Wifi upgrade on Acer R7 (intel 7260 card)

Acer closed the thread on the wifi issues, but technically this is a "different subject" so I'll post it here.

After receiving my 3rd R7, I finaly got one with working wifi. I say "working" because it did work reliabily. The range was not great, and the speed was also bad compared to other laptops, BUT it worked.... It was just slow... For typical internet access you would never notice it unless you had a very fast connection or you were transfering files on a local network. I think they actually fixed the problem, but the broadcom chips in these laptops still arent very good.

SO, I still had that intel 7260 card laying around....
(I had ordered it when I wasnt sure I was going to send my laptop off for repair)

I ordered another 8GB of ram, and decided I was gonna open it up and upgrade the Ram and the wifi card.
I am so glad I did. I am now getting GREAT results with wifi speed tests.

I will say that the process is not for the faint of heart.
I believe I damaged the connector on the old wifi card trying to get the antenna connectors unplugged. They were on there VERY snug and wanted to pull the connector apart from the card when removed. Maybe I should not have used needle nose pliers to do it, but I wasnt able to get it loose with my bare fingers. It looked very easy, with everything being very accessable, but proved to be much more of a pain than I originally thought.

The 7260 is supposed to have bluetooth also, but I cant get it to work. (Not something I use anyway) So if that is important to you, you may not wanna attempt this.

I am learning to live with the space bar issue (which EVERY R7 I have tried exhibited), and I had to disable the ability to shutdown with the power button (I kept turning it off when I was reaching for the volume) but other than that I am TOTALLY happy with my R7 now. I just want to put in a wireless AC access point near my office now!

Accepted answers

All comments

mazen

i am sorry for your bad experience you had with the last r7s.

the slow r7 s you had do you still know or remember what SNID # they had?

cause if it was 320xxxxxx and below, this must be your problem. Acer knew about it after many complains and fix it with SNID # 321xxxxxx and over.

Vince53

Ades, a poor WiFi system is a characteristic of the Aspire R7. For the price, it is a terrific laptop, but in order to pay for all its great features, something had to be cut. It just has a poor WiFi antenna.

For people lucky enough to have DSL, it doesn't matter. And if you stay close to your router or have a strong signal, it doesn't matter. Otherwise, you just have to buy a better WiFi card or antenna.

jaewchung

Could you post the model number for the Intel wifi card (saw two different ones on Amazon, for example) and the best place to get them? Just purchased 2 refurbed R7s (SNID below 3210xxxxxx) and they are not under Acer's warrantee and I prefer solve the wifi issue myself. Thanks.

n2gc

Though I'm not familiar with the R7 it appears it will take either the mini 7260 or

the longer card. You need only pull off the back panel and look at the card.

I have 3 different Acers. A 5315, a 5742, and a 7526. All have updated cores

drives, ram and of course wifi cards from Intel. Either the 4965g or the 5300.

I would not use any other wifi cards than Intel. Drivers are easily avail at

Intel's support site and pages.

I've had nothing but excellent service from the Intel's compared to the

Broadcomm's and suggest the upgrade to everyone.

Ebay has some great prices on the 7260 card.

whazzup

Just wondering about your bluetooth issue.

This reviewer below mentions about installing the intel bluetooth driver before the wireless driver:

http://www.amazon.com/review/RAC341RLKYSG4/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00DMCVKMU&nodeID=541966&store=pc

Maybe you can try it.

cpuzz

Acer closed down the super long thread regarding the R7-571 poor WiFi as previously mentioned.

It is clear that Acer has received many truck loads of the R7-571 in returns from the never ending refurbished deals since 12/2013 from Groupon, Woot and the Acer store on eBay.

I purchased a refurb 571 and it had been clearly opened up, evident by the minor cuts on the underside rubber feet that cover 3 of the screw holes. Inside it contained a Broadcom BCM943228HMB ver.C mini PCI WiFi card. The gold plated anenna connection leads had been colored with black marker (perhaps from a Sharpie). The battery connector also had the black marking. I think this means that the technican tested or changed these parts and the black Sharpie marks indicated to the quality control or supervisor that the refurb work had been completed.

The WiFi Broadcom Ver.C card worked ok in the R7-571, but could not get or send as strong a signal as a Lenovo T series using an older Intel 6205 card. The Lenovo has the antenna integrated into the screen lid, so I thought perhaps the vertical alignment of the antenna had something to do with it as the Acer R7 seems to have the antenna hidden somewhere beneath the keyboard (eyeballing it by tracing the wires, but not removing the motherboard).

