Windows 7 Acer Aspire One D250 - Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Network Adapter problem

[MrFunions]

It seems that my wireless connection is extremely slow and nothing I've tried will correct the problem. I have an Acer Aspire One AOD250 with Windows 7 Starter. This is a new machine and came with the Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Network Adapter. I made sure that all of the power management settings for the wireless were set to maximum so I'm positive that the OS is not turning it off causing the connection problems. I have upgraded the driver on the network adapter to be the latest. Device Manager currently has it listed as 8.0.0.238. Which is interesting because when I did a diagnostic of the network adapter, it doesn't actually list that version. Below is the result of the diagnostic:

Details about network adapter diagnosis:

Network adapter Wireless Network Connection driver information:

Description . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Network Adapter
Manufacturer . . . . . . . . . : Atheros Communications Inc.
Provider . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros Communications Inc.
Version . . . . . . . . . . . : 8.0.0.177
Inf File Name . . . . . . . . . : C:\Windows\INF\oem7.inf
Inf File Date . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, July 16, 2009 11:29:34 AM
Section Name . . . . . . . . . : ATHR_DEV_OS61_E01F105B.ndi
Hardware ID . . . . . . . . . . : pci\ven_168c&dev_002b&subsys_e016105b
Instance Status Flags . . . . . : 0x180200a
Device Manager Status Code . . : 0
IfType . . . . . . . . . . . . : 71
Physical Media Type . . . . . . : 9
Link Removed
Diagnostics Information (Wireless Connectivity)
Details about wireless connectivity diagnosis:

Information for connection being diagnosed
Interface GUID: 93d7d924-fa65-4bfb-80da-9bc137f3cc01
Interface name: Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Network Adapter
Interface type: Native WiFi

Connection incident diagnosed
Auto Configuration ID: 1
Connection ID: 1

Connection status summary
Connection started at: 2010-06-19 15:59:02-367
Profile match: Success
Pre-Association: Success
Association: Success
Security and Authentication: Success

List of visible access point(s): 1 item(s) total, 1 item(s) displayed
BSSID BSS Type PHY Signal(dB) Chnl/freq SSID
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
00-18-01-EB-BD-44 Infra g -55 11 30DV1

Connection History

Information for Auto Configuration ID 1

List of visible networks: 1 item(s) total, 1 item(s) displayed
BSS Type PHY Security Signal(RSSI) Compatible SSID
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Infra g Yes 96 Yes 30DV1

List of preferred networks: 1 item(s)
Profile: 30DV1
SSID: 30DV1
SSID length: 5
Connection mode: Infra
Security: Yes
Set by group policy: No
Connect even if network is not broadcasting: No
Connectable: Yes

Information for Connection ID 1
Connection started at: 2010-06-19 15:59:02-367
Auto Configuration ID: 1
Profile: 30DV1
SSID: 30DV1
SSID length: 5
Connection mode: Infra
Security: Yes
Pre-Association and Association
Connectivity settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No
Security settings provided by hardware manufacturer (IHV): No
Profile matches network requirements: Success
Pre-association status: Success
Association status: Success
Last AP: 00-18-01-eb-bd-44
Security and Authentication
Configured security type: Open
Configured encryption type: WEP
802.1X protocol: No
Key exchange initiated: Yes
Unicast key received: No
Multicast key received: No
Number of security packets received: 0
Number of security packets sent: 0
Security attempt status: Success
Connectivity
Packet statistics
Ndis Rx: 4656
Ndis Tx: 4840
Unicast decrypt success: 51
Multicast decrypt success: 0
Unicast decrypt failure: 0
Multicast decrypt failure: 0
Rx success: 58
Rx failure: 1968
Tx success: 109
Tx failure: 0
Tx retry: 8
Tx multiple retry: 0
Tx max lifetime exceeded: 0
Tx ACK failure: 0
Roaming history: 1 item(s)
Times: 2010-06-19 16:13:12-246
Roamed from BSSID: 00-18-01-eb-bd-44
Reason: 0x00000002

Link Removed
Diagnostics Information (Wireless Connectivity)
Details about wireless connectivity diagnosis:

For complete information about this session see the wireless connectivity information event.

Helper Class: Auto Configuration
Initialize status: Success

Information for connection being diagnosed
Interface GUID: 93d7d924-fa65-4bfb-80da-9bc137f3cc01
Interface name: Atheros AR5B95 Wireless Network Adapter
Interface type: Native WiFi

Result of diagnosis: There may be problem

As you can see it seems to indicate that there may be a problem but conveniently leaves out what is causing the problem. Other laptops I have connected to the same network are fine running at 20Mbps down speeds. This netbook can't seem to get past the down .2-.5Mbps range. As you can see that is quite a difference. Help???

 

[Trouble]

Receive failure way high
Rx success: 58
Rx failure: 1968
Potentially a problem with antenna, or a problem with the radio itself or a really bad location with a lot of extraneous interference going on.
Assuming that the wireless is reliable, but just slow, the first thing I would probably do is test it at another location, friends house or local hotspot just to determine if the issue persists. If it does, then I would take it back to where I bought it "This is a new machine" and see if the retailer or vendor can explain the issue.

 

[MrFunions]

Thanks for the response but that wasn't it. Initially I thought it might be a compatibility issue with the router and Windows 7 but turns out that wasn't the case either. My router had the latest firmware as of May 2010. I noticed that the failure rate was way high too, but I have other machines that run against the router too. I had both an ubuntu machine and a windows xp machine connected and they both ran fine without any such problems. I actually did manage to fix the problem. When I checked the BIOS version of my Acer Aspire One AOD250, it was pretty old (1.13). I did a search of the Acer site here: Link Removed due to 404 Error and downloaded the latest BIOS (1.27). When I flashed with the BIOS utility and upgraded, the wireless speeds came to be what I'd expect from an 802.11b card (4-6Mbps). The BIOS description for 1.26 actually noted a windows 7 fix. After days of headache over this, I think I finally resolved the issue. I guess the drivers didn't work too well with an old BIOS. Hope this post helps someone else.

 

[Trouble]

Excellent news, glad you resolved your issue. I'm sure other members will find it useful, I know I certainly do, and thank you for posting back with your solution.

 

[dipso]

Link Removed for wireless network adapter download.
Easy come

 

[Matt1986]

Hey MrFunions, I just read your post on what you did to fix it. if you don't mind could you send me an email at [email protected] explaining your steps just in case I end up having an issue trying to fix this problem? I too am having the same problem. I am in Guam right now on deployment with the military and bought an Acer Aspire One D250 and I have 18.0 Mbps internet and other computers that connect run the full 18.0 but mine will not. Mine wont go more than 1.47 Mbps out of 18.0. When I get off work I am going to try what you have said you done. I hope I don't run into any problems. What exactly happens in the process of your fix?