WAN Network Devices and Windows 10.

[Noram]

I built a computer roughly a year ago and used the Netgear AC130 wireless adapter, which is a USB 3.0 wireless "card" with a cable and hub. For several months this worked fine until I started getting network timeouts constantly. Assuming it was the card using a generic driver, I bought another card. To my dismay, this next card had the same driver and occasionally had the same problems. Once more I bought another, and still had the same problems and same generic driver; all three must have had an identical chipset.

Recently I bought a Rosewill PCI adapter and it works exponentially faster, but I still get timeouts periodically. At first I was thinking that maybe it was the router, but with three i-phones, Wii U, HTC One, and a PS4 not having problems, the only real variable is Windows 10 at this point.

I've played with the settings, turned off power conservation, as well as Windows ability to turn the device off at will, but still get the same problem on all devices. Directly jacking in to the router isn't much of an option with the router being fairly far away (but still getting solid reception). Is there something going on with Windows 10's wireless networking or something? Microsoft's help line isn't much help, either, since Microsoft is under the impression that they can do no wrong. What advice do you more experienced and passionate people have?

 

[Herc08]

I think we can rule out Windows 10 and wireless networking. I have a laptop, and I never have any disconnects. I've testing this by downloading 100GB worth of data (I have 300mbps so the bigger the download the better). I left it overnight, and checking the Event Viewer, there was no disconnects. I've had have this laptop since Jan 2015, and still no bad issue. So one issue COULD be the router. Are yo aure it can handle so much traffic at once? Did you change any settings in the router? What type of router is it (i.e. g,n, or ac)? Also, do you have another computer having the same issues?

Instead of depending on WiFi, you could invest in Powerline. It uses EOP. I would hate for you to buy another adapter. Speaking of adapters, you mentioned generic drivers. How are you installing the drivers?

 

[Noram]

The three USB adapters use Realtek 802.11 generic drivers, even installed from the disk. Windows Update and the actual Realktek drivers are up-to-date. The Router is ISP provided Zyxel 5001Z, but with all other devices not having time outs, it's not likely to be the router.

The Zyxel broadcasts b/n/g, but not AC; but oddly enough, with the other adapters, switching them to b only seems to resolve the issue, but b is not really that great for rates. I've tried disabling the on-board ethernet which came with software from the driver disk for MSI's 990 FXA Gaming mobo... It's Killer e2200 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, and uninstalling that particular software seems to do nothing. The only thing I can think of is some other software possibly interfering with Windows Networking Service on occasion resulting in timeouts, but not drops; however, I know of no way to figure out what - if any - could be interfering.

I have an old garbage laptop running Windows 7 that doesn't appear to be having an issue. It's hard to tell since the computer is so slow anymore that just trying to open anything can take up to five minutes.

 

[marko55]

I would definitely give a new AC wifi router a shot. They're gonna have much more wifi capability than that Zyxel and will probably solve your problem. Current devices from Asus, netgear, Linksys, etc are gonna have all sorts of options to tune (too much to get in to here) but typically are configured well out of the box.

 

[Herc08]

The three USB adapters use Realtek 802.11 generic drivers, even installed from the disk. Windows Update and the actual Realktek drivers are up-to-date. The Router is ISP provided Zyxel 5001Z, but with all other devices not having time outs, it's not likely to be the router.

The Zyxel broadcasts b/n/g, but not AC; but oddly enough, with the other adapters, switching them to b only seems to resolve the issue, but b is not really that great for rates. I've tried disabling the on-board ethernet which came with software from the driver disk for MSI's 990 FXA Gaming mobo... It's Killer e2200 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, and uninstalling that particular software seems to do nothing. The only thing I can think of is some other software possibly interfering with Windows Networking Service on occasion resulting in timeouts, but not drops; however, I know of no way to figure out what - if any - could be interfering.

I have an old garbage laptop running Windows 7 that doesn't appear to be having an issue. It's hard to tell since the computer is so slow anymore that just trying to open anything can take up to five minutes.

I didn't know you were using the ISP-issued router. I would first invest in your own router, esepcially an AC router. Cox provided and router and stated it was the "best of the best". My test dertermined that was a lie. With my own router, I got better speeds and more control over my connections.

 

[Noram]

Alrighty. I'll go pick up a new router and bridge them to see if that helps anything. I'll try it for a few days and report back. Bookmarking the thread to give in update. Will probably be Friday since I'll be working all week.

 

[Herc08]

Alrighty. I'll go pick up a new router and bridge them to see if that helps anything. I'll try it for a few days and report back. Bookmarking the thread to give in update. Will probably be Friday since I'll be working all week.

Ok hopefully that should fix the problem.

 

[Noram]

Picked up a router yesterday. Nighthawk 1200+AC, and I still have the problem. It's certainly something to do with my OS as when the timeouts happen, I can communicate directly to the router/internet with other devices, just not the PC, yet disabling and re-enebling wifi from the wifi menu (not the device, but the little menu in the lower right-hand corner) seems to remedy to issue.

Windows troubleshooter says that the DNS server isn't responding, so I'm wondering if there's a service or process trying to change my DNS data for some reason - possibly a driver or network software. Anyone know of a way to investigate in depth?

 

[Herc08]

You can try a DNS flush from command prompt if that is the issue. I usually set my DNS servers to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 since it's Google's DNS servers.