I am using wireless N and can confirm that the issue happens with a Cisco E3000 router, a Netgear WNDR3400 router and whatever Verizon uses for their FiOS modems.

I can also confirm that the issues I experience occured while connected to hotel wifi at the Marriott Marina in San Diego. They do not happen when I use the hotspot on my cellphone or when I sit directly next to the router.

I would describe the issue I observe as poor reception combined with a dynamic loss of signal caused by small changes in the environment.

I am able to connect to wifi in locations where other devices connect. The signal strength appears to weaken faster than for other devices based on distance from the router, but also based on the direct environment around the laptop. Soft surfaces (e.g. sofa, bed) appear to enable wifi to function OK. Surfaces like granite, metal, human body cause the signal to drop more significantly than it would for another laptop device in a similar situation.

This poor signal means that wifi packets are often lost resulting in broken streams. For Citrix and RDP this results in a failed connection.

It is worth noting that all other wifi devices in my posession (including another Lenovo laptop) are able to maintain a connection at far greater distances from the router, and are less susceptible to interference at close distances.

These issues existed with the stock software (as supplied on a Yoga 13 4Gb manufactured 2012/12/06) as well as after updating to the latest drivers.

I'm happy to provide additional information to assist in the evaluation of the problem. I may not have the Yoga after the 29th though if the Surface Pro stays on schedule, so a fix would be appreciated soon.

Edit: I will test the device this evening to see if it is any better if it connects to a Wireless-G router instead of N.

Just tested the laptop by switching the Cisco E3200 router to wireless G only. It did not improve performance (if anything it is mildly worse).

Network signal tool is reporting that signal is hovering around -59dBm. Interestingly, this isn't much different from the reading on my android tablet (which is hovering around -55dBm). However, the second I put the laptop on my knees and rest my palms on the palmrest and my fingers over the keyboard it drops immediately to -72dBm. That isn't terrible, but appears to be sufficient for the network to start buffering.

Not sure if there is a good way of tracking how much a computer is dropping packets or otherwise monitoring network health, but it doesn't appear to be a function of network type for me.

Hi,

I have had my Yoga 13 for a week and have noticed the wifi would lose connection on its own.  At home I use the Netgear WNDR4500  plus the Netgear WN802T AP in the other part of the home. It seems to have a problem when I switch from one AP to another when moving.  I have noticed more problems when I have been on jobsites when the connection is just dropped.  I have read this thread and made the adjustments in the advanced setting of the wifi adapter. 

Hopefully Lenovo can find a solution soon.  All dropped connections have happened when on battery.  If you need more information, please let me know.

Hi all

Thanks for posting. As I meantioned earlier the teams are in their final phase of testing. At this point I'm still awaiting their feed back on their next course of action and hope fully to get a resolution soon. Please do bare with me for the next couple of days while analysis  are still on going.

I'll update more soon.

Regards

Hey all,

This is a very good thread with lots of clear observations about an obviously tricky problem.

I thought I'd add my experience.  SWMBO purchased the machine, loved it, but we did notice flakey web communications.  The real issues came when it became clear that it was crashing the router, my venerable old Dlink DIR-615.  It's a bit on the old side, but has been rock solid with multiple machines/smartphones for > 5 years.  This crash happened at least 6 times, ususally after a couple hours of use.  It required rebooting the Yoga and cycling the router to fix, and once even required cycling the cable modem.

Given the age of the router (NG 3400), I've gone ahead and replaced it, but by then SWMBO had taken the machine back.   She is still quite interested in the machine, and has not yet committed to any other...  I suggested she watch this forum for a definitive answer.

I think most folks understand that new products can have bugs (I'm in the HW design business myself).  I know that the wireless communications area is particularly complex and there are often customers who don't understand it well and simply need help getting going.  However this and previous threads make it clear there is much more going on here.  Given that this is a premium product, and by its nature (no wired network port, no optical drive) it is essentially a brick when wireless is not functioning. 

I would strongly encourage folks at Lenovo to get out ahead of this...  your customers are showing patience, but the market does not.

Cheers.

Hello, i have also encountered this problem, and i would like to add that the wifi performance gets MUCH worse when the laptop lid is closed.

