Windows 7 Network Connection is faster more stable on XP than on 7; how come???

[Cyber Shaman]

Hi everyone,

I've recently moved into Windows 7 Service Pack 1.

First thing (and foremost, right now) I've noticed is how unstable and slow my Internet Connection is; Windows 7 reports my Wi-Fi router's signal strength as "Average/Good", whereas in XP it's always "Excellent". And it's not just in the title -- I can't browse at all, or log into Windows Update to get fixes; the connection drops erratically.

What offline tweaking can I do to fix this situation?

I use a REALTEK RTL8185 54M Wireless LAN Network Adapter to connect to a D-LINK WBR-1310 Wi-Fi router.

 

[helpifIcan]

Make sure you have the latest driver for your wireless card. Possibly the barebones one from M$ is not uo to the job.
Also try it in safe mode to see if works any better, could be a piece of software.

 

[Cyber Shaman]

So far, no dice. Downloaded driver from the manufacturer's website, got even an utility program in that package to monitor signal strength which tells me it's at 60%, often fluctuating below this amount. Saw an "optional update" for my adapter's drivers at Windows Update, generating a fascinating conundrum -- I need to download it to get a stable connection; to get a stable connection I need to download it.

It is most definitely software. I'm thinking of package collisions. So I'm gonna try shutting down all network-related services, processes and generally everything else. Let's see how that goes ...

 

[thormcse]

You are exactly right. Windows 7 networking sucks. I carry my windows XP laptop to sites when I have to diagnose a network problem. Windows 7 networking is so unreliable that I can't trust it to do repairs. It's not drivers or settings. It's windows 7. I wish they made a non-retard version of windows because this one is too restrictive. I do understand they want to be secure but it makes it unusable sometimes. Good luck.

 

[Cyber Shaman]

You are exactly right. Windows 7 networking sucks. I carry my windows XP laptop to sites when I have to diagnose a network problem. Windows 7 networking is so unreliable that I can't trust it to do repairs. It's not drivers or settings. It's windows 7. I wish they made a non-retard version of windows because this one is too restrictive. I do understand they want to be secure but it makes it unusable sometimes. Good luck.

Whoa, that's big news, man! Thanks for the heads-up.
But has there been any attempt on Microsoft's part to fix this? Windows 7 has been out for some time now; can't believe you and me are the only ones complaining about this.

Oh, yeah: status update. No dice on getting news drivers for my Wireless Adapter; Windows 7 can't hold a connection long enough for Windows Update to connect and download and I can't download W7 updates from an XP browser. Things are on hold and quite interesting ...

 

[cliffordcooley]

I had this issue one time and until the wireless drivers were updated, I couldn't hardly do anything on-line. If you connect using Ethernet Port, Windows Update may correct the issue you are having with the wireless. However it would be best to download the latest drivers from the device manufacturer's website.

 

[Trouble]

Here's a link to the Microsoft Update Catalog. The latest driver I see seems to be for XP but is dated 3/8/2010, it may very well work for Win7 as well and is very likely the driver that you may be seeing on the Windows Update Utility. Not sure if it will help but at least is another resource you can try. This way you can grab it from another computer and put it on a thumb drive or CD to get it to your problem PC. Good Luck and keep us posted.
Regards
Randy