Predator Helios 700 (PH717-71) - Killer AX1650x WiFi - Slow transfer speeds Please someone help

Sehnsucht

I'm really hoping someone else has experienced this and found a fix. I got this laptop yesterday, and proceeded to format it and install W10 Enterprise. I did a speed test before formatting, and was able to get around 160Mbit/s, which is correct for my network. After formatting, I only get from 50-80Mbit/s download speed (upload speed is the same before and now, around 16Mbit/s). To clarify, when connecting with a LAN cable, I get the full 160Mbit/s speed, before and now.

And yes, I have tried multiple sources to verify that the transfer speeds are that slow (Steam ALWAYS downloads games at around 20MB/s on my network - now I only get 5-10MB/s). According to task manager, it is running 802.11AC and the signal input is 400Mbit/s.

Now, I have tried everything in my power to fix this, except format the computer again.

I have tried the following (that I can remember right now):

- Have restarted the router

- First tried updating drivers manually, which didn't help.

- Then I tried updating ALL drivers (with Driver Fusion, which is good at finding the latest drivers for almost any device)

- Windows is updated to 1809; have run through Windows Update 4 or 5 times

- Have tried speedtesting with and without the Killer Control Center installed. Have also tried setting bandwidth manually in the application, along with switching priorities to give preference to whatever process did the bandwidth test.

- Ran the Killer Uninstall application, which completely removes all traces of the software and drivers, THEN I installed just the drivers to try that, and then I installed the control center again to try once more.

- I have run Windows disk cleanup

- Run through Ccleaner, both disk cleanup and registry fixes

- I have checked my router to see if it imposed some kind of speed limit on my computer since I have downloaded 160ish GB worth of data in less than a day, but there is no such limit set on it. I also set up my Galaxy Note 9 as a hotspot and connected to that and did another test - about the same results (on a different network).

- My 2016 Lenovo T560 work laptop has NO problems benching 160Mbit/s consistently.

- Last thing I tried was to manually place the WiFi card in the AC mode, instead of the AX mode, since my router is limited to AC speeds. Also tried setting preference to the 5GHz band.

None of this has made any positive difference. I'm starting to lose my cool over this. It's worth noting that I have a degree in IT and work as a system analyst, so I am fairly competent at troubleshooting issues. It has been a long time since I encountered a more frustrating issue than this (on a personal computer).

Please someone help!   
[Edited the thread to add model name to the title and issue detail]

Sehnsucht

Ok, so after a full day of troubleshooting I finally found the actual root cause, and managed to fix it, at least temporarily. It was all Windows 10's fault. A secondary, virtual Wi-Fi adapter somehow randomly set itself as the default adapter, and it halves the bandwidth available (because it's intended for the hotspot function, I suppose). And no, I had not touched the hotspot function at all.

More info here if anyone else reading this has the same problem: http://woshub.com/removing-microsoft-wi-fi-direct-virtual-adapter/ 

Only reason I saw it is because I installed some very heavy duty €4000 software (used free trial of course) for monitoring and analyzing network traffic. The main network guy at work recommended it to me. Took about an hour to install, and made the laptop consume 10GB of RAM at idle. I noticed some node change events, and saw that my laptop had switched IP addresses several times, to a different subnet, no less. Quickly found the culprit after that. After disabling the Virtual Wi-Fi adapter, the speed instantly shot up by 20Mbit/s. After rebooting, I got the full speed again.

So thank you Microsoft, for making me waste one full day that should have been all fun and games with a new piece of tech. I sincerely hope that somebody who has the same issue finds this thread and saves a lot of time troubleshooting.

XdxD

Although I don't have your model, people in this community with Killer Wireless have suggested that uninstalling the driver from Acer and installing the one found in Killer's website has fixed many of their Wireless issues. You may try that.

Sehnsucht

Yeah also tried that. Downloaded straight from the website. I also upgraded Windows to 1909 now, same issue. And tried removing a few Acer programs in the hopes that one of them was restricting my speeds somehow.

Guess I have to format again, and try to do things differently.

