Networking & Wi-Fi

[b_pontawe4]

I just recently purchased a Toshiba NB205-311/W.  I adore almost everything about it, except its WiFi capabilities.

When I first purchased it, it originally came with an OEM copy of Windows XP Home.  When I first turned on the laptop, I was able to get online for a couple minutes and then lost connection to the internet.  It was still connected to my router, but internet connectivity was lost.  All my other machines on my network also lost connectivity to the internet.

At first I thought nothing about it, thinking it would be my ISP, Time Warner/Road Runner (a really horrible ISP, in my honest opinion).  So I did the usual.  I rebooted my cable modem and wireless router, and restarted my networking services on each of my machines.  I was unsuccessful, and then thought, "Okay, this must be an issue with Time Warner."

I decided that I wanted to work with Windows 7 RC - build 7100 to try it out.  We have a resident Windows 7 user at my office so I decided to take it there to install Windows 7. 

Before actually doing the install, I wanted to show off my new netbook with my co-workers.  I powered on my netbook and saw no network connectivity.  I thought nothing of it, so I just rebooted my office router.

Now I felt it was time to get Windows 7 going.  Just in case, I made recovery disks just in case I wanted to go back to Windows XP.  I also did not wipe the recovery partition on the hard drive.  I made sure I had solid network connectivity by connecting a network cable on the netbook's LAN port to run updates and patches.

I was feeling excited to take this back home and show my girlfriend the functionality of Windows 7.  Upon connecting to my wireless network, I had the same issue.  The wireless network properties showed I was connected to my router, but with no internet connectivity, and all my other home computers also lost networking.  I performed the standard procedure of rebooting my cable modem and router, and rebooting my machines.

It is pretty much hit and miss when I get a solid connection and my router does not die.  I made sure that I was running the most current firmware on my Linksys WRT100 router.  I made sure I followed the proper way to install Windows 7 on a NB205 from start to finish from this link:

http://laptopforums.toshiba.com/t5/Windows-Vista-XP-Win7-RC/NB205-Windows-7-RC-and-you/td-p/41828;js...

Just for kicks, I even tried connecting to two other open wireless networks that my netbook detected around my neigborhood.  I would connect for a good two minutes and then lose connectivity.  The same way I witnessed with my router (I just hope my neighbors aren't ticked off.  Sorry guys ).

I tried to Google and find related threads on laptopforums.toshiba.com, but was unsuccessful in doing so.  I wondering anyone can help me on this?  Is there any firmware or driver updates for this issue?  I apologize if this sounds like a narrative, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew the steps I took prior to posting this thread.

Here is my configuration:

Laptop Model: Toshiba NB205-311/W

WLAN Card: Atheros AR9285

OS: Windows 7 RC Build 7100

Router: Linksys WRT100 with Firmware Version: 1.0.04

Mode:         Mixed (g/b/draft n)
Radio Band:       Auto - 20/40MHz Channel
Wide Channel:       Auto
Standard Channel:       Auto
Security:       WPA2-Personal
SSID Broadcast:       Enabled

[b_pontawe4]

I gave Toshiba tech support a call, and I have gone through following troubleshooting steps:

1) Connected to my wireless router.  We saw that my router crashed, so I took my netbook off the network, and rebooted my router and modem.  I tested internet connectivity with my primary home computer afterwards, and I was able to ping out.

2) I uninstalled the Atheros Atheros AR9285 WLAN driver and reinstalled it through the device manager.  I then rebooted my laptop.  I tried a second time to connect to my router, and it crashed once again. 

My case was then escalated to a senior technician. 

I asked the technician if he has seen something like this before, and he said he hasn't.

After further conclusion, he said that since ths laptop is brand new that I should return it back to the retailer (Best Buy) and get it replaced.

Let's hope that no one else experiences this.

[x0D]

I have been experiencing a similar issue with my NB205-310 running the same wireless card. I am currently running Windows 7 RTM, but I was able to reproduce the error in XP. I first noticed it when I was connecting to a Linksys BEFW11S4. It would appear to be a stable connection and then it would suddenly drop, as well as the connection to all other machines connected to that router. I was having to reboot the router about every 10 minutes and I figured that because it was an old router with the most current but old firmware, that an attacker was having some fun messing with it. I was ready to purchase a new router, when I decided to visit a relative's house to show off my new netbook and the same issue kept occuring with a fairly new DLink DIR-615. Since then it has happened on pretty much every router I have connected to, so it definately seems like a problem with netbook, wireless card, drivers and/or configuration. I have noticed that is appears to be intermittent and sometimes will work fine for different periods of time. Also a router reboot is not always necessary. Some routers resume normal opperation within a minute. In an attempt to resolve the issue, I have tried everything from reinstalling and experimenting with different drivers to reinstalling Windows. 

