0
My home runs a Wi-Fi network on 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz, and my router is in the center of the house. I have a gaming PC I built back in 2012 (specs below) on which I've installed a new SSD with a fresh installation of Windows 10, as well as a new PCI-E wireless networking card (2.4GHz (2x) and 5.0GHz). It is approximately 8.70 meters away from my router, only separated by a couple walls. I also have a Dell XPS13 laptop for class, which has always had phenomenal connection directly to the router. -Max speeds are usually 20Mbps Down: 6Mbps Up (these are fine)
My problem is that after installing the PCI-E network card (and after several appropriate orientations of the antennae) and despite my laptop having the same great connection it's always had, my desktop has incredibly inconsistent connectivity, either being completely unable to communicate with my router, or having download speeds of up to only 10Mbps (at best) and an alright 5Mbps upload. My drivers are updated to the latest, and I rotated my PC such that the card faces towards my router (antennae perpendicular to the bearing). I actually have no clue as to why my laptop can garner 20Mbps easy, from the same distance, while my desktop is struggling to maintain both consistency and to reach above 10~11Mbps. Keep in mind that this is a fresh, virus-free boot of Windows 10. Let me know if there's necessary information that I have forgotten to include.
Laptop: OK | Router: OK | Desktop: Issue
PC Build Specs:
CPU: Intel i3-3220 3.30GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon 7800 Series
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-DGS
Network Card: TP-Link TL-WDN4800
Luft
Posted 2017-07-31T19:15:24.777
Reputation: 1
Does moving the desktop (or the router) help? Does it have the same issue when it's in the same room as the router? – jpaugh – 2017-07-31T19:24:41.377
I should have mentioned, but I did in fact move the desktop around and it hasn't had any noticeable effect on connectivity. :( – Luft – 2017-07-31T19:51:46.893
According to an Amazon listing, this card should easily support 20Mbps, so if distance or interference is not a concern, two more basic possibilities come to mind: the WiFi card itself, or its driver might be buggy. Have you tried installing the latest version of the driver? You might try to get support and/or replacement from the manufacturer. – jpaugh – 2017-07-31T19:56:26.647
I tried doing research on that very model on their website, where they list drivers, and it said the driver hadn't been updated by the devs in a while. On top of that, upon trying to update the drivers via device manager results in a message telling me that the drivers are all up-to-date – Luft – 2017-07-31T20:05:25.647
According to this review, the drivers lack Windows 10 support. If that's the case, there's probably nothing (short of a return) that you can do. – jpaugh – 2017-07-31T20:08:32.143
oh well - I do appreciate the reply thanks – Luft – 2017-07-31T20:11:47.870
NP. Windows 10 caught a lot of hardware manufacturers by surprise, even though it made a lot of improvements. Even big OEMs like Dell have had some compatibility issues. Hopefully Win11 will not be such a drastic change. – jpaugh – 2017-07-31T20:15:10.403