Troublesome laptop

[ggadrian]

My dad has an Asus laptop (A53S) that is an utter pice of shit, it's been giving me problems non stop and I can't find a solution for them.

First the specs:

-i5 2450m
-6 GB of RAM
-500GB of incredibly slow HDD (like the slowest piece of shit I've aver seen)
-nvidia GT610m (because you know, having a discrete GPU that's more or less as powerful as the iGPU is cool)
-Intel centrino N100
-Windows 7 Pro x64

First of all the computer is the slowest machine I've seen in some time, but after benchmarking the HDD I discovered that that's it's fault. It's ridiculous for Asus to put that HDD, it turns a nice laptop in an unusable computer.

Then it has wifi problems: some this it just decides that it won't connect to one of my AP's, other times it doesn't connect at any of them, some other times it works just fine and then most of the time it connects but at a ridiculous speed (1MB/s transfers, 13MB/s with my late 2009 macbook from the same place).

I tried to install the latest wireless card driver, it didn't solve the problem. Then I deleted the drivers and installed them back, same result. After that I formatted the computer and did a fresh windows install and after one moth or so the problem is back.

Today I tried to put a TP-Link USB adapter that I have working flawlessly on mi Pi to try it out and every time I plug it in it crashes the computer and I get a blue screen of death.

Appart from that the computer refuses to log in any Active Directory users, it only takes local accounts.

Isn't it a nice laptop? It's really driving me crazy.

Do you know if there's a solution for any of the problems? (apart from getting and SSD, which I won't do until I have the other two sorted out)

 

[Ketchup]

During the month after the format/re-install, were you using the laptop, or was he (your dad)?

 

[ggadrian]

During the month after the format/re-install, were you using the laptop, or was he (your dad)?

It was him, but there isn't any new software (apart from a couple of toolbars I removed) and the computer is clean from virus and all the windows updates are installed.

Basically all he uses is remote desktop to connect to the office, chrome, office 2007 and windows movie maker.

 

[Ketchup]

Well, at this point you should probably look into what is on the BSOD. Either Google the error code or run a program like whocrashed to see what the error codes point to.

 

[ggadrian]

Well, at this point you should probably look into what is on the BSOD. Either Google the error code or run a program like whocrashed to see what the error codes point to.

Yes, I can do that for the BSOD, but it would only solve the minor of the problems. I'll do that tonight if I have time.

 

[Matt1970]

It was him, but there isn't any new software (apart from a couple of toolbars I removed) and the computer is clean from virus and all the windows updates are installed.

Basically all he uses is remote desktop to connect to the office, chrome, office 2007 and windows movie maker.

Toolbars are evil. There are few that actually do what they say and ONLY what they say. They are also indicative of someone who doesn't have the best browsing/installing habits and selects quick installs when updating, or even falls for fake updates, which can wreak havoc on a PC.

 

[ggadrian]

Toolbars are evil. There are few that actually do what they say and ONLY what they say. They are also indicative of someone who doesn't have the best browsing/installing habits and selects quick installs when updating, or even falls for fake updates, which can wreak havoc on a PC.

Yes, I know, but they come even with Adobe updates, so it's really difficult to avoid users from getting them.

Anyway, the computer is now clean, and the issues are consistent after clean installs of windows so I think that it's very improvable the a couple of toolbars are the cause of the problems with this computer.

 

[Virgorising]

Yes, I know, but they come even with Adobe updates, so it's really difficult to avoid users from getting them.

Anyway, the computer is now clean, and the issues are consistent after clean installs of windows so I think that it's very improvable the a couple of toolbars are the cause of the problems with this computer.

I don't find toolbars to be a problem if you are careful re where you download things from and also read EULAS. I got rid of all things adobe a while back, but I can't recall an update from when I still had it where I wasn't given the choice to install or decline some add on.

Having said that, I have this freeware and run it once in a while along with Hijack this:
http://toolbarcleaner.com/

Is the lappy clean inside? Have you monitored its temps? Are all its drivers up to date?

What are your transfer speeds when connecting the machine directly via ethernet cable as opposed to wi fi? Yes, I get yr dad mainly uses the machine re remote connection, but I think we might learn something testing a direct hookup.

Finally, have you guys explored the possibility of replacing the HDD with an SSD?

