Iconia W3-810 issues with WIFI

mrosenblum
mrosenblum Member Posts: 4 New User
in 2014 Archives

I'm having an issue with my Iconia W3-810.  Not sure if it's Windows 8.1 related or not as I upgraded to 8.1 almost immediately after purchasing the device.

 

If the device is left alone for a period of time, it seems to take a very long time for it to connect to the internet.  Wireless says it's connected (you can see signal strength on the bars changing) but I receive a "page cannot be displayed" message on the web browser.  At points I've had to disconnect and then reconnect to get the WIFI working again.  Other times I've waited about a minute and then it starts working.  Every once and a while it works right out the gate, but that's been very rare and more often I'm seeing the earlier stated issues.

 

I'm currently using the Broadcom 5.93.97.113 driver.  From what I've been reading this seems to be the latest driver for the Iconia W3-810.

 

Anyone have any ideas??

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Answers

  • padgett
    padgett ACE Posts: 4,532 Pathfinder

    Using INSSIDER I find the W3 internal antenna is reading the N router about 30 feet away at -70 to -64 db and depends on whether flat/closed case (-70) or standing up (-64).

     

    When I connect the enGenius external N I get -45 db and download speed goes from 5-10 Mb/s to 35-40 Mb/s.

     

    My opinion is that the latest drivers have significantly improved the W3 internal wireless but it is still weak compared to the W510 (I get similar performance with the W510 internal at 45 feet and the W3 and enGenious at 30 feet). at least the W3 is no longer significantly affected by an external monitor.

     

    The best is still a direct connection with at least a 10/100 ethernet (see no difference between it and a Gigabit ethernet connection).

     

    Will be interesting to see if the W4 has a better antenna.

  • mrosenblum
    mrosenblum Member Posts: 4 New User

    Thanks for replying Padgett, but this doesn't really help me.

     

    Here's more of what I'm seeing.  Upon opening the device after leaving it alone for more than a half hour, I'm able to ping my default gateway, but not the DNS server (which is internal on the same network, both 10.10.10.x IP addresses).  Eventually, I'm able to ping the DNS server via IP, but not via name.  If I wait long enough, I'm usually able to ping via name and all starts working.

     

    Our next step with this tablet is to update 8.1 to 8.1 pro so it can be joined to a domain.  I don't want to take this step though if I can't get a stable network connection after coming out of standby.  Waiting upwards of 2 minutes for the device to work properly isn't really an option.

     

    Anyone else have any ideas?  Any other drivers I should try?

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer

    Sounds like a connected standby issue to me. Does it work OK after the two minutes, at least until you put it to sleep next?

     

    I'd check the power options for wireless and power settings from device manager for the wireless card. Experiment with high power usage scenarios then tweak the power down until the problem reoccures and back up one step. :-)

    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • padgett
    padgett ACE Posts: 4,532 Pathfinder

    OK since you understand IPs and DNS I am going to take a chance with some technobabble:

     

    Device Manager > Network Adapters > Broadcom Wireless > Advanced. You will find a wide array of options. There may be some that are pertinent (minimum power consumption, power output ) and could have gotten confused.

     

    Or you could just right click (long press) on the wireless icon in the tray and select "Troubleshoot...". It has fixed problems for me before.

  • mrosenblum
    mrosenblum Member Posts: 4 New User

    Setting minimum power consumption to disabled looks like it just might have resolved the issue.  I need to test it a little more to see if this setting effects battery use significantly but, response time from the web browser is much faster now after the device has been left alone for long periods of time.

     

    Thanks Padgett!!

  • leecollette
    leecollette Member Posts: 14 New User

    Did the device manager solution ultimately help?  I did as suggested and still lose internet connectivity.  Access will chance to  "Limited" after a time and one has to reconnect, i.e.., troubleshoot or disconnect and connect again. 

  • Spider124
    Spider124 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Last 3 dec I bought a W3-810 and I like it very much. A few days later I upgraded to windows 8.1. All works fine except for the wifi connectivity issue. I tried lots of things with updates and different driver versions but the problem still exists. When the W3 comes out of Standy the connection has a the litle yellow exclamation mark and there is no internet traffic possible.

