N4010 wireless speeds, network drops

Hi Bercawd,

You can try changing the properties of the network card in Device manager. Below are the steps:

• Click on “Start” and right click on “Computer”.
• Click on “Manage” and click on “Device Manager”.
• Go to “Network adapter” and right click on the wireless card driver and click on “Properties”.
• Click on “Advanced” and select “Channel” and change it to “11” on the right side.
• Select “Roaming aggressiveness and change is to “Highest”.
• Click on “Apply” and then “Ok”.
• Check if the issue is fixed.

If the above step does not fix the issue, you can try the below steps:

Boot your system in “Safe Mode with Networking”:

• Restart your system and keep tapping “F8” as soon as the Dell logo appears.
• Highlight “Safe Mode with Networking” using up and down arrow keys and press enter.
• Check the Internet speed in “Safe Mode with Networking”.

Uninstall and re install the latest wireless driver as the driver installed may be corrupted:

• Click on “Start” and right click on “Computer”.
• Click on “Manage” and click on “Device Manager”.
• Go to “Network adapter” and right click on the wireless card driver and click on “uninstall”.(Check the name of the wireless card and re install the wireless driver accordingly from the below steps).
• Check the box to delete the software.
• Restart your system and click on the below link:

http://dell.to/O89IYx

• Select the operating system and go to “Network”.
• Select the driver depending on the wireless card your system has.
• Click on “Download File” and select "For Single File Download via Browser".
• Click on "Download Now". Click on “Save” and save the driver on the desktop.
• Once the driver is saved on the desktop, right click on it and click on “Run as administrator”.
• Install the driver following the on screen instructions.
• Restart your system and check if the issue is fixed or not.

If the issue still persists, update the system BIOS:

Note: Please save any unsaved data as your system will restart automatically after updating the BIOS. Disconnect all the external peripherals like printer, camera, scanner, external hard drive, flash drive etc. Also, the battery should be charged 10% or above.

• Click on the below link:

http://dell.to/O89IYx

• Select the operating system and go to “BIOS”.
• Click on “Inspiron N4010 System BIOS” and click on “Download File”.
• Select "For Single File Download via Browser".
• Click on "Download Now" and click on “Run”.
• Update the BIOS following the on screen instructions.
• Your system will restart automatically.           

I am sending you a private message. Please send me your system’s service tag through the private message to help you further.

Keep me posted. Please reply for any questions.

Vikram,

First, service tag is .

end result first, nothing worked that you suggested.

first on device manager for network adapter under properties and advance there is nothing called channel or roaming aggressiveness.  there was roam tendency which I changed to aggressive and WZC IBSS Channel number which was set to 11(20mhz).  after change speed dropped to .50mbps for download and .99 for upload (which is always consistent).

Second, deleted device in safe mode and then downloaded new driver.  before delete and while in safe mode, download was 6.29 (marginal improvement) and upload .98.  While directly connected without wireless, speed for download was 15.88 and upload .97.  rebooted and added back device and restarted.  Download 5.98 and upload .97 - back to normal for this laptop.

Reloaded bios and 4.87 download and .97 upload.

Also tested blackberry playbook along side and its speed is 17.62 download and .97 upload.

thanks for trying.

David

Hi David,

I really appreciate your technical expertise. We can check if this is a hardware or software issue by running the diagnostics on the wireless card. Below are the steps:

1. Click on the below link:

http://dell.to/O9fnxv

2. Select “Network” and click on “Run Diagnostics”.

3. Follow the on screen instructions to run the diagnostics on the wireless card.

If the diagnostics pass, there is a possibility that some software corruption has caused this issue. I will suggest you to reset your system to the factory settings in order to fix the issue:-

Note: Please backup all your data as you will lose everything saved on your system. This includes all your pictures, music, documents etc.

1. Restart your system and keep tapping "F8" from the keyboard as soon as the Dell logo appears.

2. Select "Repair your Computer".

3. Select "Dell Data Safe Restore and Emergency Backup" on "Choose a Recover Tool Window".

4. Select "Select other System Backup and more options".

5. Select "Restore my computer".

6. Confirm the restore and continue.

7. Select "Factory Image restore".

Follow the onscreen instructions and enter any information required by the setup.

You may also refer to the following link for the factory settings steps given above.

support.dell.com/.../document

Please reply if you have any questions.

Vikram,

Just to let you know I have put in place a work around.  Installed a Belkin wireless adapter and now use that for wireless access.  Disabled the internal network adapter.  Download speeds now 18.52 and upload .97.  Triple the speeds I could achieve before.

Somewhere there is a problem within the Dell N4010 (or at least mine) with either the antenna or the network adapter is my hunch.  Seems there are other treads in the community indicating this and not quite sure why Dell can not nail it down.

Next time I will ensure I fully test the connection speed immeadiately.

Again, thank you for all the assistance and time you spent trying to resolve this issue.