XPS 15 9560, Intel 9260, WiFi strength issues

Question

I have an XPS 15 9560. I recently changed the wifi card to an intel one as a lot of discussion boards said it was superior (Intel Dual Band WLAN WiFi Wireless M.2 NGFF AC 9260NGW BT 5.0).

It now works fine if I put the pc next to the wireless router but anywhere else the signal strength is weak such that sometimes it won't connect.

As I had changed the palm rest due to a broken hinge, I thought I might have damaged the wireless antenna somehow so I replaced it with one designated for Dell XPS 15 9550/9560 (/Precision 5510) and it improved it slightly but still not great.

I connected the wires correctly (ie I am aware of the white having to go to black and vice versa in the new card), although there was an extra grey wire that wasn't on the old one and the service manual didn't have it either.

Would anyone suggest why my wireless reception is so weak, and is there anything I could do with the spare wire to boost the antenna surface area for eg?

Thanks

samos1111 · Answer

Maybe your new card has a bad connector? Have you tried replacing the old card back (mind some claim it works okay with a fresh 'driver-only' version of the driver from the Killer site). The antenna for the 9550/5510 has 3 wires because it is for a 3x3 Dell Wireless card. With 2x2 cards, the grey one is supposed to be not connected. There are programs that display signal strength for wifi routers in the vicinity in dB. I'm not aware of any that would show signal strength by individual antennas to debug the antenna connectors. But you can see the nominal connection speed in network adapter settings, and also compare it to download speeds for large files from another computer connected to the router by cable (internet connection ma be limited). With most ac routers (5GHz) these days, both channels together should produce an 866 Mbps link.

paulee1 · Answer

Hi I actually broke off one of the Killer card connectors when originally swapping out the broken palmrest and soldered it back as an interim while waiting for the new card to arrive. Reception wasn't good after that and I used a usb wifi receiver as a stop gap. Thanks

onkelosuppo · Answer

I have the exact same issue with an Intel 9260 I put into my XPS 9570. The transfer speeds are superior to the one from the Killer 1535 but the range is terrible. It's not even half of that of the Killer. People around me would have 4 bars of wifi signal, when I couldn't even see the network at all. With the 1535 installed, everything works fine. Maybe our cards have a problem.

samos1111 · Answer

Among wifi gurus, QCA radios used in the Killer 1535 are actually well regarded. It seems to be the Killer drivers, that are in principle designed to optimize network performance, are often having issues.

But Intel wifi cards are generally not known to have poor range. All wifi cards are radio devices and depend on a good antenna. Wifi card connections are fiddly and it is difficult to check and fix a connector problem, or diagnose a faulty RF circuit - if the price of the card is this low it is cheaper to just try switching than debugging and trying to repair.

But also with Intel one shouldn't rule out a sw problem, sometimes a driver needs to be reinstalled, BIOS flashed, or whole Windows reinstalled. One way of checking the card is from linux installed on a thumb drive, totally bypassing Windows (some prefer temporarily switching the SSD and trying a clean Windows installation).

Saltgrass · Answer

@paulee1 wrote:

I connected the wires correctly (ie I am aware of the white having to go to black and vice versa in the new card), although there was an extra grey wire that wasn't on the old one and the service manual didn't have it either.

What does the bolded statement mean? The cards have White and Black triangle indications. Color of antenna wire should match.

As mentioned, the card being fully inserted in the slot when starting from a slightly elevated position is essential as well as making sure both antenna wires snap in place.

egorgol · Answer

On the 9550 the main antenna wire is white and the auxiliary wire is black, and some actually have a third grey wire for 3x3 transmit and receive.

Some non Dell branded wireless cards identify the main terminal as black and the auxiliary terminal as white. Hence reversing the cables to connect them to the corresponding terminal on the card. Look at a Dell part numbered 9260 vs a non Dell 9260 and you will see the difference.

Check the Dell service manual to determine which cable on your laptop is the main and auxiliary antenna cable.

Saltgrass · Answer

How would you know if the cards were actually wired differently. If you ever had a Killer Wireless card, you might notice it is also different than the Intel cards. So, different manufacturers may not use the same standards.

I have always put the white to white and no problems have been experienced.

egorgol · Answer

That's why they are labeled main and auxiliary. Killer wireless cards are made by Intel so they are the same as the 9260. My AX1650 card is the same way.

Saltgrass · Answer

I am going to have to check around. I looked on line for replacement antenna and the two wires appear to be the same length. So, it may not actually make a difference unless there were differences as to how the wires were placed in the system.

I have a Inspiron 15 7567 Gaming that came with a 3165 card. The Main designation is near the center and the Aux on the outside but the colors are backward.

I may try changing the connections on a couple of my systems and see if it makes a difference. One of my systems barely has enough wire length to reach the other connector. If I find out anything I will post back, but for now, you might try changing yours to see if it helps you.... I am running a 9260 in one of my systems and it is getting the 802.11ax link speeds.

egorgol · Answer

@Saltgrass wrote:

I am going to have to check around. I looked on line for replacement antenna and the two wires appear to be the same length. So, it may not actually make a difference unless there were differences as to how the wires were placed in the system.

I have a Inspiron 15 7567 Gaming that came with a 3165 card. The Main designation is near the center and the Aux on the outside but the colors are backward.

I may try changing the connections on a couple of my systems and see if it makes a difference. One of my systems barely has enough wire length to reach the other connector. If I find out anything I will post back, but for now, you might try changing yours to see if it helps you.... I am running a 9260 in one of my systems and it is getting the 802.11ax link speeds.

Might not make too much of a difference with the 5Ghz band, but may make a difference with 2.4Ghz channels and bluetooth. The intel made cards use antenna 1 for wi-fi and bluetooth, and antenna 2 for wi-fi.

Saltgrass · Answer

On the system I changed the antenna on, originally the link speed would show 1733/1733 but after time, it would drop to 173/173. I was disappointed but did not understand why it was dropping.

After I changed the antenna connections, it again started at 1733/1733 but has only dropped to 866/866.

Tomorrow, I will change the leads back to align with the colors, not the text and see if it drops back to 173/173 over the next couple of days...

I will post back if it does drop back to 173/173..

XPS

XPS 15 9560, Intel 9260, WiFi strength issues

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