My Swift 5 SF514-54T has wifi problems

bu62697
bu62697 Member Posts: 8

Tinkerer
edited November 2023 in 2020 Archives
Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum. 

I've had this device for 1-2 months now and I've noticed that compared to my other laptop (surface pro and dell xps 13) and phone, the wifi is very unstable. That is, it can either become VERY slow or disconnect for minutes. This is VERY important to me as part of my work involves video chat for sometimes 3 hours and it's really frustrating when it is disrupted while my laptop is trying to reconnect to the internet. When this happens, I have to grab my other laptop which is completely fine. Also, whilst on video chat, I notice that the quality is much worse on the Swift than my surface. Video sometimes takes a while to load, audio cuts out and is laggy etc. I bought this machine because it advertise faster and better wifi and since I have NEVER had any problems such as this I didn't expect this. 

How do I fix this? Thanks :) 


Answers

  • Rudy21
    Rudy21 ACE Posts: 1,789 Pathfinder
    bu62697 said:
    Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum. 

    I've had this device for 1-2 months now and I've noticed that compared to my other laptop (surface pro and dell xps 13) and phone, the wifi is very unstable. That is, it can either become VERY slow or disconnect for minutes. This is VERY important to me as part of my work involves video chat for sometimes 3 hours and it's really frustrating when it is disrupted while my laptop is trying to reconnect to the internet. When this happens, I have to grab my other laptop which is completely fine. Also, whilst on video chat, I notice that the quality is much worse on the Swift than my surface. Video sometimes takes a while to load, audio cuts out and is laggy etc. I bought this machine because it advertise faster and better wifi and since I have NEVER had any problems such as this I didn't expect this. 

    How do I fix this? Thanks :) 


    Please download Bluetooth and Wireless drivers from Acer site and install both the drivers. Post installation restart the device and check the speedtest.
    Click on 'Yes' to accept my comment as answer
  • bu62697
    bu62697 Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer
    Rudy21 said:
    bu62697 said:
    Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum. 

    I've had this device for 1-2 months now and I've noticed that compared to my other laptop (surface pro and dell xps 13) and phone, the wifi is very unstable. That is, it can either become VERY slow or disconnect for minutes. This is VERY important to me as part of my work involves video chat for sometimes 3 hours and it's really frustrating when it is disrupted while my laptop is trying to reconnect to the internet. When this happens, I have to grab my other laptop which is completely fine. Also, whilst on video chat, I notice that the quality is much worse on the Swift than my surface. Video sometimes takes a while to load, audio cuts out and is laggy etc. I bought this machine because it advertise faster and better wifi and since I have NEVER had any problems such as this I didn't expect this. 

    How do I fix this? Thanks :) 


    Please download Bluetooth and Wireless drivers from Acer site and install both the drivers. Post installation restart the device and check the speedtest.
    Hi Rudy, thanks for the suggestion. I've tried this and got a speed of 1.5Mbps compared to say 20+ on my phone or other laptop. I find that this laptop performs worse when it's far from the modem however when close to the modem it's fine (35) however, my phone and surface reaching 45-50. 
  • bu62697
    bu62697 Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer
    Also, I have another problem, the blue light on the side stays on constantly. How do I turn it off? 
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,222 Trailblazer
    @bu62697 it sounds as if one or more of the antennas has come loose from the WiFi card. That would give symptoms that mimic being too far from the router.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • bu62697
    bu62697 Member Posts: 8

    Tinkerer
    billsey said:
    @bu62697 it sounds as if one or more of the antennas has come loose from the WiFi card. That would give symptoms that mimic being too far from the router.
    Thanks, any fixes to this?
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,222 Trailblazer
    Yeah, easy fix but requires opening it up. Are you still in warranty? If so, let Acer fix it for you. If not it involves taking the bottom cover off (about a zillion little screws) and plugging the antenna cable bck in (tiny, tiny connector).
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • abhigyantrips
    abhigyantrips Member Posts: 2 New User
    edited September 2020
    PROBLEM FOUND AND SOLVED!

    I got an Acer Swift 5 S514-54T from a retailer, and found that the laptop was showing me the globe icon for internet. On troubleshooting, it said that "The wireless adapter is having driver-related or hardware-related issues."
    I got this checked by an IT guy in my office, and he found out that the Norton Security anti-virus, which comes pre-installed with the laptop software, is BLOCKING THE ADAPTER! We had it uninstalled (since it was a 30-day day trial anyway) and installed an anti-virus software of our choice.

    You can also disable the firewall, which can solve this problem. More on that here:
    https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/v65845544

    Hope this helps everyone reading this thread!
    Regards,

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