This makes me worried that it could be a hardware problem (i set in windows settings to ignore closing the lid when on AC)

The yoga has got 50% signal in the areas where other laptops have more than 80% but the transfer rates are quite OK, but with the lid closed it becomes baerly usable.

saulcf's post in the other yoga wifi thread inspired me.

I resurrected a USB wireless-G adapter that connects via a 3 foot cord to the laptop.

Interestingly, this adapter has the same issues when connected to my router with the yoga. That is remarkable. I've used this wifi adapter previously to stream HD video from a cable box located in the furthest reaches of my house, so I know that the adapter works in other settings.

The wifi adapter has a network activity light on it and I can see it choking! I'm not proficient enough with windows 8 software (or packet sniffing software on another device) to be able to diagnose what is going on, but it is interesting that this adapter experiences similar choking. What I cannot figure out is what role the orientation of the laptop has.

And it's a wireless-G adapter, so the wireless-N hypothesis is only relevant as it applies to the foibles of the built in wifi.

I have proven that my laptop (both my original Yoga and the replacement) are more susceptible to network stalling when the laptop is in the wrong location (e.g. far from the router resting on my lap with my hands resting on the keyboard). There is a definite relationship between environment and signal strength (As measured inSSIDer) which seems to be more aggressive for the Yoga than other laptops. But it's compounded by whatever is causing the network to stall.

I have no clue how the architecture of the wireless networking works in Windows 8, but the behavior is consistent with a buffer getting filled and not being cleared properly. The wifi connection has the ability to clear the buffered traffic but for whatever reason the laptop does not clear the buffer and so fills the buffer and stalls the connection. This happens more frequently when the wireless connection is weak, exaggerating the imperfections in the network.

Fingers crossed that this is resolved soon. I love the form factor of this laptop over all of the competition but won't hold onto it if I'm at risk of being stuck with something that can only be fixed through manufacturer warranty. I'll be at my Best Buy 45 days return limit by Jan 28th.

---

wrote:

saulcf's post in the other yoga wifi thread inspired me.

 

I resurrected a USB wireless-G adapter that connects via a 3 foot cord to the laptop.

 

Interestingly, this adapter has the same issues when connected to my router with the yoga. That is remarkable. I've used this wifi adapter previously to stream HD video from a cable box located in the furthest reaches of my house, so I know that the adapter works in other settings.

 

The wifi adapter has a network activity light on it and I can see it choking! I'm not proficient enough with windows 8 software (or packet sniffing software on another device) to be able to diagnose what is going on, but it is interesting that this adapter experiences similar choking. What I cannot figure out is what role the orientation of the laptop has.

 

And it's a wireless-G adapter, so the wireless-N hypothesis is only relevant as it applies to the foibles of the built in wifi.

---

If your deduction is correct (I'm not sure if I could deduce network stuttering or buffer filling from the way the network activity light flashes, but I take your word for it :-) ), this would imply the problem may be within the USB hardware/software.
Apparently the Yoga 13 Wi-Fi module interfaces to the USB interface (not PCIe), as do most of its other modules, and the external USB ports of course. It may be there is a problem with the bandwidth allocation on the different ports, or they implemented some internal USB hub or something which is causing contention... I'm just guessing, but clearly if you see the same problem with an external USB Wi-Fi transceiver, the problem is not in the Yoga's own Wi-Fi hardware or drivers.

---

wrote:

If your deduction is correct (I'm not sure if I could deduce network stuttering or buffer filling from the way the network activity light flashes, but I take your word for it :-) ), this would imply the problem may be within the USB hardware/software.

---

Yeah. Not the most scientific of diagnoses - More flashes = good. No flashes = bad :smileytongue: ... but I was using the laptop to stream video and do remote desktop... every time the light slowed down was when the stuttering occurred. Not sure what is causing what in this chicken and egg scenario. It was interesting to see something external that appeared to be correlated with the stuttering.

What I don't get with the USB interface hypothesis is why this only happens on a marginal wifi connection. I'm currently connected on my commute into work via my phone acting as a 4G hotspot. The wifi signal is perfect (even if the 4G connection stutters) and I see none of the issues that I experience on home networks, airport networks, hotel lobby networks. It's not a maximum throughput issue in the traditional sense.

It's sad that my old IPAD receives 5G with its wireless card but this brand new Lenovo can not. This should have been included but instead we get a below standard one. Also, why no official statement or even promise of a driver fix-- a recall would also be acceptable.