Wifi stability problems

[azazel1024]

After some searching and playing here is my issue.

My Wifi adapter keeps cutting out. It'll say limited network connectivity and not connect to anything at all.

With driver version (Broadcom SDIO) 5.93.98.187, the latest, everything "seems fine", but it'll drop out generally requiring a reboot. I am trying to track down the circumstances.

Originally setting up my T100, every time I tried to pull down the MS driver update, it would bork the T100 and I'd have to restore it. It took 7 restores over about 12 hours before I figured out that that was the update doing it. I skipped it and had connectivity issues with the 5.93.97.168 Broadcom signed driver, so I found the 5.93.98.187 and had worse connectivity issues. I then read to downgrade t o 5.93.97.168 and use the Microsoft signed driver. Bingo, stability mostly back, but it would report 24Mbps always, even though it was connecting at 65/150 (I have two WAPs, one set to 40Mhz, one to 20Mhz so as to not step on each other). It would still cut out, maybe once or twice a day, especially after sleeping it (though not always, but seemed to be usually after an overnight sleep). A quick airplane mode toggle on/off restored connectivity within 10-15 seconds though.

I eventually went back to 5.93.98.187, cause, and it seemed stable all last night and this morning, then it cut out again and required a reboot (toggling airplane mode did nothing). Suddenly it could barely maintain a connection for more than a few minutes, but I also noticed this seemed to correspond to being plugged in to AC.

I need to finish letting it charge to suss out if it is being plugged in to AC that is doing it.

I think I noticed my Wifi speeds being faster under 5.93.98.187, but I could be remembering faultily. They are pretty all over the place running from 3-8.5MB/sec under .168 (I think that was the speed range) with an average around 7MB/sec. Under .187 it was 3.5-11 with an average around 8.5. This is on a WAP that I can get ~20MB/sec on my laptop running 2.4Ghz 300Mbps mode.

I am planning on running it for awhile once it is done charging to see if the stability issues seem to be plugged in to AC related or not. Otherwise I may have to go back to the MS signed .168 driver (though I'll retest speed, as I don't mind speeds not being reported correctly and needing to toggle Wifi on/off once or twice a day isn't a big deal, but still annoying).

Anyone run in to these issues? Anyone find a solution? Anyone report it to Asus and find a solution? I wonder if the reason that .168 is the last driver on Asus' website is they don't have any later version running stablely. I cant imagine they would have already abandoned support of the tablet so early in its product cycle.

[ASUSFAN0001]

Here's something to check:

Go into your Control Panel>Hardware>Device Manager.

Under Network Adapters, choose the Broadcom Wireless Adapter shown there.

You should have driver version 5.93.98.187 installed.

Under the ADVANCED tab...select bandwidth capability. There are 3 options there - not all work with every router. Try each of these...save off...and then see if your problem goes away.

[azazel1024]

One of my routers is setup for 40mhz 2.4Ghz and one 20Mhz 2.4Ghz. It'll switch appropriately between them and wireless modes.

The problem is that in 40Mhz mode for the T100's adapter it is not stable at all with 5.93.98.187. I can go between 5 minutes and 2 hours before the connection is brought down, but then once it goes down I have to reboot to regain my connection.

With the MS signed 5.93.97.168 I can use 40Mhz mode, but it also drops out occasionally. I can get from 4hrs to about 36 hours before the connection drops and then a quick airport mode on/off reenables the connection without needing to reboot.

The problem is that with .168 it seems to be roughly 10-20% slower than with .187 drivers and ANY of them in 20mhz mode is about 40-60% slower than in 40Mhz mode.

I can live with .168, quick hitting airport mode on/off isn't a big deal, but if there is a way to get the higher speeds of .187, especially with the same or better stability (at least not HAVING to reboot to regain a network connection), that would be great.

20mhz mode I really can't live with. An average speed of 3.5-4MB/sec is way too slow. 40Mhz mode and .168 I can live with being around 7MB/sec, but I'd dearly love the 8.5 or so MB/sec that .187 is delivering, I just can't live with having to reboot everytime the connection drops.

In part I really need to get a GbE USB3.0 adapter for the times I am moving really large files (like >2GB, which is rare, but happens).

My laptop and ~20MB/sec over wireless really spoils me (let alone my desktop which has a dual GbE connection to my server, using SMB3.0 and the RAID0 arrays on the machines I get 230MB/sec).

[ASUSFAN0001]

My router supports the 40MHz WIFI connection cleanly every time without an issue.

It will only work cleanly with the most recent WIFI driver at that speed.

That said...I've seen that not every router handles that speed the same way or cleanly. I have a D-Link DIR-655 router, and connection at the higher speed is not an issue.

I know of someone who has a Linksys (CISCO) router, and his is "tempermental"...not working at the higher speed consistently.

The new driver should work. Please note there are 2 settings in the configuration I referenced before - try all 3 settings.

[brentvw]

I've also had this problem on both drivers, it got so bad at one point I had to do a factory restore. See this thread.

Since then I've been running stable but I've installed very limited apps, nothing that modifies the shell like 3rd party sharing apps such as Google Drive, Box, etc. I think they were getting in the way with the OS or stack or something since the adapter is always smooth after a factory restore it makes methinks it's not a h/w problem but an OS/software one.

All this Win 8.1 tablet business is a giant science experiment at this point. I almost went to the Dell Venue 11 thinking it would be better put together until I started reading all their wifi nightmare threads.

Best of luck..

[ASUSFAN0001]

All this Win 8.1 tablet business is a giant science experiment at this point. I almost went to the Dell Venue 11 thinking it would be better put together until I started reading all their wifi nightmare threads.

