As mentioned in my previous post ACER Aspire 7745G Review, I have been experiencing continual wireless networking issues.
- If I actually manage to make a wireless connection, it randomly and continuously drops the connection and then it is impossible to restore the wireless without rebooting.
- Quite often no wireless connections will appear in the Wireless network pop-up and even if you refresh the available connections, none will ever appear. It always remains blank!
My first idea was let’s make sure everything is up-to-date. So I made sure Windows was topped up, that all my device drivers were the latest and greatest, that my BIOS was current,… Sadly this did not fix the wireless issue. It did however, help with other issues described in my previous post (link provided above).
My second idea was contact Acer directly. It’s their laptop and I can’t be the first with this issue. So I did. Sadly, their helpdesk is useless. They informed me that this has never been reported as a problem previously and then went over the standard useless troubleshooting (even referred me to a gateway support page http://support.gateway.com/s/Checklists/BPC/ck2007021226.shtml). After contacting them again explaining that even those steps had not resolved the problem, they suggested a reformat of a 2 month old laptop?! and finally left me to my own devises. Never actually resolving anything, and certainly not helping. What I love about this is I am not the first person to experience this issue, see: http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f108/acer-aspire-7745-loses-wifi-connection-534943.html, one of many threads about this issue. It is just sad that even when people do contact Acer, they either do not have a good system for tracking issues, or they prefer to burry their heads rather than actually solve such issues.
I then turned my attention to the source of the problem: Broadcom. Sadly, once again, they’re less than useless. Their site offers no support. I couldn’t find any drivers, little alone a user manual explaining any of the properties that one can configure in the configuration of their adapter. You’d think they’d have some info; you’d be wrong!
So, I simply started trying things. Below is what worked for me, hopefully it can help you:
- I went into Network and Sharing Center
- Clicked on Change adapter settings
- Right-Clicked on my Wireless Network Connection – Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter
- Clicked on Properties
- Clicked on Configure
- Went onto the Advanced tab
- Selected the “IBSS Mode” and changed its’ value to “54g – Performance”
- Then click OK
Since making this change, my connection has not dropped. Don’t ask me why using the default “802.11a/b/g/n Auto” value cause the problem that we’ve experienced. Obviously their is a flaw in the driver or windows. All I know is this fixed my problem (3 years of frustrations finally resolved!).
There is 1 downside to this ‘fix’. by switching to 54g mode, you will not see other networks in a/b/n modes. So if ever you go away from your home or office and need to connect to a remote network, you may need to switch the setting back temporarily.
I hope this helps someone out there. Please let me know if it does or if you have another solution that worked for you.
i had the same problem last year. i tried ajusting drivers, making changes here and there as suggested on many websites, i even had my broadcom card changed under waranty by acer but nothing worked. until a asked a network technician at work and he told me to get a d-link Wireless N 150 Pico USB Adapter. since then i have had no more problems. i even run both device at the same time. dont ask me how or why i did that cause it ended up like that after installing my pico. hope this helps.
Robert,
Yes, obviously one can simply buy another wireless adapter, but to me this is not a solution. When I purchase a product I expect the product to work. Sadly, in this case Acer has dropped the ball and on several fronts. The product is defective (whether it be the laptop, hardware, driver, …) and so is their support (which in my opinion is even worse). It is nice to know that if we get frustrated enough to purchase a standalone wireless usb adapter, it will work, but my solution was a simple setting tweak.
Thank you for sharing, perhaps it will help someone else.
Hallo! I have the same problem like you only i don’t have IBSS Mode in advenced tab! Is there a driver or something i should instal?
I’m afraid I do not know. My laptop was still running with the factory default drivers (except that I have flashed my bios to ensure I was running the latest version). The only idea would be to ensure you are running the latest drivers which can be found on Acer’s website: http://www.acer.ca/ac/en/CA/content/drivers