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[Alienware 17 R4] Killer Network Suite/WLAN Card Killing WiFi
Hi,
Before I begin, I'd like to make it very clear that this issue has been driving me completely insane.
I have purchased two separate Alienware 17 R4's in the past 4 days (returned one out of frustration), and have been troubleshooting this issue for HOURS.
I purchased the first of the two laptops this past Saturday. Brought it home only to find out my internet connection was going out. At first, I didn't associate the internet outage with the laptop. I have TWC, and they have been known to go out in my area every few weeks. A group of friends and I waited around for a bit for the internet "to come back on," and noticed that it had shortly after we walked away from our computers (I had shut the laptop). Upon opening the laptop again, I was able to use the internet for a few minutes until my router's SSID disappeared from the WiFi list and we were, again, without internet. What was odd about all of this is that the internet wasn't just having connection issues... the SSID was literally disappearing.
So I walked over to my router, a Netgear C6300 Modem Router (Time Warner Cable), and reset it to try to jumble its brains so it would spit the SSID back out into the WiFi connection lists. It would, until I reconnected with my laptop. It was at this point that we noticed every time I connected, or I opened my laptop, we would lose the connection. Sometimes the 2.4GHz light would disappear, indicating that it was no longer broadcasting, and sometimes not. When the light WOULD go off, I would login to routerlogin.net and turn it back on. However, even after turning the 2.4GHz broadcast signal back on, I would still not be able to see the router's name in the WiFi list. I digress. Eventually, I shut the lid, reset the router again, SSID showed back up, and everyone was able to get back online without an issue.
Considering I wasn't able to join my friends for our online gaming session, I decided to do a lot of research, and, as it turns out, this is a HUGE problem in the community with the Killer Wireless Cards. It's sad really. At first glance, it looks like a respectable product that should be super helpful when it comes to gaming.
Moving forward, I return the first laptop... do more research... Alienware announces a driver fix on the Killer Networking website yesterday... I decide to rebuy laptop, and download software in hopes that I would actually be able to use the computer this time around. The day this happened was today. But, NOPE! I tested the laptop on a friend's network and it seemed to do just fine upon installing the new drivers. However, once I got back to my house with it, it, once again, killed my WiFi.
I've tried everything. I have downloaded three different sets of drivers. Tried them all. Removed the Killer Network Suite. Deleted all drivers through Device Manager, and then reinstalled using the INF files. I've messed around with my router's setting. Disabled it's pin. So on, so forth... I just don't even know what to do anymore. I absolutely LOVE the laptop, and I don't want to return this one as well, if I can just get the *** network running on it.
The laptop is running a Killer Wireless-AC 1435 Network Card. Currently, I am running an older version of the drivers (as suggested by another forum). I am more than happy to try out any other drivers in any configuration if there is a possibility of it helping the situation. Again, my router is a Netgear C6300 Modem Router (Time Warner Cable). I have no issues connecting any other devices to it whatsoever, so I really don't think the router is the problem.
mohamadch
79 Posts
1
February 22nd, 2017 06:00
All you had to do is just install a clean copy of windows, that fixed my issue. Nothing is wrong woth the wifi cards its just that with the copy of windows that come installed on the laptops, drivers contradict each other and alot of hardware get disabled and re-enable themselves due to that especially the killer wifi. When you install a new copy of windows from microsoft it will activate itself since activation is theough hardware activation so you so not need to buy a cd key, install a new copy of windows and thank me later :) i also do suggest that when you install a new copy of windows disable the Alienware Sound System it causes alot of system freezes and stuttering
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
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17K Posts
0
February 22nd, 2017 18:00
See my posts in this thread:
en.community.dell.com/.../20977964
and I think my post in this thread addresses possible Killer card fixes or at least links to the popular threads
en.community.dell.com/.../20004275
IIRC, many ended-up swapping Killer WiFi card to Intel one. But who knows, maybe drivers or whatever the real problem is fixed by now.
eternalkp
314 Posts
1
February 23rd, 2017 07:00
there is NO fix for killer. the only fix is to buy an intel wifi card and replace it.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
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17K Posts
0
February 23rd, 2017 11:00
Still ?
eternalkp
314 Posts
0
February 23rd, 2017 15:00
i remember contacting alienware and killer when i first received my laptop on november 2016.
alienware tech personnel is of course clueless.
killer represent blamed windows 10.
easy fix: throw out the stupid 1535 wifi card and replace it with intel 8260 (or intel 8265)
fascinating that alienware still use this company.
my laptop still have killer ethernet 2400. and its driver was last updated 1/26/2016.
intel 8260 has numerous driver updates and was lasted updated on 1/15/2017.
killer, what a lazy and terrible company.