Best of luck..

...and yet...not everyone is having the same experience of set of problems. Hmmmm....

[azazel1024]

My router supports the 40MHz WIFI connection cleanly every time without an issue.

It will only work cleanly with the most recent WIFI driver at that speed.

That said...I've seen that not every router handles that speed the same way or cleanly. I have a D-Link DIR-655 router, and connection at the higher speed is not an issue.

I know of someone who has a Linksys (CISCO) router, and his is "tempermental"...not working at the higher speed consistently.

The new driver should work. Please note there are 2 settings in the configuration I referenced before - try all 3 settings.

Unless I am missing something or look at the wrong one, the options are

b/g 20Mhz
a/b/g 20Mhz
a/b/g 40Mhz

Any of the 20mhz settings work just fine on all driver versions, perfectly stable. At 40Mhz, only .168, MS signed, is in anyway stable. I can go roughly 24-36hrs before I get the limited connectivity issue and a quick airplane mode cycle on/of resolves it (till the next time).

With .187, I can go between 5 minutes to 2 hours before I get limited network connectivity and only a reboot will fix it.

.168 averages 7.5MB/sec down on my Wifi connection

.187 averages 9MB/sec down on my Wifi connection

The T100 is the first and only device I have had an issue with on my Netgear 3500L routers (iPhones, iPads work fine. My notebook with a couple of different Wifi adapters in it over its life have all worked fine, a previous notebook worked fine, USB adapter worked fine and so on).

The T100 is also the only one that has such an inconsistent transfer speed. My notebook with Win 8.1 is MUCH faster than it was under Win 7sp1. I'd get about 13.5MB/sec average down to my notebook under Win 7sp1, with a range of 12-14MB/sec with only slight variation over big file transfers. Under Win 8.1 it averages 20MB/sec and ranges from 18-21, also with only relatively minor variation.

The T100 bounces all over the place from 3-9MB/sec under .168 and 3.5-11MB/sec under .187 and occasionally drops out completely for a couple of seconds before resuming the transfer.

Short of being on a network that is highly abused, I've never seen behavior like it before.

I can live with .168 drivers. Its certainly faster than my iPad 2 was (2.8MB/sec CIFS transfers with the app I was running on it) and my iPhone 5 (3.8MB/sec CIFS transfers), but faster would be nice and resolving the occasional loss of connectivity would be nice too. The inconsistency in transfer speeds is also puzzling and a little troubling.

.187 is much better, both I've yet to see the connection bottom out at all, plus it is higher average speeds and seems slightly more consistent speeds. Its a bit larger range of speeds, but they mostly bounce between 7-9.5MB/sec with the occasional drop down to ~4 and the occasional spike up to ~11. .168 really is all over from 3-9 without ever staying around a particular number much, also with some periodic drop outs in connection. Over a 2GB file, I'll see maybe two connection drop outs where over 3-4 seconds it'll go from a "resonable" speed and drops down to zero to stay there for maybe 2-6 seconds before jumping back up to some modest speed again.

Either its an actual hardware issue with mine, or something else.

I am tempted to return it and get a new one, but the problem is, because it is a warehouse deal from Amazon, my ONLY choice is return for a refund and then turn around and buy a new one (which seem out of stock through Amazon and most places right now). Not an option I'd really like to take and a lot of hassle.

If it is something resolvable through software/drivers, great.

Though if it is a progressive issue that'll get worse, I can't live with .187 stability. I can with .168, it is just annoying.

Wifi issues aside, I friggen LOVE the T100. Really nothing else I can find fault with it (oh, sure I wish it was a z3770, 4GB of RAM a 1080p panel and 128GB onboard, along with mag/alum build and pair of USB ports on the dock...but hey, mine was $330 and it retails for 390-400. I don't know that I'd wanted to have paid the premium on what the other stuff would end up asking).

[ASUSFAN0001]

Unless I am missing something or look at the wrong one, the options are

b/g 20Mhz
a/b/g 20Mhz
a/b/g 40Mhz

Not exactly. One of those actually has a 40MHz/20Mhz combination setting...its in the bandwidth dropdown.

One of those should work with your router just fine, if not two of those.

[azazel1024]

playing with settings with the .168 drivers, enabling 20/40 coexistence (default is off) seems to have both stabilized speed somewhat and also increased speed slightly.

It should have done nothing, but it is better.

I still occasionally get drop outs on transfers, but they are slightly less common, but speeds tend to stay between 7-9MB/sec with an average of about 8.5MB/sec. I am also sometimes seeing spikes up to 10.8MB/sec, though about as rare as drop outs or lower than 7MB/sec now.

So odd, very, very odd, but I'll take a maybe 10% improvement and a bit more stability in speeds.

Upload speed averages are unchanged, about 9MB/secs and those have always been relatively stable (with the caveat that those also occasionally drop out).

[ASUSFAN0001]

playing with settings with the .168 drivers, enabling 20/40 coexistence (default is off) seems to have both stabilized speed somewhat and also increased speed slightly.

It should have done nothing, but it is better.

I still occasionally get drop outs on transfers, but they are slightly less common, but speeds tend to stay between 7-9MB/sec with an average of about 8.5MB/sec. I am also sometimes seeing spikes up to 10.8MB/sec, though about as rare as drop outs or lower than 7MB/sec now.

So odd, very, very odd, but I'll take a maybe 10% improvement and a bit more stability in speeds.

Upload speed averages are unchanged, about 9MB/secs and those have always been relatively stable (with the caveat that those also occasionally drop out).

I suspect the differences in those settings pertain to the driver configurations and how they play with router capabilities - at least that's what most are reporting.