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

Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon
edited November 2022 in Predator Laptops
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]

Best Answer

Answers

  • XdxD
    XdxD Member Posts: 1,586 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    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.
    Trying to do my best here - Your happy Predator owner =)!
  • Sehnsucht
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon
    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
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon
    edited November 2019
    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
    XdxD Member Posts: 1,586 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    Glad you got it sorted out.
    Trying to do my best here - Your happy Predator owner =)!
  • Sehnsucht
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon
    edited November 2019
    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...


  • xapim
    xapim ACE Posts: 7,240 Pathfinder
    Welcome to the wonderful world of win10 and their dumb issues 😊 and glad u found it out in the end 


    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11532543

    UserBenchmarks: Game 43%, Desk 61%, Work 40%
    CPU: Intel Core i5-7300HQ - 63.5%
    GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti (Mobile) - 41.9%
    SSD: WDC WDS200T2B0B-00YS70 2TB - 71.4%
    HDD: WD WD10SPZX-00HKTT0 1TB - 93.7%
    RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR4 2666 C15 2x16GB - 76.8%
    MBD: Acer Predator G3-572

    I'm not an Acer employee. (just here to help in the best way i can)
    If my answer fixed you issue please accept it for any other users who search for it would find it quickly thanks :)
    If you want to learn more about undervolting/optimizing windows join the Predator fb group and youtube channel:

    Owner/Admin (HOTEL HERO/Red-Sand/Opoka Opoka)
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/PredatorHelios300
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJwGUHxSJ8FKqAhnOqQuAw
    Acer support:
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact
    http://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/  


  • Sehnsucht
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon
    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
    xapim ACE Posts: 7,240 Pathfinder
    edited November 2019
    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 😊


    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11532543

    UserBenchmarks: Game 43%, Desk 61%, Work 40%
    CPU: Intel Core i5-7300HQ - 63.5%
    GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti (Mobile) - 41.9%
    SSD: WDC WDS200T2B0B-00YS70 2TB - 71.4%
    HDD: WD WD10SPZX-00HKTT0 1TB - 93.7%
    RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR4 2666 C15 2x16GB - 76.8%
    MBD: Acer Predator G3-572

    I'm not an Acer employee. (just here to help in the best way i can)
    If my answer fixed you issue please accept it for any other users who search for it would find it quickly thanks :)
    If you want to learn more about undervolting/optimizing windows join the Predator fb group and youtube channel:

    Owner/Admin (HOTEL HERO/Red-Sand/Opoka Opoka)
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/PredatorHelios300
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJwGUHxSJ8FKqAhnOqQuAw
    Acer support:
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact
    http://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/  


  • Sehnsucht
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon
    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
    xapim ACE Posts: 7,240 Pathfinder
    Sehnsucht i dont work on IT (i wish :)) im just an enthusiast 


    https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11532543

    UserBenchmarks: Game 43%, Desk 61%, Work 40%
    CPU: Intel Core i5-7300HQ - 63.5%
    GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050-Ti (Mobile) - 41.9%
    SSD: WDC WDS200T2B0B-00YS70 2TB - 71.4%
    HDD: WD WD10SPZX-00HKTT0 1TB - 93.7%
    RAM: Kingston HyperX DDR4 2666 C15 2x16GB - 76.8%
    MBD: Acer Predator G3-572

    I'm not an Acer employee. (just here to help in the best way i can)
    If my answer fixed you issue please accept it for any other users who search for it would find it quickly thanks :)
    If you want to learn more about undervolting/optimizing windows join the Predator fb group and youtube channel:

    Owner/Admin (HOTEL HERO/Red-Sand/Opoka Opoka)
    https://www.facebook.com/groups/PredatorHelios300
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNJwGUHxSJ8FKqAhnOqQuAw
    Acer support:
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/service-contact
    http://www.acer.com/worldwide/support/  


  • ic10
    ic10 Member Posts: 1 New User

    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 :)

  • Lliam2323
    Lliam2323 Member Posts: 2 New User

    I tried for a good week straight years ago on and off to find out why it took 12 + hours to download a 50gb file on 1.5gb down fibre on my rig. It has been six years since I lost that battle and have had to deal with it while learning to be far more patient, and envious of the screenshots of the speeds my mates would send to me to have a laugh for so… so long.

    Now, I have been staying at my partners grandmas helping take care of her when I, one night, a month ago was consumed by my need to not be capped worse with the 8 year old internet plan of insulting cost and speed.

    1. Inconsideration of others, 2. Wet socks, 3. Slow internet - are what I hate the most in this world.

    Not only was there a service throttling and allocating my bandwidth, with drivers being reinstalled upon refresh I was about to give up.

    UNTIL I FOUND THIS COMMENT AT 4AM WRITTEN FROM THE SAVIOUR HIMSELF

    I didn't want to post this on a public forum so I have been searching for a way to DM @Sehnsucht on several platforms, alas I think everyone should see this. No longer do I have literally the worst speeds ever. I have gone from ~10mbps to 250mbps+

    This guy deserves to have every steak cooked perfectly every time he wants one.

    They deserve to always parallel park on the first go without stress and look cool doing it.

    They deserve Aerosmith to play for them every time they enter a room and for fireworks to shoot into the air to remind others who they are in the presence of.

    I have more of these but I'll get banned for making mods far too envious of their power.

    Anyway, @Sehnsucht, I am but one man on the internet that you have completely solved a massive issue for that I could not figure out. I've been a software engineer in corporate IT for 14 + years and you also taught me a valuable amount of knowledge when researching your fix.

    From the bottom of my heart - thank you. You will never have to pay for another beer if we ever meet.

  • Lliam2323
    Lliam2323 Member Posts: 2 New User

    Side note - Killer Software and its proprietary management services that have caused my clams to be so steamed, really need to something something.

  • Sehnsucht
    Sehnsucht Member Posts: 44 Devotee WiFi Icon

    Glad I could help. Thank you for making my day a little better. It's rare to get any kind of thanks in a thankless world.