 

[Karadjgne]

Go to the mobo manufactures support page and download the latest audio, Lan and USB drivers. Recent windows updates have been playing hardball with older mobo drivers, using windows generic drivers which have newer date codes and can have issues with legacy drivers,creating conflicts. It's been bad enough that MSI has released updated mobo drivers (audio, lan, USB) for my Z77 mobo to fix issues with Windows 10 Creators update. The last release was in October of 2013 for my board.

 

[googlyeyedchicken]

Do you have another router you can try? Or have you tried resetting the router with the 20/20/20 (Hold Reset Button - Unplug Power - Plug back in to boot).

Are all your drivers/BIOS up to date?

 

[discgolfguy]

Do you have another router you can try? Or have you tried resetting the router with the 20/20/20 (Hold Reset Button - Unplug Power - Plug back in to boot).

Are all your drivers/BIOS up to date?

I don't have another router. I have a Macbook Pro that is able to connect to the same router with zero problems and get 50Mb/s down and 30Mb/s up.

 

[discgolfguy]

Do you have another router you can try? Or have you tried resetting the router with the 20/20/20 (Hold Reset Button - Unplug Power - Plug back in to boot).

You could even leave the router unplugged for a few minutes.

Are all your drivers/BIOS up to date?

Go to the mobo manufactures support page and download the latest audio, Lan and USB drivers. Recent windows updates have been playing hardball with older mobo drivers, using windows generic drivers which have newer date codes and can have issues with legacy drivers,creating conflicts. It's been bad enough that MSI has released updated mobo drivers (audio, lan, USB) for my Z77 mobo to fix issues with Windows 10 Creators update. The last release was in October of 2013 for my board.

I followed your advice and got a pretty good improvement on my wireless connection. I'm now seeing my connection more consistently. My speed test has improved to 27Mb/s down and 28Mb/s up. The speed test oscillated heavily going up and down above and below the average of 27 a good amount. It still feels like it's not completely right but this is a step in the right direction.

 

[Karadjgne]

Have you done any firmware updates on the router yet? It might be a bit outdated since isp's have been going nuts on bandwidth lately. Couple years ago I was at 6Gb, now it's 50Gb. The old firmware might not be equipped to handle that much.
Glad the drivers helped.
How old is the modem? I had a Comcast wireless modem for 2 years, no issues, then when isp went from 20Gb to 50Gb I started having 5Gb band disconnects, traded for a new modem, fixed that issue.