5 Posts
0
1045
October 1st, 2022 14:00
m15 R4, problem with Killer AX1650w WiFi drivers
When I boot my Alienware M15 R4 with AX1650 Wifi drivers, the internet connection works very briefly - only a few minutes. However, the problem I am experiencing seems different than what other users have reported. Here are the symptoms:
1. The issue affects, Killer Wifi, Killer Ethernet, AND even a 3 party Thumbdrive Wifi card. It is not limited to Killer Wifi.
2. The problem is the same across all three - a minute or two of internet access then most websites are no longer accessible.
3. Strangely, YouTube and Spotify (both streaming services) seem the least affected and work OK. But they are not immune from drops outs. I mention this because I've seen references to Killer Wifi being optimized for gaming or streaming.
4. The driver is up to date. Currently it version 22.130.0.5. The driver date is 3.15.2022. Problems started in the last few weeks.
5. Don't know if its related but this laptop has very short battery life. Maybe one hour before it starts warning you it needs to be recharged.
If anyone has experienced these issues, I would appreciate your help. I have done just about everything I have found online to include "network reset", turning off and then turning on the drivers; various IPCONFIG and NETSH commands, and even using an external wifi card. The symptoms are the same.
emangman
5 Posts
1
October 2nd, 2022 15:00
I was able to solve the problem and the solution was ... none of the above : ) Turns out that a user space application, splice.exe, (music software) was going nuts in the background and attempting to open a lot of connections. After a few minutes this caused port exhaustion. I disabled splice and the now the internet connection is back to normal.
Given the terrible reputation and performance of the Killer WiFi drivers, it was correct to assume they were the problem. In this case anyway, they were not the primary cause. It's possible they contributed to the problem in some way, but splice was the culprit. Thanks to Tesla1856 for offering advice as I worked through this.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
0
October 1st, 2022 21:00
I would still blame the Intel/Killer drivers:
https://www.dell.com/community/XPS-Desktops/XPS-8950-best-driver-update-approach/m-p/8276447/highlight/true#M75665
Uninstall all that and try whatever simple network drivers Windows tosses you.
I would say try popping in a new mini-card (as they are inexpensive and tend to fail) but you say USB dongle is flakey also, so I'm going with ... try a clean install of Windows.
emangman
5 Posts
0
October 2nd, 2022 05:00
Thanks. I have reloaded the drivers several times. That does not fix my problem.
Yes, I agree a new installation of Windows may be necessary. I was hoping to avoid that as I have so many files and apps on the box. Re-building will take a lot of time - but ultimately I may have to bite the bullet and do it. Thanks for the response.
emangman
5 Posts
0
October 2nd, 2022 08:00
Update - a review of the system logs with event viewer shows that 2 or 3 minutes after boot up, there is an "Information" entry saying that nhi driver has entered RTD3. This is around the time the machine's internet connections start failing. NHI is Native Host Interface. Others have suggested this is related to the thunderbolt driver. After this event, there are failed Tcpip connections noted by the event viewer. Further research on these failed TCP/IP events shows they may be due to port exhaustion, i.e., a lack of ports for outbound connections. Running netstat -anob shows a number of ports in the Time_Wait state which would seem to confirm port exhaustion. This would also explain the failure to connection to websites after a few minutes AND would also explain why the issue is not limited to just wifi and occurs on ethernet connections. But I still do not know the remedy, any suggestions would be appreciated.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
0
October 2nd, 2022 09:00
I see reply's like this often ... like any driver, any way is fine.
No, sometimes only a certain driver ( installed in a certain way) will resolve the issue 100%. That is normally why it is broken now.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
1
October 2nd, 2022 09:00
Again, I would suggest a clean-install of Windows. Not Dell's but Microsoft's, from microsoft.com .
You can backup and then try to a spare blank disk.
Or, you can do a full Macrium-Reflect full system-image backup FIRST. If the clean-install does not resolve issue (or otherwise goes badly) ... you can boot the Macrium-Reflect Recovery flash-drive and restore the whole system to as it was before.
emangman
5 Posts
0
October 2nd, 2022 12:00
One further update. Today Microsoft offered to update my troubled laptop to Windows 11 22h2. Just finished the upgrade. Unfortunately, the problem persists.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
0
October 2nd, 2022 13:00
Thanks for the update ... but not so surprising in relation to your existing problem.
If doing an in-place upgrade ... everything (that is possible) including most drivers get migrated over. That's kinda-the-point of doing it that way. On the other hand, a clean-install starts-out fresh again (and with latest versions of all drivers) and properly configured.