Laptop (msi GX640) not maintaining good wireless connection. Help!

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Papasmurf89

Member
Hey guys,

So, I've got an older msi GX640. Picked it up back in 2010. Anyways, I started at a new school this past August and am having some serious problems connecting to the wireless internet here.

First of all, I can't even login to the standard student wifi, I'm forced to use the guest internet. There are two networks here: the one for faculty/students and the one for guests. When I try to log into the student one, I should be prompted with a login screen when I open a browser. I get nothing. When I first try to connect to the network, my internet access icon on the taskbar appears that I've connected and it even says that I have internet access (I don't). After about a minute though, the yellow exclamation icon appears and it now says that it can't connect.

Because of this, I've been forced to use the guest network. Now I'm not sure if the guest network is worse than the student one but it's very slow and cuts in and out a lot. Sometimes it'll just drop me and I'll have to relog to get internet again (you have to submit your email to use the guest network). I've talked with other students and this doesn't seem to be a problem for them (they're primarily Mac users but there are Windows users who don't have a problem either).

Does anyone know what might be going on? I've tried updating my network card (I have an Intel Wifi Link 5100 according to a sticker on the bottom of my laptop) and apparently I'm up to date so I don't really know what to do next. One other thing, I don't have any problems on other wireless networks. My wifi at home is fast and reliable. Same with the wireless at my parents house.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Try deleting the wireless connection for each one and then reset it back up. You do this by going into network and sharing center and click on manage wireless connections on the left side.
 
Thanks for the reply. I went into "Manage Wireless Networks" under the Network and Sharing Center but I don't even see the wireless networks (neither the student/faculty one or the guest one).
 
You should see all the wireless networks you have been connected to on that page. What is the date of the driver in device manager?
 
Yea, don't see either network under "Manage Wireless Networks". I do see my home one and lots of other's that I've used previously. I wouldn't need to add it, would I?

For my Intel WiFi Link 5100 AGN, the driver date is 1/22/2012. Searched for an update and it says that my current driver is up to date. I'm not sure if it matters, but under Network Adapters, there are two other things listed. One is "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller" and the other is "Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface". The Teredo one has a yellow exclamation point on it.
 
Right click on the Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface entry and click on uninstall and reboot the system. The driver will be reinstalled after reboot. Check to see if there is a difference.

Go here and see if there is an update for your wireless card.

http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect

Also, it may help to uninstall wireless card and reinstall it as the driver may be corrupt.
 
Thanks. I'll be sure to give that a try now.

Two quick questions, when you say "wireless card", you're talking about the Intel WiFi Link 5100, right? Also, would I uninstall that the same way that I would with the Teredo (right-click and hit Uninstall in device manager)? Will it reinstall automatically on startup after I reboot?

Edit: Tried uninstalling Teredo but it didn't seem to help. Still can't log into the faculty/student network. And I don't think it re-installed on startup. At least I don't see it in Device Manager anymore.

Edit: In an attempt to try to reinstall Teredo, I found this post and followed Gokul T's advice (although I didn't change the registry at all; I just started Peer Networking Grouping and PNRP Machine Name Publication Service). I'm not entirely sure what that did and if it's going to help at all but thought I'd just let you know in case you would like me to disable those again.
 
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Maybe the issue is because you are on a school network with hundreds of other students' phones and computers on the same connection?
 
Papasmurf89 said:
Thanks. I'll be sure to give that a try now.

Two quick questions, when you say "wireless card", you're talking about the Intel WiFi Link 5100, right? Also, would I uninstall that the same way that I would with the Teredo (right-click and hit Uninstall in device manager)? Will it reinstall automatically on startup after I reboot?

Edit: Tried uninstalling Teredo but it didn't seem to help. Still can't log into the faculty/student network. And I don't think it re-installed on startup. At least I don't see it in Device Manager anymore.