I am a computer tech and purchased this netbook for something lightweight to take on appointments, but with this unfortunate problem, it will be unuseable to me in the field. I have considered capturing some packets for analysis to try to figure this out, but do to time constraints, I may just end up returning the product. If anyone has a resolution to this, please let us know.

Thanks,

Justin

[b_pontawe4]

On second thought you may be right about older routers, even if it is a little over a year old, running the first generation draft N. 

I am working on girlfriend's newly bought Gateway LT3103u netbook, and I noticed the same symptoms.  Hopefully, Linksys has an even more upgraded firmware version than what is listed on there site.  Else, I have to settle with spending another $70+ on a new router.

>I am a computer tech and purchased this netbook for something lightweight to take on appointments, but with >this unfortunate problem, it will be unuseable to me in the field.

Justin,

I understand what you mean since we are riding the same boat.  15"+  laptops are way to big to lug around, and the convenience of having something small serves our purpose.  I currently do have an unlimited data plan with Sprint, and just today, I upgraded from an express slot card to USB.

[b_pontawe4]

So I just got off the phone with Linksys to help me troubleshoot this issue, thinking it would need a firmware upgrade, new settings, etc. Being that my router was out of warranty, I resorted to pay $30 for one-time support. 

I found out that the Gateway netbook I was troubleshooting with also used an Atheros WLAN card (different model number).  With all that said, we changed the radio frequency on the router to use a different channel, also cloned the MAC address to the WLAN's address, as well as the basic trouble shooting steps of resetting the router settings, rebooting it, and also a remote WebEx session.  We still encountered the same issues; however, in past, I was very impatient, as what Justin described earlier that the connection will re-connect after sometime. 

Unfortunately, I would have to either live with this, buy a new router, or use my netbook using my Sprint data card.

My last line of action will be to contact Atheros.

[b_pontawe4]

I tried to go for the trifecta and gave Atheros a call.  They don't have a technical support department and said to call the manufacturer for it.

I like to mention that I did exchange my netbook with a brand new one at Best Buy.

If there is someone at Toshiba that can best fix this, please let us know. 

[jasonb42 · Accepted solution]

I might have figured out a fix. The wireless worked out of the box (after Fn-F8 to turn it on) but after a cycle of updates it stopped working even when I restored the system from scratch.

After several wireless driver uninstall/install cycles didn't work, I started messing with the driver settings.

[Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management]

Follow the tree [System Tools > Device Manager] then on the right side [Network adapters > Atheros ... Wireless Network Adapter].

Under the advanced tab I turned the "Dynamic MINO Power Save" and "MFP" to enable. Please keep in mind I have NO idea what that means, just seemed to be the options that made the most sense. After making those changes (maybe I forgot a few?) it connected almost instantly.

Good luck!

- Jason B.

[b_pontawe4]

I haven't checked this post in a while, and I learned to live with the glitch, but I'll give Jason's suggestion a shot.

Jason, it looks like you have solved this riddle. 

Here is a result for Googling "Dynamic MIMO Power Saver":

----

802.11n also specifies an optional power save mode—Dynamic MIMO Power Save. This mechanism essentially allows 802.11n devices to dynamically change the number of transmit-and-receive chains that are active when traffic loads are light, such as by downshifting from 3×3 to 1×1 MIMO.

----

Jason and everyone else who participated in this thread, thank you very much for your input!

[mrmet]

I just picked up one of these NB205-311's on Saturday from Best Buy, and I too am having issues connecting to 3 different access points. What I see is it connects up at start up, but data flow intermittently makes it to and from IE browser making it seem unresponsive. You click a link, and the wifi icon in the task tray doesn't flash to indicate and data was sent, click it again and sometimes that works other times it takes several tries. When loading complex pages like cnn.com or foxnews.com it is especially troublesome. Tonight I will try wired Ethernet, and making the device manager settings suggested and try again. I already did a factory restore, to remove the possibility that it is something I installed. That didn't help. I did notice that the wifi connection icon sometimes all of a sudden says "connected" though it never actually showed disconnected. I sure hope this is easily fixable, because otherwise this is a nice netbook. The power management on the wifi makes sense though, because this model outlasts most of the other netbooks out there by hours in battery life.

[la200305]

I sure hope Jason is correct, if he is Kudos to you! We have a Satellite A355-D-S6921 and had similar issues loosing connection on the Atheros Wireless Network Adaptor and even our new Verizon USB 760 would loose connection, and I mean a lot. I had a previous thread going but decided to call it a day because I felt I was getting nowhere. I enabled the Dynamic MIMO Power Save, we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Thanks,

Paul