I then had a family member like my R7 enough to buy an R7-572 new from BestBuy. After struggling to get a good stable WiFi connection the 572 was brought to me. Upon opening it up, we found a Broadcom BCM943228HMB Ver.B card installed in the mini PCI slot. So it appears as though Acer is still shipping the R7-572 with a faulty Broadcom card.

Since we had 3 different WiFi cards at our disposal we decided to do some testing. In the R7-572 we put in the Broadcom Version C card and WiFi connectivity improved to tolerable, which is the same as it is in the R7-571 unit. To test the theory of the better antenna, we put the Intel 6205 card from the Lenovo into the R7-572 and the WiFi performance and connectivity was great. Just like it is when the Intel card is installed in the Lenovo. Then we put the Broadcom Version C card into the Lenovo laptop and it had some trouble connecing to the access point at further distances, just like when the Version C card is installed in the R7-572.

So from my testing, it seems as though the Broadcom Ver. B card is worthless and unusable and exactly why Acer is refurbing these R7-571 and 572 units. The Ver. C card is usable, but inferior to even an older Intel 6205 card. I wish I had an Intel 6235 or 7260 card to test with, but I suspect the Intel products are overall superior to the Broadcom.

Regarding the original poster trying to get the Intel 7260 card Bluetooth working. Some of the Intel card models (even models with the same numbers) with different letters will have only 2.4 GHz radios (not 5GHz), or not have Bluetooth. So doublecheck the white sticker on the card exact model number and letters to ensure that the model actually has a Bluetooth chip in it before you go too crazy troubleshooting.

cowpie95

Just curious how the intel card has held up over time. Where did you get the drivers for it? My referbished R7 comes today and I was hoping to knock this wifi issue out right away if mine has it.

Thanks!

cowpie95

Just an update: Got my referb R7 Snid is 342xxxxx. No wifi connectivity issues seen. I have yet to test it other than in my living room right near the router. The wifi card is a broadcom. Thanks to all who have posted on this issue and it poss solutions

lfpcpa

Hi guys -- I have an R-7 with an SNID of 34xx. I have had some wifi issues while working at home with both wireless connection speeds & signal strength dropping when I trying to use the R-7 around the house (and not in my office next to the router). My other laptop does not exhibit this behavior. I noticed something, however, that I wanted to get some feedback on. I recently took my R-7 to my parents' home. I was shocked to see the great wireless speeds and connection strength at their house. They have a newer Comcast Xfinity router (I was getting "N" speeds). I was using my R-7 on the first floor in their home and wifi functioned great -- their router was in the basement. I have a Verizon Fios router (about 2 1/2 years old) in my home. I am wondering if anyone else has seen this difference when they use their R-7 at coffee shops, relatives, etc.(specifically with Fios vs. Comcast routers)? I am questioning if my R-7 wifi issues may have more to do with my router, than the wifi card? I had already ordered the Intel 7260 card, but have not installed it yet. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

NOYB

Yes I have varying results between different routers. But that does not mean the routers are at fault. Fact is everything else works fine with them. It's only the Broadcom WiFi that does not. And with the currently latest driver, version 6.30.223.221, it won't even keep a connection for more than a minutes or so. And if that ain't bad enough it kills the entire WiFi. Knocks everything off line.

Has issues with WiFi B/G

Seems fine with WiFi A

But I can't hardly demand everybody replace their routers/access points just to accomodate this piece of Broadcom junk.

Acer Aspire R7-572-6423

Mfg Date Dec. 4, 2013

SNID: 34905xxxxxx

I know Acer claims they have fixed this issue and that the R7-572 does not have the issue. But it is clear to me that the WiFi issues have not been definitively fixed. But only reduced.

In my opinion Acer owes their customers a quality WiFi/Bluetooth card and needs to replace all these Broadcom WiFI/Bluetooth cards with Intel WiFi/Bluetooth. Either by having the customer return the unit or sending the user the new card for self install (customers choice of return or self install).

Acer's resolution to this issue is woefully pathetic, incomplete, ineffective and unacceptable and spans multiple models, versions of hardware, and years.

And it's really sad because otherwise this is a really nice machine. But what good is that when you're always fighting WiFi connectivity issues and never know if you'll be able to connect wherever you're going to be.

ewwestsr

I have a 7741, upgraded cpu i7, 8 gb ram, 500gb, and now the intel 7260 with bluetooth.

I downloaded the newest drivers, but it would not connect, had a 'device cannot start' in device manager. So i went back to intel and downloaded previous driver. Uninstalled and deleted newer driver, installed older driver, and now it works great!!!