Edit: In an attempt to try to reinstall Teredo, I found this post and followed Gokul T's advice (although I didn't change the registry at all; I just started Peer Networking Grouping and PNRP Machine Name Publication Service). I'm not entirely sure what that did and if it's going to help at all but thought I'd just let you know in case you would like me to disable those again.
Click to expand...

Yes the wireless card would be the intel wifi 5100. And yes, you can uninstall it the same way. What Operating System are you running?
 
Call the help desk and submit a ticket with them, they can walk you through your application layer side.

It sounds like you aren't getting the proper captive portal redirect.

The VCR King said:
Maybe the issue is because you are on a school network with hundreds of other students' phones and computers on the same connection?
Click to expand...

Clearly you don't know anything about networking.
 
The VCR King said:
Maybe the issue is because you are on a school network with hundreds of other students' phones and computers on the same connection?
Click to expand...

I go to a graduate school that has a total of 70 students. Including faculty, it's probably 100-120 people total. I've been on networks with far more people that have run fine. And like I mentioned in the OP, I'm pretty much the only one having problems.

johnb35 said:
Yes the wireless card would be the intel wifi 5100. And yes, you can uninstall it the same way. What Operating System are you running?
Click to expand...

If I uninstall the wireless card, should it re-install after I restart? I guess I"m just a little bit wary since the Teredo application did not re-install on startup.
 
Well, the teredo entry would reinstall itself if the system detected it. Its possible the driver got reinstalled correctly and now the entry is under hidden devices where it should be. You can uninstall the wireless card, just make sure you don't choose to uninstall software along with it or you will have to redownload driver software. Did you use that intel link to check for driver updates? There is one listed for late 2013.
 
johnb35 said:
Well, the teredo entry would reinstall itself if the system detected it. Its possible the driver got reinstalled correctly and now the entry is under hidden devices where it should be. You can uninstall the wireless card, just make sure you don't choose to uninstall software along with it or you will have to redownload driver software. Did you use that intel link to check for driver updates? There is one listed for late 2013.
Click to expand...

I did use the Intel link but it was just the automatic update that I used before. Last time I ran it, it said that everything was up to date. Could you point out the one for late 2013 that you mentioned?

I decided to try to look for the driver you're talking about manually and ended up at this page:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&keyword=WiFi+Link+5100

All I could seem to find were PROSet/Wireless Drivers. From looking at the description of one the files it appears that these won't up date my WiFi Link 5100 (under "Additional Notes").

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=22510&lang=eng

Maybe I'm just reading it wrong, if I am I'll be sure to download those and give that a shot.

When uninstalling the wireless card, how do I uninstall without deleting the software?? If I uninstall it from Device Manager (right-click --> Uninstall), will it save the software? Or do I need to uninstall it a different way to ensure that I don't lose the software too?

I'm using Windows 7, by the way.

Thanks for your time and patience. I appreciate all the help JohnB (you've helped me before on here and you're always so understanding).

Edit: Think I may have interpreted the "Additional Notes" wrong. Anyways, downloading the PROSet/Wireless drivers, I'll let you know if that helps at all.

Edit: Ran the setup and the installation was blocked because the new version could not upgrade from my current older product. Is there a way to delete just the driver software and not the wireless card? Tried uninstalling under the Drivers tab in the Properties of Intel WiFi Link 5100 but the conformation menu makes it seem like that uninstalls the wireless card too. Should I just go ahead and uninstall the wireless card anyways at this point? Is it going to be able to re-install the wireless card if I don't have an active connection to the internet (I have no ethernet cable at school)? Sorry for all the questions.
 
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When you right click on uninstall you should get the option to check a box that says uninstall software as well. Don't check that box. All you just want to do is uninstall the driver and reboot and let windows reinstall it.
 
WOO HOO! That did it! I can now log into the student/faculty network. Time will tell if it will be stable and fast but it appears that it is so far in the few minutes that I've used it. Thanks so much John!
 
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