DJ9091
2 Posts
1
February 25th, 2017 08:00
Greetings, I have been battling the VERY same, word for word, issue (including going over to check it at a friend's house), with the same Netgear C6300 (in fact, I even bought a brand new Netgear C6300, but same issues; ruled out the MODEM/Router as the problem). While I've not fixed it yet or figured out a fix without replacing the Killer Network card, I did find something that does work.
Out of frustration, I unchecked the "connect automatically" boxes on both the 2.4GHz and the 5GHz. Then I connected only to the 2.4, restarted the laptop and within a minute or so, the router stopped broadcasting my networks. Then I did the same for just the 5GHz. I started this on Monday, Feb 20, 2017, and it's still working with no interruptions...even with multiple shut down/start ups..
Every now and then I switch back to the 2.4GHz and the router stops broadcasting the signal and requires a restart. So, in my case, I've narrowed it to an issue between my laptops ability to communicate with the 2.4GHz broadcast. When I tested at my friend's place, we only used the 5GHz, so today I'm going back to check on his low side and see how that works.
Hope this helps get us a bit closer to solving this issue without having to make an investment more than the original. Mine is still under warranty but when I spoke with the Dell rep, I was told that there was not an issue with the computer, but with the MODEM/Router, so they will not replace the wireless card.
UPDATE 2-25-2017-I tried a friends 2.4GHz and 5Ghz broadcasts and no issues. He uses a separate MODEM and Netgear Router, so I'm narrowing this down to the Netgear C6300, 2.4GHz broadcast. There is obviously some compatability issue here. If ANYONE troubleshoots a solution, please let us know.
mohamadch
79 Posts
1
February 26th, 2017 07:00
Why don't you try re-installing the operating system (Windows 10) CLEAN INSTALL, and then see if the problem persists... When you re-install windows, the STABLE killer drivers will be automatically installed with the clean install of windows 10, I assure you that you will NOT have any Killer wifi problems with a fresh clean install of windows 10. I ASSURE YOU. After you install the clean copy of windows 10, before downloading drivers for other hardware from dell support, run the windows 10 update checker make sure to install all windows updates first, then when you are done installing all windows updates, go to NVIDIA.com and install the latest GeForce driver, then go to device manager if you see any hardware that needs drivers to be installed right click on it and click update driver software and let it download drivers automatically from the internet, once done. go to the DELL support website and install the alienware command center, and also install the latest bios if you don't have it installed already.
ALSO VERY VERY VERYYY IMPORTANTLY!!! NOTE:
The Alienware Sound Center is very bugged causing system instabilities including system freezes mouse being slow, stuttering etc.... , it will be installed when you download all windows updates. DISABLE IT and exit the software, after that go to task manager click on startup and disable it from automatically starting when you turn on the computer.
Do everything I told you to do and I PROMISE YOU that YOU WILL HAVE A MUCH BETTER ALIENWARE EXPERIENCE and NO WIFI DROPS/DISCONNECTIVITY !!
killernetworking
93 Posts
0
March 2nd, 2017 14:00
Hi folks - we have just posted a new wireless driver and software suite that addresses a known issue on a small percentage of systems where the Killer Wireless module will drop the WiFi connection when passing a large amount of traffic. We have worked closely with Microsoft on this, and have identified a fix. This fix has been confirmed with several users that currently have the issue and we have posted a new software package. Please visit the link below to get the new driver:
www.killernetworking.com/.../e2200-e2400-wireless
tmott1987
1 Message
0
March 2nd, 2017 15:00
I did all of this... now it is killing my wifi within 10 seconds of reconnecting. My router restarts automatically now.... Seems to have made things worse. I updated everything, exactly in the order that you mentioned. clean install of windows 10 and everything.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
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17K Posts
0
March 3rd, 2017 10:00
While secondary, that's the strange reported Killer Networking problem that I was wondering about ... if the latest update acted upon or fixed THAT reported issue. That's some unbelievable strangeness there ... truly a KILLER card that can take down a router.
I sent user "KillerNetworking" a friend request, but never got an answer back.
DJ9091
2 Posts
0
March 10th, 2017 20:00
Greetings...well, I uninstalled all of the Killer Networking suite and drivers. Then installed the latest version. Still shutting my router down on the 2.4GHz. Not having issues when accessing the 5GHz. I even tried a 3rd Netgear C6300 MODEM/Router and it did the same.
Since I can work around this issue by only using the 5GHz side, I will be interested to see if any further research is done and new updates are released.
judal7837
327 Posts
1
March 10th, 2017 23:00
please use this beta driver and tell me if it works
1drv.ms/.../s!Ajp5LHwBHLSQh209zcK0pzI5jHgD
wildfunkyfish
1 Message
0
June 30th, 2017 12:00
Very accurate description of the problem and solution.