A150 any success with WIFI on WIN7?

Hi everyone

Ive read many pages on here, but im tearing my hair out (I dont have much anyway); Has anyone got a fully working wifi setup on win7 for your a150?

Yes, i have version 8.0.0.238 drivers from 5/10/2009, i have updated to sp1 and all the latest patches... i can surf generally well, but when I stream video (via any media server, mediapayer, tversity, ps3mediaserver, etc) it plays for a while, then the wifi connection drops out with 'limited connection' and the stream stops!

Its driving me mad, and a deal breaker for win7... is there any guide or any help in resolving this matter?

cheers people - this is an incredible forum
luf

 

I have an old AOA-150 with Windows 7 Home Premium and don't suffer the problem you discuss. Have you tried other wireless hot spots to be sure it is a computer problem? I did install additional memory to the max of 1.5 gigs and use a SD card dedicated to Ready Boost. Also went into msconfig and unchecked most of the program file start up boxes so as not to tax the CPU and memory too much. There is a thread elsewhere in this forum regarding this netbook freezing due to a problem with the wireless lan driver. However, it appears you have the most recent. THe CPU in this netbook is one of the earlier Atom processors. Do you know what percentage of CPU usage is being consumed when you lose your connection? With Windows 7, and the netbook at idle my CPU usage is about 25%. I have watched a streaming Netflix film in the past so I know, properly configured, that the AOA-150 can handle it. Finally, go into Control Panel and check your "Power Settings" under Hardware & Sound. Make sure to disable "Power Saving." Also chose "High Performance" under "additional plans" while on the mains.

 

Correction. There is a later driver from Sept. 2009. It is 8.0.0.225 Suggest you get it here: http://www.atheros.cz/atheros-wireless- ... 7&system=6
I had BSOD and freezes with wireless driver sent via Windows 7 update. This driver cured those ills.

 

hi nestone, thanks for your help

I almost downloaded the link to the new drivers, but instead got win7 to update its own driver... this time it found and installed 8.0.0.238

Since its a higher version im tempted to keep it. Ive downloaded a few large files and tried 10mins of DLNA streaming... it looks ok so far... no loss of connect.. hope im not tempting fate though

I'll let you know how I get on

thanks again nestone
luf

 

nope still losing connection when there is heavy traffic

now using a micro wifi usb dongle - I'll see if i can get any success out of this!! - if i get same problems then its definitely my laptop at fault

 

No, the latest Windows 7 update you mentioned caused my AOA-150 to be "buggy" with BSOD and freezes. THe driver that ends with 225 is the one you want. Least it works for me. Suggest you give it a try. While the # appears lower, it is dated Sept. 2009. I hid the Windows 7 driver sent via update.

 

I tried 255, same issue, it downloads well, then the kb/s drops to 0 and says "limited connection" - its not the routers fault. everything was ok with XP

I did a fresh install of win7 and same thing, I tried 255 same thing

exactly what i did was

1. install win7
2. windows update (including all optional updates) including sp1
3. windows update again - found a few more updates
4 installed
chrome
adobe pdf x
gadu gadu
open office
image resizer - installed a lot of .net framework objects
jdownloader
ps3 media server

Thats all... and still get the loss of connection. shall a fresh install without programs???

 

Hard to say at this point. I use SeaMonkey as my browser which is a Mozilla product. I can watch Netflix films with no difficulty. Again, I have the same windows 7 Home as you along with 1.5 gigs off memory and a dedicated 4 gig SD card for Ready Boost. I'm in the USA and I don't have any problem with the wireless router dropping out. Have you tried using a LAN cable to verify that it is indeed a wireless card problem?

 

If you are still having problems with the wi-fi dropping, I just saw this that might be of help
Solve random WiFi dropping in Windows 7

Monday, July 25, 2011 4:37:16 PM

win7, dropping, wifi, wmm, windows 7
I was having this long time crazy problem with WiFi on netbook when using Windows 7. But i found out the solution for it.

Symptoms:
Whenever i was downloading something heavily, WiFi would just stop working, icon next to the clock turned grey and yellow star appeared on it. Only way to fix it was to either restart system or re-connect back manually.

Reason:
The reason for the problems is WMM function for wireless. Even though same netbook worked perfectly fine on WiFi with WMM function using WinXP SP3, it doesn't work correctly with Win7 and WMM. Whenever WiFi device is under heavier load, it just fails and connection is dropped and stopped.
Microsoft hasn't confirmed this issue yet, but there are many reports all over the net on the same topic.

Solution:
Open up your router's settings and disable WMM feature. After you do this, everything should be fine again. I've also disabled Afterburner and Frame Burst just to be sure. But i think WMM alone should solve this.

I've downloaded few big things and so far not a single WiFi drop. Working perfectly. If you had the same problem, try the solution and give me feedback if it was successful for you as well.

 

Even though I have Window 7 Home installed on my AOA-150, I've discovered the best driver for the wireless Lan is the Windows XP driver from the Acer website. It installs with no problems and I've found it to be the most stable. Make sure you "hide" the latest Windows 7 wireless LAN driver in Windows Updater. Otherwise, if you have "automatic updates" on, it will download and install the Windows 7 driver which seems to freeze and disconnect.

 

I noticed someone said something about XP driver. I just downloaded the latest XP driver from this page: http://www.atheros.cz/atheros-wireless-drivers.php
It's something like unofficial driver supplyer. So I installed the latest XP driver and it is looking good so far. I will write again in a few days to tell you if it's working for good.

 

That was me. Good luck with the XP driver. However, I continued to have problems with occasional BSOD and unprovoked re-boots. I read somewhere that Acer wouldn't support the AOA-150 for Windows 7 as a result of the Atheros wi-fi card being forever unstable with Windows 7 regardless of the wireless LAN driver. I must have eventually tried a dozen. I finally gave up and disabled the Atheros card in Device Manager and found for $9 a mini LAN USB dongle that only sticks out about a 1/4 inch from the case. This had two advantages. I now have "n" speed (the Atheros card is only "g" rated) and the netbook running Windows 7 is rock solid. In addition, despite it's very small size, the dongle gets as good if not better range than did the built in wireless card. What I used can be found here: http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CFoQ8wIwBA

 

So 2 days have passed and the driver seems to be holding pretty good. Only once I got disconnected, but unlike previous times it reconnected right away, so it might have been the router. No BSODs so far. I hade 2 before though and I think it might not have been the Atheros card but the sound card, because it happened while I was listening to music. If something happens later on, I will post again.

 

I was too optimistic...Another BSOD Guess nestone's advise for the additional wi-fi dongle is the one to use. Pitty...

 

Yes, suggest you admit defeat and get the dongle . One other symptom I forgot to mention that the AOA-150 would occasional just freeze. Track pad wouldn't work and the keyboard froze as well. Only thing you could do was just push down the power key and force a reboot.
All of these troubles went completely away when I disabled the Anthros card and started using the mini-dongle.
I did hear some actually removed the Anthros card and replaced with a particular Broadcam card. However, that would have required disassembling the netbook yet another time and soldering the antenna leads. I checked eBay for a used card price and it was much more than the $9 dongle. I don't regret my decision.

 

I did rise the white flag Just went back to the stock Windows XP Home. These BSODs drove me crazy, so I decided to play it safe and roll back