 

[ggadrian]

I don't find toolbars to be a problem if you are careful re where you download things from and also read EULAS. I got rid of all things adobe a while back, but I can't recall and update form when I still had it where I wasn't given the choice to install or decline some add on.

Having said that, I have this freeware and run it once in a while along with Hijack this:
http://toolbarcleaner.com/

Is the lappy clean inside? Have you monitored its temps? Are all its drivers up to date?

What are your transfer speeds when connecting the machine directly via ethernet cable as opposed to wi fi?

Finally, have you guys explored the possibility of replacing the HDD with an SSD?

I also think that's very easy not to install toolbars, but it seems that the average user is unable of such a thing.

Temps are OK, and the laptop is clean inside. Drivers are reasonably up-to-date, as I did a clean windows install with all the updates and drivers one moth ago more or less.

Haven't tried wired speeds with this laptop, but the wired computers are getting 90+ MB/s, so it's not a network problem. This is the only device with connectivity issues. Also I have 3 different AP's, so it's not an AP problem either.

I'll put an SSD on it (I put SSD's everywhere) if I can get it to work reasonably, I'm not gonna spend 80€ in a machine that all that gives me is headaches if it can't connect internet or behave like a decent computer on the network.

I ran who crashed and it gave me 4 messages, all four related to the Intel centrino drivers. I desinstalled and reinstalled them (I can't remember how many times I've done this already) and it's working now, and the transfer speeds have increased from 1MB/s to 1'5MB/s (not really impressive), but it still refuses to connect to one of the AP's so I suspect that nothing has been fixed.

 

[Virgorising]

Haven't tried wired speeds with this laptop, but the wired computers are getting 90+ MB/s, so it's not a network problem. This is the only device with connectivity issues. Also I have 3 different AP's, so it's not an AP problem either.

But that's why I suggested the test. Might learn something if you get those off the hook (compared to mine and I pay a lot for mine) speeds when the laptop is wired.

I ran who crashed and it gave me 4 messages, all four related to the Intel centrino drivers. I desinstalled and reinstalled them (I can't remember how many times I've done this already) and it's working now, and the transfer speeds have increased from 1MB/s to 1'5MB/s (not really impressive), but it still refuses to connect to one of the AP's so I suspect that nothing has been fixed.

Well! DRIVERS! I see "not really impressive' is in the eye of the beholder. It seems SOMETHING has, in fact, been improved. Troubleshooting is a journey, and I delved, and, in its healthy potential, that is a pretty cool lappy.

I'll put an SSD on it (I put SSD's everywhere) if I can get it to work reasonably, I'm not gonna spend 80€ in a machine that all that gives me is headaches if it can't connect internet or behave like a decent computer on the network.

Cute you put SDDs everywhere. I was first suggesting it as a test to determine if and to what degree the drive is the issue.

 

[ggadrian]

But that's why I suggested the test. Might learn something if you get those off the hook (compared to mine and I pay a lot for mine) speeds when the laptop is wired.



Well! DRIVERS! I see "not really impressive' is in the eye of the beholder. It seems SOMETHING has, in fact, been improved. Troubleshooting is a journey, and I delved, and, in its healthy potential, that is a pretty cool lappy.



Cute you put SDDs everywhere. I was first suggesting it as a test to determine if and to what degree the drive is the issue.

I'm gonna try to put another wireless card into it and see if the problem goes away. If it solves the problem I'll just buy a new card and I'll call it a day. I'll also plug an RJ45 to see what speeds does it get.

As for the HDD, crystal disk mark said that it has a sequential read and write of around 60MB/s and the random was ridiculous (can't remember numbers, but compared to the WD scorpio black that I have as a second storage in another laptop it was laughable).

 

[Matt1970]

I ran who crashed and it gave me 4 messages, all four related to the Intel centrino drivers. I desinstalled and reinstalled them (I can't remember how many times I've done this already) and it's working now, and the transfer speeds have increased from 1MB/s to 1'5MB/s (not really impressive), but it still refuses to connect to one of the AP's so I suspect that nothing has been fixed.

There's your problem. If repeated driver reinstalls doesn't fix it then I would replace it. They go for a whopping $5 on ebay.

EDIT* Nevermind, I see you posted that. Let us know how you make out.

