usb-n66 was the problem

[BreakingDad]

So..

It turns out that all my wireless problems were caused by the usb-n66 adapter.

That is to say not be able to receive 5ghz channels and random disconnects.

I bought a pci-e tp link n900 card at the weekend for like £25

Now I can receive channel 136 5ghz fine ! This has brought me great joy as I can use the 5ghz band without it interfering with the wii U's limited 5ghz bands.

I now get no disconnects, no matter what I throw at it torrent wise.

Merlin .48 beta2, RT-N66U, Win 8.1 64bit, tplink wd4800.

Anyone thinking this post is a bit random would have to read my previous rantings; you would have to be pretty bored to do that admittedly, I get hours at work to read and write drivel though.

Have a nice day

 

[Nullity]

What operating system are you using?

 

[BreakingDad]

I was using XP with the USB-N66, when I upgraded to win 8.1 64bit it didn't like it at all. Tried the latest drivers off asus , made no difference to disconnects.

I never could get the "extra" 5ghz channels on either XP or 8.1.

All working as it should now with the tp link, well happy.

 

[SwampKracker]

The USB-N66 was only partially compatible with Windows 8.x until the most recent DRIVER release from Asus, version 5.1.15.0. Connecting to the 5GHz band with the previous version was not an option which is unacceptable.

However, I can attest to the USB-N66 and Windows 8.1 working quite well with the RT-N66U. Consider this hope for anyone out there who spent a lot of money on a 3x3 dual-band adapter only to not have it work properly with Windows 8.x for a while.

FYI - it has always worked with Windows 7.

---------------------------
RT-N66U with 3.0.0.4.376.48_beta2
USB-N66 with 5.1.15.0 on Windows 8.1

 

[BreakingDad]

Yes mine worked fine with XP (apart from not being able to see all 5gz channels)

You say it works fine with 8.1 latest update and latest driver, to a point you are correct. What I found though that when I was pushing it hard with torrents, or through my vpn it would disconnect. Something I'm not prepared to put up with.

Since I got the TP link PCI-E card the difference is phenomenal. On my system admittedly it may be down to an older usb bus than just the adapter on its own.

Just glad it's all working, my home network is at an all time high (Until THE MAN changes something!)

 

[SwampKracker]

At least you have the option for a PCI-E adapter. My laptop does not allow that luxury.

I will admit I do not use this laptop for torrents or VPN, so I could possibly have similar issues with those use cases. However, as a test, I just copied a 7+GB compressed file from my file server to the laptop and sustained over 200Mbps for the duration of the copy. While the copy was successful, the CPU was pegged at 50% utilization because of the file copy! The CPU is an A10-5750M quad-core FYI.

Glad to hear you have a good, working solution.