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Intel Wireless Adapter 7265 - Win 8.1 Driver problems

JBray3
Beginner
4,326 Views

Hello,

So I work for the IT department of the Ohio State University. We have a brand new Dell computer that came with a 7265 Adapter. Immediately upon receiving it, we noticed that after several hours, the wireless connection would drop. The adapter would be unable to see any wireless networks at all. If you disable and re-enable the adapter it connects immediately.

I called Dell, and they reinstalled the drivers, it kept happening.

We replaced the entire wireless adapter, it kept happening.

We reinstalled Windows from scratch, installed the drivers and no other software of any kind. The same problem continues.

I have a few clues from the event log that might help.

I get several error codes from NETwNb64 that say:

"The description for event ID 8000 from source NETwNb64 cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer."

I understand that this is from one of the driver files.

Checking the WLAN-Autoconfig log, we see a pattern. There are three messages that pop up every once in a while, roughly every 2-3 hours. These three messages all arrive in this order within the same second.

"Wireless security stopped"

"Wireless security started"

"Wireless security succeeded"

But then, at some point, usually overnight, we see just

"Wireless security stopped"

followed about 10 seconds later by a disconnection from the wireless networks. After this event it appears that we are no longer able to see any wireless networks until the adapter is reset or the machine is reset.

To be totally honest, I don't know whether any of these events are related, and I am not sure if it's possible there is a hardware misconfiguration, but this is a brand new computer, it has happened with two separate wireless cards (of the same model) and there is no other software installed on the computer that could be interfering with it.

I hope someone can guide me toward a solution.

Thanks,

Jason Bray

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19 Replies
jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
2,078 Views

Hello Jason,

Please try the following actions as they may help in this type of situation:

- Review the Power Options - Power plan and make sure the Wireless adapter is set to Maximum Performance, when plugged in and on battery.

- Go to Windows* Device Manager - Network Adapters, look for the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 and enter the adapter properties, in the Power Management tab, toggle off/on the option "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Check if the behavior improves when you change this setting.

Let us know if this helps; also, we would like to get the following information:

- Computer model, Wireless driver version (as shown in device manager)

- Do you have other computers of this model using this type of wireless adapter?

- Is this the only computer showing this behavior?

JBray3
Beginner
2,078 Views

I will try your suggestions.

For the questions you posed:

It's a dell XPS 13

We have no other computers of this type.

This is the first I've ever seen this behavior.

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JBray3
Beginner
2,078 Views

The driver version is 17.16.0.4

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JBray3
Beginner
2,078 Views

Should have tried this before I posted. I have no Wireless adapter section under my advanced power management settings, and there is no power management tab in the adapter properties window.

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jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
2,078 Views

The properties of the adapter in Device Manager normally have a Power management tab as seen in this picture:

- Please confirm if your PC does not show this option.

- Apply the configuration from the following advisory:

http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/sb/CS-030709.htm?wapkw=wifi+recommended+settings What are the Recommended Settings for 802.11n Connectivity?

- Also, in the advanced properties of the adapter set U-APSD support: Disabled.

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JBray3
Beginner
2,078 Views

'

All the advanced settings are already at their recommended values, except for 802.1n mode which is not an available option:

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jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
2,078 Views

Hello Jason,

Try doing full reboot of the computer and after that, check if the Power Management tab is available in the driver properties.

We also recommend you to do a clean install of the wireless driver, removing previous driver versions from the system.

1. Download https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24864/Intel-PROSet-Wireless-Software-for-Windows-8-1- Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software for Windows 8.1* version 17.16.0 (32 or 64 bit depending on your OS). Save the file in your computer.

We will use Intel PROSet/Wireless WiFi Software (includes Drivers): wireless_17.16.0_e132.exe or wireless_17.16.0_e164.exe

2. Go to Control Panel, Programs and Features and Uninstall "Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software", *If it is installed.

3. In Control Panel, Device Manager, Network Adapters, right click on the Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 and Uninstall it, make sure you mark the option to "Delete the driver software for this device".

Reboot or scan for hardware changes. If an older driver is detected and installed, repeat the actions to uninstall/delete it as well.

4. Install the driver 17.16.0 you downloaded in Step 1.

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JBray3
Beginner
2,078 Views

Hello,

I followed your instructions. Both Power Options you described are still not there. The version of the software is identical to the one I took a screen shot of above.

I should reiterate that my initial steps before starting this thread was to do a fresh install from an official microsoft ISO of windows 8.1, then immediately install the package you linked to. I did no other configuration or software installation of any kind. Only a moment ago when you had me reboot did I even install the windows updates.

I do occasionally see messages from the windows troubleshooter when I try "troubleshoot my connection" after it drops that say the drivers have a problem. I don't know if that's a meaningful message, but it's what I have to work with :/.

