2013 Archives

[cloya64]

I just bought TWO Aspire R7s and and VERY unhappy.  The wifi performance is so poor as to be functionally non-existent.  I've visited every setting to no avail and old Dell laptop, my Kindle, my roommate's HP laptop ALL connect and maintain a wifi connection in my house.  It' s only the Acer R7s that fail.

Besides the CRITICAL wifi issue, I really like all the other aspects of the R7. However, wifi is absolutely critical and I can't do without it.  What are my options other than to return them both for a full refund and buy another product???  

[ScottyC]

Apparently this is a known issue for the R7's. Acer is working on releasing an updated wireless driver for these systems that is compatible with Windows 8. Sorry if I misled you with the wireless antenna comment, it's just that the symptoms were so incredibly similar it seemed like a no brainer.

[lynchps]

I'm waiting for a response on my e-mail to Acer. I would be happy to just have them confirm that there is a problem and they are working on a solution. ScottyC, just curious how you know about a driver update. I could never talk to anyone who had a clue about a problem.

[ScottyC]

Well after reading the many messages on this post I called Acer to double check. I was told that yes there is a problem with the driver caused by an incompatibility in Windows 8, altought it did take some intense questioning on my part. From what I've gathered everything was working fine, but there was an update that Microsoft released that is causing issues with some devices (not even just with Acer). So if I had to guess I would say that Acer/HP/whoever now have to work with Microsoft and the manufacturer of the wireless adapter itself to find a solution.

[rblystone]

I love my Acer Aspire R7, however, I too am experiencing an issue with the wifi. Twice now, on-site with clients, I have been without a connection where wifi was present. So, I made an appointment with Best Buy's Geek Squad for Thursday, today is Tuesday. I'll come back here and let everyone know how things went. Hopefully they'll have some answers for me. The loose cable post sounded promising, but the other posts have left me concerned that it isn't that simple of a fix. I have already lost quite a bit of time in having to setup and transfer data from my last workstation to this one... and I really don't want to have to do it again. Someone please tell me that Acer is listening to this thread and working to resolve it quickly?!

[lynchps]

Unfortunately the first thing the Geek Squad will tell you about this problem is that they can't even do anything in house and that they will have to sent the laptop out for repair. This can take 2-3 weeks. About Acer listening and responding, I sent an e-mail out well over a week ago. Acer says they answer e-mails within 2 days. I haven't received a response yet. So, are they listening?

[rblystone]

After I posted last week, I connected with Acer Support through this website and they had me do a couple of things: 1) Reset the Bios - Simply restart my machine, keep pressing F2 before the Acer logo comes up and that will bring up the bios where I can reset it - (i.e. choose default setup, save and exit - which by the way did nothing) and 2) try to update the wireless card (but that didn't help either because we already have the latest drivers. So, then the tech said that I need to send it in to Texas and it should take about 10 days. I said no thanks, I had already set an appointment with Geek Squad to take a look at it for Thursday. Well, I went into Geek Squad, they said they were behind and that it would take a couple of days so I'd like to exchange it for a new one. But this time, while I watched the scrub my old one, I setup the new one at the counter so I could test the wireless card. Everything went great and it had a good connection. Today is Friday, and already the connection is starting to fade. Sitting on my couch, about 30 feet away from my wireless router, my Samsung Note 2 is getting excellent speeds using speedtest.net, however, my Acer Aspire R7 can't even finish the test. This is my second R7 in a week and the wireless card stinks. Suffice it to say, I'm probably going to end up returning this one too and just getting a completely different laptop. Too bad ;-(

[lynchps]

Well here goes round 3,or is it 4. I decided to chat with Acer again tonight to see if they had any updates for the wifi problem. Keep in mind I have never spoken to anyone at Acer that has a clue about this problem. The chat started with, lets install the driver, lets reset the bios and so on. I explained everything that I have done with 2 R7's now and that nothing had worked. The chat then quickly went to, ok you must have a hardware problem and you need to send the computer to Texas for repairs. Here we go again. I explained everything again about what has been brought up in this Acer community and that there was suppose to be a fix in the works. I also explained that there was no way I was sending my R7 to Texas! I then asked for a phone number here in the US that I could speak to someone. He gave me a number to call which turned out to be the same number for the tech line that I had called in the past. Was really hoping to hear someone with a Texan accent pickup and ask if they could help me. I did end up speaking to a very polite young man who again unfortunately couldn't help me directly. He had never heard of any wifi problems. It seems as though there are different levels of technical assistance. To speak to a level 2 technician you have to call during normal business hours. I was told these guys would have the answers. I received another case number and will attempt again another day. By the way did anyone see there is a new Bios update for the R7. I was told to wait until I talk to a level 2 tech before installing.

[kunalpp]

same problem mine is bad even more sitting in India not easy to  send send back to best buy waiting for some update to fix it.

I read someone say its better if it is kept  in the line of wifi did that by moving the wifi a bit  and now it does not get disconnected as earlier but still is slow as wifi is about 20 feet away.whoever gets a solution do post here

thanks

[PBert]

I purchased the R7 three days ago. I love the design, look and feel. I have not had too much time to play with it yet but so far no issues ... except the one being discussed in this thread.

Sitting in my kitchen day one I could not get the laptop to connect to my wifi during set up. (I have a fairly new NETGEAR dual band router and have had no issues connecting other laptops, tablets and smartphones.) I thought I had some kind of configuration issue so I went to the office and got a connection using the push-button feature on the router. Day two sitting in family room wanting to show off the new machine to friends it was embarassing because no apps could aquire data.  I finally caught on when I noticed that the only place I could make everything work well was in the same room as the router.  I hope Acer takes notice and comes up with a fix.  As awesome as I think the device is - in today's "connected" environment it is a pretty serious hinderance to have to sit beside your router.

(I am going to purchase a router extender to see if I can boost the signal around the house enough but considering how easily everything else connects already I shouldn't have to do this.)