 

[Virgorising]

I'm gonna try to put another wireless card into it and see if the problem goes away. If it solves the problem I'll just buy a new card and I'll call it a day. I'll also plug an RJ45 to see what speeds does it get.

All good ideas. And pls report the speeds re ethernet.

As for the HDD, crystal disk mark said that it has a sequential read and write of around 60MB/s and the random was ridiculous (can't remember numbers, but compared to the WD scorpio black that I have as a second storage in another laptop it was laughable).

Have you run diagnostics on the drive? Who made the drive? I would go get the Mfg's diagnostics and run them.

 

[ggadrian]

All good ideas. And pls report the speeds re ethernet.



Have you run diagnostics on the drive? Who made the drive? I would go get the Mfg's diagnostics and run them.

I tried wired. For some reason the fastest that I can get it to work is 100Mb full duplex (although it has gigabit in the driver name and I used the same cable and switch I use in my main computer) and I get transfers around 12-13MB/s, which are OK for a 100Mb connection.

The S.M.A.R.T. atributes for the drive where OK last time I checked.

For the wireless I can connect it to two of my AP's, doesn't matter if I use the laptop wireless card or an USB adapter, and in one of them I get 1'5MB/s and in the other one I get 5MB/s. At least at 5MB/s the network drives are more or less usable. But I don't understand why the USB wireless adapter doesn't get more speed, its a TL-WN821N (300Mbps) and it was tested like 3m away from the AP.

If it matters, I use WPA2/AES encryption for the network with a 30 characters long password.

I tried my brother laptop (a cheap HP that works pretty good) and although it can connect to all the AP's it only gets 2'5MB/s transfer speed, so I'm starting to suspect that the speed is normal for cheap laptops. My macbook gets stable 11-12MB/s in all the AP's

My windows laptop also gets less than 2MB/s wireless transfer speed (haven't until now because I have it wired), thats completely ridiculous for a 2300€ laptop. Is the macbook the only laptop at home with a decent wireless card?

Do you have any clue about why can't I sign in with any active directory user in this particular laptop? It's in the domain and everything else works, but it won't let domain users sign in.

 

[Virgorising]

I tried wired. For some reason the fastest that I can get it to work is 100Mb full duplex (although it has gigabit in the driver name and I used the same cable and switch I use in my main computer) and I get transfers around 12-13MB/s, which are OK for a 100Mb connection.

Yes, not chopped liver. Been a VERY long time since I used my Alienware lappy, my phones basically replaced it long ago, so, apart from what you share, I have no personal references for the wireless speeds.

I tried my brother laptop (a cheap HP that works pretty good) and although it can connect to all the AP's it only gets 2'5MB/s transfer speed, so I'm starting to suspect that the speed is normal for cheap laptops. My macbook gets stable 11-12MB/s in all the AP's

Now that.....is really interesting. The disparity between the lappys running Windows and yr macbook.

My take is maybe not bad hardware, but Less Than drivers. I know you uninstalled and reinstalled. And, my impression of the lappy in question is, it is a mid range, not a cheap one.

Do you have any clue about why can't I sign in with any active directory user in this particular laptop? It's in the domain and everything else works, but it won't let domain users sign in.

Above, I have no clue about. But, am sure someone here does.

 

[Virgorising]

Well, I was delving and found this from a while back, and, however counter intuitive at first glance,it might be worth a try moving the lappy further away from the router.

Re: WiFi: Have excellent signal strength but low speed

I believe the slow transfer speed is due to your notebook wireless receiver being saturated by an overly strong signal at close range (seems a common problem with pre-N mimo wireless routers).

Just installed a new Linksys WAG354G gateway plus Linksys 7db high gain whip antenna. This combination knocked the ADSL speed for six on my wife's Acer Aspire when used at close range (6 feet). Removing the whip attenna or tilting it away from the notebook (towards my Linksys wireless print server on the ground floor) brought the connection speed back to normal.

Regards​

​

 

[Virgorising]

Delving more, pls get and run this and put up screenie of results:

Download and run this Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector, paste a screen shot of the Network screen here. Note that this application requires NET Frameworkto run. If you get an error about a missing function, download and install NET Framework.

Sorry, link in the above appears obsolete. Here is better one:

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/xirruswifi.html

Says compatible with W7....does not say 8, but thas OK U R running W7-64 bit.
___________________________________________________________
Edit: have you tried configuring the card's settings as per below using advanced tab to boost the signal?

