What's the deal with my crappy connection?

[satindemon4u]

Title says it all really. But I should probably go a little more in depth. So this happens on my laptop. It's a Sony Vaio Laptop. If I am in let's say the kitchen which is one room away (probably a total of 35 feet tops) then I will have somewhere between 2-5 bars. It will drop all the way to two bars and sometimes sit pretty at 4. Last night I went to a friends house and we were upstairs in his room. His router was just downstairs and 10 feet from the steps. Even from that point I would get 2 or 3 bars or so. So this has made me conclude that it isn't my router but instead the card in the laptop. With that being said, is there anything I can do? Or should I just buy a wireless adapter because my built in card sucks? This has become pretty annoying especially when I am playing LoL and it just decided to spike my ping to something like 460 and then more than likely DC's me for a few seconds.

SO! Buy a USB wireless adapter? Or I am missing some other fixes here?

Laptop: sony vaio svf152190x
Wireless NIC: BCM43142 (Broadcom) with driver version 6.30.223.181

 

[jboydgolfer]

If your comfortable with opening up the Case, You Could check to see if the Wireless card is secured properly, Sometime they have they're own little door and CAN be pretty easy to get to.The signal wires might be loose. On the other hand , A USB adapter is Fairly cheap, I bought a Belkin N-150 for like $15-$20 USD, and it worked Very well, @ Long distances.

If your can post the make and Model #, it would help in finding out what kind of access there is to the card, it MIGHT be easier than one might think. It may ALSO be worth trying out Re-Installing the adapter driver to be CERTAIN it's not that causing the problem, better to take a few minutes and be wrong , than to buy something You didn't need to, Ya know? Maybe EVEN verifying that You are running on the proper current wireless signal type, i.e. G .N. B. etc.... One time I had a adapter that would run Terrible on wireless N, so I ended up changing it to B I think and it Suddenly acted like a totally new card.

 

[eidairaman1]

Go get a USB card or pc card adapter

 

[satindemon4u]

If your comfortable with opening up the Case, You Could check to see if the Wireless card is secured properly, Sometime they have they're own little door and CAN be pretty easy to get to.The signal wires might be loose. On the other hand , A USB adapter is Fairly cheap, I bought a Belkin N-150 for like $15-$20 USD, and it worked Very well, @ Long distances.

If your can post the make and Model #, it would help in finding out what kind of access there is to the card, it MIGHT be easier than one might think. It may ALSO be worth trying out Re-Installing the adapter driver to be CERTAIN it's not that causing the problem, better to take a few minutes and be wrong , than to buy something You didn't need to, Ya know? Maybe EVEN verifying that You are running on the proper current wireless signal type, i.e. G .N. B. etc.... One time I had a adapter that would run Terrible on wireless N, so I ended up changing it to B I think and it Suddenly acted like a totally new card.

It's a sony vaio svf152190x

Also, I have tried to reinstall the driver with no luck. :/

 

[brandonwh64]

This is funny and I will tell you why! When I first joined the military I bought a sony vaio laptop. The laptop was great but the wireless signal was SO SO bad. We shared internet access with the room next door which was really 4 feet away only separated by a wall. My room mate had a HP laptop and got 4-5 bars while I only got 1-2 SOMETIMES 3 if I was right on the wall. Well being the computer guy I am I opened the case to find that during assembly they forgot to hook up the white and black antenna cables to the WLAN card!!! I attached the cables and got 4-5 bars.

 

[satindemon4u]

This is funny and I will tell you why! When I first joined the military I bought a sony vaio laptop. The laptop was great but the wireless signal was SO SO bad. We shared internet access with the room next door which was really 4 feet away only separated by a wall. My room mate had a HP laptop and got 4-5 bars while I only got 1-2 SOMETIMES 3 if I was right on the wall. Well being the computer guy I am I opened the case to find that during assembly they forgot to hook up the white and black antenna cables to the WLAN card!!! I attached the cables and got 4-5 bars.

Where is it in the case?

 

[brandonwh64]

On the bottom there is multiple panels like the picture below and its inside those.

 

[satindemon4u]

On the bottom there is multiple panels like the picture below and its inside those.

Does this mean I need to get the entire bottom panel off? I feel like the last time I tried this I couldn't get the damn screws loose. Some of them anyway. Then again, the screwdriver I was using was a little large. I need to buy a tiny kit. Newegg for that?

 

[rtwjunkie]

Rather than wait for Newegg (I assume this means you are in the U.S.), consider getting a computer repair kit at...of all places..Best Buy. I did that, and it had 4 different screwdriver sizes, a hex driver, caps, different computer screws, a cap puller for jumpers, etc.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Does this mean I need to get the entire bottom panel off? I feel like the last time I tried this I couldn't get the damn screws loose. Some of them anyway. Then again, the screwdriver I was using was a little large. I need to buy a tiny kit. Newegg for that?

Or Amazon. I bought a Maxtech Precision Multi-Driver Set years ago and it has been excellent. The only thing that sucks about it is it can't get into deep holes because the bits are interchangeable.

You shouldn't have to remove the whole bottom of the computer. There might be a wireless symbol next to the screws to get access to it. It will either be behind a panel on the bottom, one of the sides, or under the keyboard (hopefully not).