    But I have come up with a simple and elegant solution.

    This is what I did:

    If the connection is limited, the Event Log makes an entry regarding no DNS resolution.

    I use this as a trigger to run a small BAT command prompt script which does the following:

    It disables the Broadcom network device, and enables it again,
    then stops and starts the Wlan Autoconfig Service and it reconnects to my wifi network.


    This is what the script looks like.

    C:\>devcon disable *PID_4330*

    C:\>devcon enable *PID_4330*

    C:\>net stop wlansvc

    C:\>net start wlansvc

    C:\>netsh wlan connect name=thuis

     

    C:\>exit

    (Of course for the name you have to use your own SSID.)

     

    You can find the "PID_4330" value at the device properties in the device manager.

    Make it in Notepad and save it as a .BAT file and put it in your documents dir.

    (Make sure to unhide "known file extensions" in your Folder Options first, otherwise your filename will end on .bat.txt and won't run)


    Now create a shortcut to the .BAT file and put it on the desktop.
    You will have to do this to run the .BAT as an administrator.

    Devcon is a little tool from Microsoft. Download it and put the 32-bit version in the Windows\System32 directory.

    Now go to the Event Viewer in the Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Eventviewer, and in the Eventviewer, under System Events, try to find an entry which says : DNS Client Event(1014).

    Right click this entry and create a task for this event.
    The action for this task is to run the BAT script.
    Make sure to unselect the option that the task only runs connected to the mains power.
    Set all the other options as you please.

    You can go to the Task Scheduler to edit and maintain this task afterwards.

    What you now have is a W3 tablet that is aware of the connection status and as soon it is down, will start kicking the wifi until its up again.
    Because the scripts only takes a few seconds to run and you can run it minimized, its almost invisible.

    Good Luck!

    Rene

  • leecollette
    leecollette Member Posts: 14 New User

    Thanks Spider-  good thinking!  Thanks for the bat file advice and the clear instructions on how to implement it.  Very appreciative.  I too like the W3 a lot and with this solution to the wifi connectivity issue, I should think I will like it even more.

  • leecollette
    leecollette Member Posts: 14 New User

    I do wonder why Acer/Broadcom/Microsoft has not fixed this one though?

  • Spider124
    Spider124 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    I dont know either...They must be very busy....So far my scriptthingy works ok here.

     

    I just installed the Broadcom wlan driver from the W4 driver package and it works on my W3. Now I have a abgn adapter LOL. You have to force the driver to install, but after reboot it connects.

    I dont know if the limited connectivity issue is still there, time will tell. I ll keep you posted. The version is 5.93.99.187 dated 15-11-2013.

     

    Rene

  • leecollette
    leecollette Member Posts: 14 New User

    Thanks René - I'm glad to know there is a new driver.  Hopefully it will address the issue systemically.  But, I really do appreciate you posting your .bat script.  That will serve us well until a vendor patch is made.  Thanks again!

  • Spider124
    Spider124 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Your welcome!

    Well, the new driver didnt fix the problem. Went back to 113.

    I did some more bat file tweaking. Made a second batfile called wifi.bat which contains 3 lines:
    netsh disconnect interface="Wi-Fi"    (Wi-Fi is the name of the network connection)
    netsh wlan connect name="mySSID"
    exit

    I use the Event : System_Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power_507 as the trigger for this bat.

    Now the W3 reconnects to my wifi network everytime I take it out of sleepmode. It works like a charm! I can see the wifi-icon flashing on the Lockscreen, its very fast. I am very happy.

    The other .bat triggered by the DNS event is also still active, in the event the services really crash. But I hardly see that occuring now.

    I dont know if you managed to run the scripts minimized, but here is the commandline you have to use to enter at the Task Action: cmd.exe /c start /min C:\Users\Rene\wifi.bat ^& exit

    I also found out the device doensn't support Hibernation, so turning it off saves you 1,6 Gigs of SSD space. I also installed a RAMDISK of about 200 MB to put the IE and Firefox cache/temp internet files. This makes browsing much faster and saves the wear and tear on the SSD memorycells.