Configure the settings on your wireless network adapter card if you have a laptop. Open the "Device Manager"--the utility that lists all of your computer's hardware connections--and find your wireless network adapter card in the list. Right-click the entry and select "Properties." Click the "Driver" tab and select "Update Drivers" to obtain the latest manufacturer drivers for your card. Select the "Advanced" tab and find the "Transmit Power" or "Transmit Buffers" from the list. Increase the setting to boost the signal on your laptop and receive an improved Wi-Fi connection.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6830976_good-wi_fi-connection.html#ixzz2pHzOAouR​

 

[ggadrian]

I installed the software and I discovered that I had 2 AP's in the same channel (nice job, auto channel selection). I looked at the best available channels and changed it, now I get transfer speeds around 5-6MB/s, still worse than the macbook but fairly usable.

For the AP I was unable to connect, I discovered that it was in WPA instead WPA2, changed that and now I can connect but can't authenticate in the AD, so I can't access network drives and printers. It's a weird issue, given that this one is the routers buit-in AP, so it can't be a cabling issue.

The network tab now looks like that:

My connections are the first three and the last one. There are two alan in channel 6, but that's because one of them is a virtual one with AP isolation for guests.

I also tried the network adapter settings and it was set in the maximum transmit power, so not much to do there.

Also tried walking farther away from the AP's to try what you said about being too close and it didn't worked, I got the same transfer speed.

I'm still worried about it deciding not to connect to any AP some day as it likes to do, but now that I think that it's just a drivers or network adapter problem if it happened again I'll go to amazon a buy a nice one.

 

[Virgorising]

(nice job, auto channel selection)

Re above: SO CUTE!:biggrin:

As for the rest: EXCELLENT.

It's a focused journey; it's how you travel, sometimes a team effort.....and do not diss the lappy; it's a cool lappy!!!!

And yes, how cool is that app?

Way cool.

Re below: I HAVE NO CLUE re authentication.....but someone here well might. Routers are very individual beings. Since my needs are so basic, I started with Netgear and remain with Netgar. Your needs---well, yr dad's----way more complex.

For the AP I was unable to connect, I discovered that it was in WPA instead WPA2, changed that and now I can connect but can't authenticate in the AD, so I can't access network drives and printers. It's a weird issue, given that this one is the routers buit-in AP, so it can't be a cabling issue.

 

[ggadrian]

Re above: SO CUTE!:biggrin:

As for the rest: EXCELLENT.

It's a focused journey; it's how you travel, sometimes a team effort.....and do not diss the lappy; it's a cool lappy!!!!

And yes, how cool is that app?

Way cool.

Re below: I HAVE NO CLUE re authentication.....but someone here well might. Routers are very individual beings. Since my needs are so basic, I started with Netgear and remain with Netgar. Your needs---well, yr dad's----way more complex.

For the AP I was unable to connect, I discovered that it was in WPA instead WPA2, changed that and now I can connect but can't authenticate in the AD, so I can't access network drives and printers. It's a weird issue, given that this one is the routers buit-in AP, so it can't be a cabling issue.

Yes, it's a nice app; sometimes it's very useful to have all the info in front of you, helps to catch problems like having to AP in the same channel.

I'm not going to loose more time with the router built-in AP, it's a cheap ISP router and well, I suppose that not working properly is what cheap ISP routers do. The other 2 AP's are capable of handling the 5 or 6 clients on the network.

Now I have to figure out the login problem, I'll report any findings.

Thanks

 

[Virgorising]

Yes, it's a nice app; sometimes it's very useful to have all the info in front of you, helps to catch problems like having to AP in the same channel.

I'm not going to loose more time with the router built-in AP, it's a cheap ISP router and well, I suppose that not working properly is what cheap ISP routers do. The other 2 AP's are capable of handling the 5 or 6 clients on the network.

Now I have to figure out the login problem, I'll report any findings.

Thanks

I am crazy about and intensely nourished by brilliant software. I was from the Get. When I say "cool," I mean brilliantly written and USEFUL nothing GUI related, etc.

Re both routers and modems, believe it or not, I sometimes find the ones with the fewest bells and whistles work the best. Same deal with inherently crapola multifunction peripherals vs stand alone. I am the only human I know personally who still chooses stand alone.