X61 Wifi download speed throttles, but browsing is fine...?

[banjaxt]

HI All,

I've just bought a 2nd hand x61 in great condition from an IT Company on eBay (spec is in my signature).

It had XP Pro 32 bit on it and the Wifi connection kept timing out on pages while browsing. I was going to upgrade the OS anyway as I wanted to take advantage of the Santa Rosa 64 bit platform and the ability to upgrade to 4GB RAM so I upgraded to Win7 Pro 64 bit Edition.

I can now browse the internet fine, yet when I attempt to download anything the bandwidth chokes. I'm using the same download to test this (the latest Firefox 3 download 8mb from Mozilla's own site).

The first 3 meg of the file downloads really quickly, but then the bandwidth from the D-LINK ROUTER DIR-615 (supplied with my Virgin 20Meg cable connection) just keeps going down to the point where my browser says "1 day remaining" to download an 8MB File!.

I initially tested this from my bedroom (where my old x41 would happily download at 1.5MB/s using the same Wifi network), then I moved the X61 right next to the Wifi router to remove any environmental interference and got the same results. When I plug into a LAN port on the router I get normal fast downloads.

My Wifi card is running at maximum performance in the power manager settings.

I have downloaded and installed the latest Vista Wifi card drivers from Lenovo: (I couldn't find Win7 specific drivers - could this be the issue?)

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... MIGR-70505

Still getting the same choking on downloads, but browsing is fine.

Any help and/or ideas would be gratefully accepted!

[bill bolton]

D-LINK ROUTER DIR-615....

Can you try a big download thriugh another WiFi link somewhere, to determine whether its the router or something on your X61? My initial bet is that its an issue with that model of router, which has caused lots of problems for many users......

Cheers,

Bill B.

[IvanAndreevich]

Try the latest generic Intel driver. Get a different browser. Make sure you don't have any viruses.

[banjaxt]

Many thanks for your suggestions Bill - I haven't yet tried downloading something out side of my home network so I'll give that a try asap.

Went to intel and got the latest generic ABGN driver specific to the 4965agn Mini PCI adapter listed in device manager but this didn't help things after installing and a couple of reboots.

The company I bought it from (Viper IT in Wilmslow Cheshire) are sending me another wireless card in the post today so I can see if swapping it out helps. What a nice bunch, can thoroughly recommend them to anyone. They've been really helpful from the outset.

Also found out that my X61 is still under extended warranty till apr 2011 with Lenovo - what are people's experience of their warranty repairs? I've heard a lot of grumbles on here about them when browsing the forum in the past..

Thanks again - I'll report back soon

[banjaxt]

Also forgot to mention I had lots of problems with the D-Link router initially. The firmware was awful!

So I flashed it with some dd-wrt.com firmware and after that it has worked like a dream (for everyone else in the house!)

[Tasurinchi]

I was also using DD-WRT for a year or so, but then switch to Tomato, basically because it's for me easier to use. But a forum member mentioned here that dd-wrt has some legal issues!

[ThinkRob]

Also found out that my X61 is still under extended warranty till apr 2011 with Lenovo - what are people's experience of their warranty repairs? I've heard a lot of grumbles on here about them when browsing the forum in the past..

I recently got a cracked palmrest assembly on my X61s replaced under warranty. Apart from a run-around with IBM UK, my experience was great. I called IBM (not Lenovo's number), gave my serial number, told the rep. I wanted an in-warranty replacement of a CRU. I gave him the FRU number, and a day or two later I had the new part. I replaced the part, put the old one in the box, put on the new label and shipped it off.

[banjaxt]

Well i'll be a monkey's uncle!

Fitted the new wireless card sent to me kindly by Viper iT and it still does exactly the same thing!
Also noticed while I was "under the hood" that there are 2 slots which appear to be the same for the wireless card - is it worth trying the other one?

What are the problems people have experienced with my D-Link router?
(make/model listed above)

[banjaxt]

Bill - you were right!

I was losing the will to live after I swapped out the wifi card in my X61 so as a final stab I put in a Belkin FD Wireless G router as the main AP, then used the D-Link as a wireless bridge for everyone else. Now everybody happy at last!

[ThinkRob]

I was losing the will to live after I swapped out the wifi card in my X61 so as a final stab I put in a Belkin FD Wireless G router as the main AP, then used the D-Link as a wireless bridge for everyone else. Now everybody happy at last!

Oh boy. D-LINK strikes again...