     

    Rene

  • leecollette
    leecollette Member Posts: 14 New User

    Thanks for the update Rene.  I appreciate your efforts and all your discoveries.  I'm glad you are one that passes on their research findings and information.  Are we the only ones with this problem?  I do think, though, that you should return your w3 and get your money back before it is too late.  Alas, I've struggled with mine for too long and now am at the point of no return, so to speak, and can't get my money back.  Dell Venue costs much less and specs out much better in all areas. 

  • Spider124
    Spider124 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    Well, I ll keep it for now. I got mine really cheap, It was on sale in the store for 215,- Euroos, and Acer in the Netherlands has a 50 euro cashback till 31 december. I can also get the VAT back, so in the end it sets me back a lousy 127 euroos. Can always use it as a MP3 player for that kind of money.

    And I like these kinds of puzzles, keeps me of the street Smiley Happy

     

     

    Rene

     

     

  • leecollette
    leecollette Member Posts: 14 New User

    Mine cost me 181 Euro.  And I have to keep it since it is past the returnable date.  So will live with it.  So glad yours is keeping you off the streets!  LOL.  Your analysis and programming sure has helped me live with this thing.  The constant loss of connectivity was driving me bonkers.  Thanks again very much for all the help.  Keep me posted on your findings, if you please.  Best Regards,

     

  • Spider124
    Spider124 Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    181 is also not much for this device Smiley Very Happy

     

    One change I made I forgot to mention is this:

    In the Services, I modified the WLAN Autoconfig Service. Under the recovery tab, it says, to restart service after 1 minute. I changed that value to 0 minutes, so the service restarts as soon as it stops. I saw in the Eventviewer that it stops a lot, due to an error in bcmihvsrv.dll (I guess)

     

    Rene

  • richardschoen
    richardschoen Member Posts: 3 New User

    The stoppage of the WLAN AutoConfig service because of DLL bcmihvsrv.dll is the root of this problem. 

     

    Has anyone been able to get this service to NOT fail ?

  • padgett
    padgett ACE Posts: 4,532 Pathfinder

    I have not had any difficulty with mine but then I usually have it connected to a dock and wired LAN (much faster). I have driver .113. There are a lot of settings under "advanced". Do have power output set to 100%.

  • richardschoen
    richardschoen Member Posts: 3 New User

    Found the following in a Lenovo forum that appears to make the service fail less often but still not very solid.

     

    Good thing we will use these offline mostly.

     

    Property =Value

    20/40 coexistance = Auto

    40 Mhz intolerant = Disabled

    802.11n preamble = Auto

    Afterburner = Enabled

    Antenna Diversity =main

    Assoc listen Interval = 1

    Bandwidth capability =11a/b/g 20/40mhz

    Bluetooth Collaboration = auto

    BSS PLCP Header = auto short.long

    BT Amp = enabled

    D2 listen interval = 5

    Disable upon wired connect =disabled

    enable disable ltr =  enabled

    fragmentation threshold =2346

    IBSS 54gm protection mode =auto

    IBSS mode = 802.11 only

    locally administered mac address = not present

    LTR value in microseconds = 60

    Minimum power consumption = disabled

    packet coalescing = enabled

    power output = 100%

    priority & vlan= disabled

    rate = best rate

    roam tendency =Agressive

    roaming decision = auto

    RTS threshold = 2347

    Wake on pattern match = enabled

    wake on RSN rekey = enabled

    wake up mode = all

    WFD channel number = 11

    WMM = auto

    WZC IBSS Channel Number = 11 (20mhz)

    Xpress technology = enabled

     

     

  • leecollette
    leecollette Member Posts: 14 New User

    Thanks for the settings suggestions.  As for you, they helped a bit in keeping the wifi connected to the internet.  But I still have to run the bat file that was posted earlier in this thread many, many times a day to stop and start the wifi so I have full network connectivity and not "Limited" connectivity with no internet and the icon showing the yellow triangle.  I had a chat session with Acer support.  Below is a transcript of that session.  Essentially, Acer wants to update the Bios.  Does anyone think this will do any good?  Has anyone else done this on their tablet with a good result?.  Thanks.

        [edited to comply with guidelines]                                                                                                      

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