windows 7 - Poor wireless performance after WiFi printer intstall & uninstall
2014-07
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A few weeks back I installed a Canon WiFi printer, which caused all manner of issues with my laptop's COM ports (see - Cannot Delete Unwanted COM ports - Windows 7). Unfortunately by the time I realized the problem it was too late to perform a system restore so I had to manually remove the printer and registry entry.
Since then my laptop's performance on my home wireless network (the one where I also used the printer) has been very poor. Many websites take minutes to load or will not load at all and I cannot maintain a Skype conversation for very long. The strange thing is that connectivity to my work wireless network (which I use on the same machine for 8+ hours a day) is fine and other devices (my smartphone and partner's laptop) work fine with the home network (the printer wasn't installed on either of these devices).
I am running Windows 7 and have removed the network from both the 'network and sharing center' and registry with no luck. I've also run speedtest.net and upload and download speeds on the problem laptop are the same as the other devices in my home.
I'm out of ideas. It seems that some piece of software left over from the printer is affecting my home network connection, but I don't know how to discover or remove it.
Another point to note - the wireless for my apartment is provided with the rent and I cannot physically access the router.
Any suggestions welcome!
colithium
My brand new Dell XPS system has been running flawlessly except its abysmal download speeds. I have tried isolating every variable I could possibly think of but I can't figure out the problem. I've talked to Dell and Belkin without making progress (thought I'd try). Here are the speeds:
Note that most of the time, upload speeds are actually much faster than download speeds (around 4.0 Mb/s which is better than most other devices on the network)
It's not the ISP. The slowdown happens even when transferring files inside the network. Plus every other wireless device gets approximately this:
It's not the wireless router. It's a Lynksis WRT160N v1 with the latest firmware (1.02.2). Plus everything else connected to it has normal speeds.
It's not the browser. Speeds are the same in IE, FF, and when transferring files with Windows between computers.
It's not the wireless adapter. I've tried a Belkin N Wireless USB Adapter (which works fine on another computer) and a Dell Wireless Draft 802.11n WLAN Mini-Card. They have the same slow speeds when connected to the problem computer.
It's not the adapter connection. One adapter used USB and the other is a Mini-Card.
It's not antenna placement. With the same antenna position and the same device, I get different speeds when connected to the problem computer vs a good computer. Plus everything reports the connection speed as at least 11Mbps and good signal strength.
I've tried disabling IPv6 since it sometimes causes weird problems.
I've tried disabling Windows Firewall/anti-virus.
I've ensured the computer has updated drivers for both adapters.
I've ensured that Windows is up to date and so is the BIOS.
For the USB adapter I ensured that that USB port functioned at normal speeds with other USB devices.
What else could it possibly be? I finally received my copy of Windows 7 and will be trying that. I'd rather not install Windows 7 because of a particular program that will stop working so a solution besides that is welcome.
Specs:
Vista x64
Core i7 920
6GB RAM
500GB HD
GTX 260
CodeByMoonlight
Does your card come with anything for measuring the quality of the connection? What are you connecting through? Walls, or nothing much at all?
BasisBit
Do you still have this problem? If yes, you should try transfering data for a speedtest inside your network.
You also wrote that you will try Windows seven - Does it work better with it?
If you see 11MBits as connection-speed then this can mean your connection has a really bad signal.
BasisBit
colithium
I finally ran an Ethernet cord and achieved the speeds I expected. I also spent a lot of time staring intently at signal to noise graphs. Somehow (I have no idea how), the same antenna in the same location experiences radically different levels of interference depending on which machine it was plugged into.
Picture a USB antenna sitting on a desk and all you do is move the connection end one foot from one machine to the next. That was somehow the cause of it. Go figure.
MDMarra
What channel is your router broadcasting on? Many come with 6 as the default, which is the most interfered with channel. Try logging into the router and setting it to channel 1,3, 8 or 11.