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March 2nd, 2017 11:00

XPS 15 9560 Killer Wireless killing my network

So I received my 9560 yesterday.  It has been largely unusable.  The problem being the Killer 1535 wifi card seems to be able to nuke my whole wifi network.  It only requires a few minutes of browsing the web (notice it particularly on Facebook) before the killer does something which causes my router to basically shut down the wifi side (router is a Drayek 2860n+ which has previously run for 2years without a single fault with many other devices).

I narrowed it down to the killer card by plugging in a belkin USB wifi adapter and the machine becomes usable and stable, but the second I re-enable and use the killer 1535 the whole network crashes.

A bit of googling would suggest this isn't limited to my router type and the Killer 1535 is extremely unstable and unfriendly to routers.

So far I have tried to install new drivers from the Dell support site, and also from Killer's website (drivers dated just 1 day ago, they seem to issue a new version every week, which is telling).

Any other suggestions on how to fix this?  Its taken about 12hours to get the laptop setup so I am very reluctant simply to return it.

Why on earth Dell ship this laptop with such unstable hardware is beyond me, searching the web I am definitely not alone.

4 Posts

March 7th, 2017 03:00

Hi Thomas, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.  

Dell have resolved the issue by swapping out the 1535 for an Intel 8265 card.  

I appreciate your point that this is fundamentally a router issue - in that no card should be able to cause the router to reboot, but it is something in the activity of the 1535 that is causing this issue as it exists with no other card or device in a router that has had hundreds of different wifi devices connecting for several years.  

I've suggested to Draytek that they bug fix this at their end, but perhaps you could look into designing a "friendly" mode in the Killer software which people could fall-back to in the event of issues.

Thanks.

1 Message

August 6th, 2017 14:00

I just received my XPS 9560 two days ago and have been plagued with wireless issues. Contacted Dell support twice, updated all drivers and computer firmware but still had problems so they offered to replace the wireless card. I insisted on getting a new laptop instead of just a repair since it was only two days old. It's ridiculous that Dell would continue to ship out laptops with the Killer cards knowing that this is such a widespread and significant problem.

October 3rd, 2017 06:00

I had similar problems with my XPS 9560 laptop with Killer card. XPS 9560 could not see 5 GHz Wi-Fi most of the time (I had to reboot the system to see it). Then I found out that my Asus router automatically set up Wi-Fi chanel which is not seen by my Galaxy S6 phone (chanel 140 or so). I set chanel 40 manually and now both Galaxy S6 and XPS 9560 can see 5 GHz Wi-Fi. So it looks like some Wi-Fi bands are badly supported by Killer card which is weird in 2017 (by the way my iPhone and iPad see all 5 GHz chanels despite being made in 2016).

December 19th, 2017 13:00

I recommend steering clear of the XPS 15 until Dell replaces the Killer Networking card with a working alternative.  

They are still shipping what is clearly defective hardware.  I was not aware of this issue when I ordered on last week and my network issues started as soon as I booted the XPS 15.  This is a laptop I use for business so bitlocker was turned on.   I told them I need a replacement card and that all my drivers were current but support forced me to go through a number of futile debugging steps, including one which bricked my laptop because of Bitlocker.  Instead I have a dead laptop and I'm out of the country for a week without a working one.  I'm returning for credit.  Any thoughts on an alternative high-end Windows laptop?

Hello joepaisley,

The Killer Networking adapter has nothing to do with Bitlocker, or vice versa. I'm sorry to hear that you are having issues with your machine, and would love to help you out with the Killer product, should you have decide to keep the laptop, and if you have issues with the Killer Networking adapter. You can reach out to us directly here - http://killernetworking.com/about/contact

March 6th, 2017 18:00

Order66,

I am with Rivet Networks, the company who produces and supports the Killer Wireless 1535. Unfortunately your issue seems to lie with the Wireless Driver in the router. If the Wireless is stopping for the entire router, it sounds like the wireless driver in the router is crashing. Have you looked to see if there is a firmware update for your router?

I might also recommend to try other Channels, Frequencies (Mhz), or wireless mode settings to see if that can help.

Regards,

Thomas

Rivet Networks

1 Rookie

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7 Posts

March 11th, 2017 23:00

Order66, how did you go about getting this replacement? I've had issues like this as well.

4 Posts

March 12th, 2017 06:00

Simply called Dell with a waranty issue.  It was fairly straightforward once I mentioned the Killer wifi card they pretty much offered to replace it immediately, didn't even bother with the usual hoop jumping of remote login and diagnosis.  Felt like this wasn't the first call about the Killer card they had taken.

1 Message

March 14th, 2017 19:00

I have the same problem and again everything poimts to Killer Wireless. On the other side Killer Network Manager is using 66% of my battery juice.

This thing is really dodgy.  I just don't understand how did Dell put this rubbish into £2000+ laptop.

1 Message

March 19th, 2017 11:00

Thank you Order66 for this post, I hope it will solve my problem too.

I have a question; so did you send your laptop back to Dell to replace the card and Dell shipped it back to you again?

Thanks!

4 Posts

March 19th, 2017 11:00

The laptop was less than 24hrs old, so Dell sent an engineer the following day and he replaced the card on-site.

1 Message

March 27th, 2017 10:00

Same Issue here. I plugged in a usb wifi card, and my laptop becomes stable, wifi as well. I disabled the killer wifi.

15 Posts

April 2nd, 2017 09:00

Same here. Using the DELL XPS 15 9560 with Killer WiFi disturbs the router and other laptops nearby.

I hope they will offer me some intel card.

1 Message

April 11th, 2017 19:00

Same thing here. Router doesn't reboot but it renders the network useless in minutes. I've had my network and my neighbors network be affected just by it looking for networks. I have an TP-Link C7 archer. This is NOT an issue with the routers, these cards are more than junk they are dangerous. I also manage our enterprise wifi and I'm afraid of what these cards are doing to it.

1 Message

April 18th, 2017 13:00

Hi! Thanks for the nice detailed posts. I have one question, what type of warranty do you have? I have mail-in warranty and they say that Dell will send an Intel wifi card and I have to replace it by myself or a third-party tec. If I mail the laptop to Dell, they will install another Killer wifi card. Confusing...

1 Message

April 27th, 2017 21:00

Finally I knew what happened to my wireless router. the first day when I initialize the xps 15. I was trying to connect 5G wireless, it was not able to. I tried with my phone, it was also not able to connect, so I thought my 5G wireless was not functioning(but it never happened before). now I know, 5g wireless is disturbed/killed by the xps 15 killer wifi card.

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