I'm thinking of returning it if I can't fix it. If this was the only issue with it, that would be one thing. But it also sounds like a Boeing 737 taxing down the runway during intensive games. And there is no way to set a manual fan curve, which is stupid because the thing runs super cool with the fans at auto or max. Can only set 1 single manual fan speed.

Sehnsucht

Ok, so I ended up formatting the thing again. This time I downloaded just the .inf files for the network drivers. No software at all. So far it works, after installing almost all drivers, the Predator Sense software and the Quick Access software which gives me the popups when Caps Lock, Num Lock etc is pressed.
Won't be installing anything that isn't absolutely necessary this time.

XdxD

Glad you got it sorted out.

Sehnsucht

Nevermind, it stopped working again! This time I specifically created a restore point right after I installed everything, while it was still running full speed.
The thing is, nothing in particular has been added since the restore point... Some games, and Visual C++ redistributables. That's it. What the hell is causing this?? Edit: after doing a system restore, the speed is normal again.

Any suggestions would be welcome...

Sehnsucht

Ok, so after a full day of troubleshooting I finally found the actual root cause, and managed to fix it, at least temporarily. It was all Windows 10's fault. A secondary, virtual Wi-Fi adapter somehow randomly set itself as the default adapter, and it halves the bandwidth available (because it's intended for the hotspot function, I suppose). And no, I had not touched the hotspot function at all.

More info here if anyone else reading this has the same problem: http://woshub.com/removing-microsoft-wi-fi-direct-virtual-adapter/ 

Only reason I saw it is because I installed some very heavy duty €4000 software (used free trial of course) for monitoring and analyzing network traffic. The main network guy at work recommended it to me. Took about an hour to install, and made the laptop consume 10GB of RAM at idle. I noticed some node change events, and saw that my laptop had switched IP addresses several times, to a different subnet, no less. Quickly found the culprit after that. After disabling the Virtual Wi-Fi adapter, the speed instantly shot up by 20Mbit/s. After rebooting, I got the full speed again.

So thank you Microsoft, for making me waste one full day that should have been all fun and games with a new piece of tech. I sincerely hope that somebody who has the same issue finds this thread and saves a lot of time troubleshooting.

xapim

Welcome to the wonderful world of win10 and their dumb issues 😊 and glad u found it out in the end 

Sehnsucht

Hehe, I work with, amongst other systems, SCCM on a daily basis, which includes deployment of various operating systems, primarily W10 nowadays, so I am very familiar with it. But this particular issue I had never heard about. Nor had our network guy here at work. But glad I found the root cause before I got any more frustrated and returned the ***** thing. 
I have way more than enough troubleshooting at work (along with half the family and several of my friends hassling me about their IT problems); not particularly interested in doing much of it on my home computers.

xapim

Sehnsucht said:

Hehe, I work with, amongst other systems, SCCM on a daily basis, which includes deployment of various operating systems, primarily W10 nowadays, so I am very familiar with it. But this particular issue I had never heard about. Nor had our network guy here at work. But glad I found the root cause before I got any more frustrated and returned the ***** thing. 
I have way more than enough troubleshooting at work (along with half the family and several of my friends hassling me about their IT problems); not particularly interested in doing much of it on my home computers.

Seems u have the same issue as me always trying to troubleshoot any issues either @work or friends and family lol and not resting until it's fixed 😊

Sehnsucht

Oh, you work in IT too? What field / systems? I work with monitoring (SCOM mostly), deployment (SCCM), hardware (not much to do there since most of our stuff is under warranty), some Citrix stuff, and other things now and then.

Yeah when the issue is on one of my own computers, I can't get any rest until it is fixed. I've learned to pace myself when it comes to work though. Impossible job otherwise.

xapim

Sehnsucht i dont work on IT (i wish ) im just an enthusiast 

ic10

I had the same problem with my predator triton 500, killer wifi 6 AX1650i,

I had network speed cap of around 100Mbps also I have in my phone around 300Mbps.

I go to Device Manager -> Killer wifi settings -> Advanced:

I changed 802.11 wireless mode from Dual band to 5Ghz 802.11a, and changed Prefer band to 5Ghz also/

It's not perfect but now I get around 170Mbps.

Hope it will help someone :)