Thanks again for all your help.

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jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
2,078 Views

Hello Jason,

Please let us know the CPU model used in your PC.

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jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
2,078 Views

Can you confirm if the connection is lost during normal operation, or if the adapter fails to connect only after resuming from sleep/hibernate.

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John_S_Intel
Employee
2,078 Views

Check Control Panel and Power Options. If the settings you are looking for are not there, it is possible that the OEM (Dell) may have their own tool to set power save settings.

Does this connectivity issue occur when resuming from S3 or sleep mode by any chance? If so, try set the power settings to maximum performance rather than balanced or maximum power save.

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JBray3
Beginner
2,078 Views

Hi Jonathan,

The device manager says that it is an Intel Core i5 5300U CPU.

I don't know if it would happen during normal operation because there is no software on the machine and no one can use it until I get this worked out and give it to the professor who ordered it. So far it has only been observed to happen during sleep mode, and not even immediately. It happens only when the computer has been idle for several hours. (At least that I've observed)

@Johns: There is nothing relevant to a wireless adapter in the power settings. (see screenshot below) However, this machine has no Dell software on it at all. It has been formatted and all that has been done was installing a vanilla copy of Windows 8.1 Pro and the driver for this network adapter. I have not even browsed to a website on it, other than the link given above to the driver.

There are no other power plans available. 'Balanced' is the only one that exists. Any other power plans would have to be created, and since there are no settings to change that relate to the wireless card, I would not know how to go about creating such a plan.

Thanks again,

Jason Bray

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jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
2,078 Views

Hello Jason,

We are checking with our additional resources about possible solutions for this issue.

The following documents from Dell and Microsoft indicate that some power options may not be available in specific computer models using Windows 8.1:

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN294060/EN http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN294060/EN

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2889143 Power Management tab is not visible for some Wireless Network adapters with Always On/Always Connected (AOAC) platforms …

Try disabling fast startup in Windows and check if the issue is solved with the change, please use the following link for reference:

NOTE: This link is being offered for your convenience and should not be viewed as an endorsement by Intel of the content, products, or services offered there.

http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable-or-enable-fast-startup-in-windows-8-1/ http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-disable-or-enable-fast-startup-in-windows-8-1/

Please make sure that the computer is using the proper Dell drivers for other PC components.

We advise you to contact Microsoft and check with them what can be done about the missing power options in Windows.

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JBray3
Beginner
2,078 Views

Well unfortunately we have reached the end of our troubleshooting. I have been told by my supervisor to stop messing with it and just send it back to dell. Hopefully they can figure it out.

I appreciate all your help and am sorry we didn't get to the bottom of it.

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RMoel
Beginner
2,078 Views

Hello, I have been following your thread as I had exactly the same problem with my new HP Elite x2 1011 Windows 8.1 Tablet-Hybrid.

I found the link below and the answer provided seems to help, my wireless connection has been much more stable since applying the solution.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-networking/wireless-connection-is-always-set-to-limited/6dcd5c42-c29c-444d-aba7-6fbf04d8ef9c Wireless connection is always set to "limited connectivity" on - Microsoft Community

Maybe it helps.

Regards, Ralph

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JStei9
Beginner
2,078 Views

Hi Jason,

Actually I had the same problem with Intel Wireless Adapter 7265 on Dell Latitude 7350 and I found a trick to make the Power Management tab appears:

Go to Turn Windows Features On or Off (from Programs and Features in the Control pannel or with a search in the Charms bar)

Activate Hyper-V platform (you don't need Hyper-V Management Tools)

You'll need to restart computer and voilà!

Don't ask me why, but Power management tab appears in the Intel Wireless Adapter 7265 properties and you'll have access to advanced Power schemes in Power manager.

I don't know if it'll work with your Dell computer and I can't say if it can help to solve definitely the Wifi problems (it's too early to know for me) but I wanted to share it. ;-)

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APars1
Beginner
2,078 Views

Jonathan,

I'm taking over for Jason here. I know it's been a few months, so here's an update:

We've sent the original machine to Dell for testing, and they've replaced it with an identical machine. It's exhibiting the same issue.

I've updated the wireless drivers to v. 18.11.0.8; this has not resolved the issue.

Jesler's suggestion about enabling Hyper-V has, indeed, allowed me to access the device's power management settings, and I've disallowed turning the device off to save power. I'm now waiting to see if the problem recurs.

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jbenavides
Honored Contributor II
2,078 Views

We are glad to know the solution provided by JESLER helped. Let us know if you have any further updates.

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VMung
Beginner
2,078 Views

Hi Adam,

I have the same issue. Is your problem solved now after enabling Hyper-V and disabling "turning device off to save power"?

Thank you!!

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