 

[satindemon4u]

Ahhh, both good things to know! I'll check Best Buy and Amazon as well as check the screws on the back.

 

[remixedcat]

be ware of whitelists in bios that might prevent you from getting another card working. My HP2000-412NR is only made to work with 4 WLAN PCI-E cards and only one of those are a dual band and it's not even 802.11ac. and I can't even buy it for under 60 bucks if that. While that intel AC7260 is only 32 bucks

 

[satindemon4u]

Oh wow. Alright I'll keep that in mind.

 

[RCoon]

While that intel AC7260 is only 32 bucks

The 7260 dual band AC adapters are great, however intel has an issue with their mobile versions, as the driver has beef with a select few wireless access points and routers that use slightly old protocols. For example, we have 5 Mobile 7260 dual band AC laptops, on a 3COM AP, they drop off intermittently, whereas on the 5 other AP's I've tested they perform fine. Intel currently has a forum on it, where they ask for people to participate in their BETA driver.

OP, what model laptop is it. What wireless NIC is in there currently? An Atheros, Broadcom, Intel?
It could be B/G/N or even AC. If it's an older 802.11 standard it might just be a crappy band its trying to connect to.

 

[satindemon4u]

The 7260 dual band AC adapters are great, however intel has an issue with their mobile versions, as the driver has beef with a select few wireless access points and routers that use slightly old protocols. For example, we have 5 Mobile 7260 dual band AC laptops, on a 3COM AP, they drop off intermittently, whereas on the 5 other AP's I've tested they perform fine. Intel currently has a forum on it, where they ask for people to participate in their BETA driver.

OP, what model laptop is it. What wireless NIC is in there currently? An Atheros, Broadcom, Intel?
It could be B/G/N or even AC. If it's an older 802.11 standard it might just be a crappy band its trying to connect to.

Laptop: sony vaio svf152190x
Wireless NIC: BCM43142 (Broadcom) with driver version 6.30.223.181

 

[Aquinus]

I would rip open that laptop of yours and replace the wi-fi PCI-E mini-card with something like an Intel 7260 (example) instead which supports Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11a/b/g/n/ac. This could also be an issue with the antennas themselves, but replacing the wi-fi card isn't an expensive option (30-40 USD) and will yield the best results IMHO. In fact I'm tempted to do this with my old laptop as it has an old 802.11b/g adapter in it.

Edit: Do some research first, I'm unsure if it will work or not on your laptop as @remixedcat stated earlier.

 

[remixedcat]

The 7260 dual band AC adapters are great, however intel has an issue with their mobile versions, as the driver has beef with a select few wireless access points and routers that use slightly old protocols. For example, we have 5 Mobile 7260 dual band AC laptops, on a 3COM AP, they drop off intermittently, whereas on the 5 other AP's I've tested they perform fine. Intel currently has a forum on it, where they ask for people to participate in their BETA driver.

OP, what model laptop is it. What wireless NIC is in there currently? An Atheros, Broadcom, Intel?
It could be B/G/N or even AC. If it's an older 802.11 standard it might just be a crappy band its trying to connect to.

I did hear some Motorola ap issues but I use Aruba and Meraki and there hasn't been much with those APs reported.

Most places I go use Cisco APs or Aruba or ruckus or value point.

 

[remixedcat]

But that does suck and I'll keep that in mind

For now I just have an edimax ac600 USB...

 

[Aquinus]

I did hear some Motorola ap issues but I use Aruba and Meraki and there hasn't been much with those APs reported.

Most places I go use Cisco APs or Aruba or ruckus or value point.

I should also note that the other day one of our instructors at work was having trouble connecting to the wi-fi and it was related to the wi-fi driver settings themselves because the defaults were incompatible with our APs. Doing something like forcing a long preamble fixed it for that case, but this could be related. The AP settings could be in conflict with the driver advanced settings.

 

[RCoon]

I should also note that the other day one of our instructors at work was having trouble connecting to the wi-fi and it was related to the wi-fi driver settings themselves because the defaults were incompatible with our APs. Doing something like forcing a long preamble fixed it for that case, but this could be related. The AP settings could be in conflict with the driver advanced settings.

As a point of reference we customise intel wireless drivers through the advanced menus, they always seem to be configured badly from default settings. Never understood why. I remember one case where the driver was N capable but wouldn't enabled it unless you selected b/g/n mode. Besides that, the intel wireless cards are second to none, with that one Atheros chip coming a close second. They just seem to have beef with older AP's from first wave 802.11N from 5 or so years ago.

 

[remixedcat]

What one Atheros chip???

 

[RCoon]

What one Atheros chip???

Qualcomn atheros 1202, aka the killer, but without the nasty killer firmware and software.

 

[remixedcat]

Oh. THAT one...

APs that really have the most issues are Sonicpoints and Motorolas....

both are the "enterprise" level the most issues. Spiceworks forums gets obliterated with threads with issues with them. LOL.

 

[satindemon4u]

Completely uninstalled the driver last night to go back to total default. Installed the driver but haven't updated. Will test the same distance today to see if that helped any.