x220 Shipped with outdated drivers (slow WiFi)

[tylenoljones]

My brand new x220 was shipped with an outdated driver for the installed wireless card (Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (2x2 AGN). This resulted in extremely slow wireless browsing. After spending 4 hours changing settings on my laptop and wireless router I finally called tech support. They revealed the outdated driver, and showed me where to download the update. This solved the browsing problem.

I understand keeping drivers updated is important, but I didn't expect a brand new computer to use two-year old drivers. It's like Lenovo shipped a laptop with "some assembly required, but didn't include the instructions.

Has anyone else experienced this problem?

[SR45]

So did my old Dell long time ago. It happens and no biggie to install the new updated ones.

Your X220 has an driver update in Lenovo device experience when you click on Start > Click on Lenovo Device Experience > click on Update and drivers.  This will guide you in downloading any newer drivers.... Of course there maybe newer ones just coming out and the update site takes a while to catch up

[Noonien]

Still no luck, my wifi is painfully slow even though I'm connected at 300 mbps. Installed drivers from Intel and am showing driver version 14.0.0.113. 

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium

[Noonien]

Solved my problem. I went to the intel site to download drivers for the 6205 when I should have installed the drivers from Lenovo's site. 

I am now using driver version 14.0.1.2 and wifi connectivity works fine.

Thanks.

[smathewson07]

Hi all,

I understand that this thread may be resolved, but have any of you encountered exceptionally slow download speeds (~35kbps) even after the driver update? I used the Lenovo site and have the most recent drivers, but still have problems downloading large files over WiFi. This problem is unique to the x220; other machines on the network don't have limited download speeds.

Thanks.

[ColonelONeill]

@smathewson07
Check in Device Manager to make sure the latest driver actually installed.

Also look in Power Manager's advanced settings for the power profile that you're using; make sure wireless is set to Maximum Performance at least on AC power.

[icmoya]

New driver from Intel for Intel® Centrino® Advanced-N 6205

Intel® PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows 7 64-Bit

Version:14.1.1.0

Date:06/06/2011

[Zcool31]

I have the latest drivers and I'm still experiencing low speeds. Download and upload speeds are ok, but inconsistent. I am getting higher than normal ping and very high jitter on pingtest.net.

My old laptop with an atheros wireless chip normally gets 10ms ping and 3-5ms jitter. By comparison, my x220 gets 20-30ms ping and 20-40ms jitter. I picked the intel wireless because I thought it would be better than the realtek. Why would they charge extra for an inferior option?

[xaeiou]

Hi ColonelONeill

Which exact parameter to you suggest changing for maximum wireless performance?  I tried "Link State Power" under PCI express but that didn't help.

I couldn't see any setting that referred to wireless specifically.

Thanks for any suggestions...

[xaeiou]

 Hi All,

I've just ran some tests using the 14.0.1.2 drivers.

In "Energy Saver" mode, under wired LAN I get ftp speeds of around 1 MB/s (for example, it of course depends on the server).

I then disconnect the wired LAN and switch to wireless, same server, speeds drop to around 300 KB/s.

I then go to Power Manager and switch to "Maximum Performance" and FTP speed jumps up to 1 MB/s again.

I tried playing with some of the individual settings in "Energy Saver" profile but none of them seemed to fix the slow wireless issue.

There is some key difference between "Energy Saver" and "Maximum Performance" when it comes to wireless connectivty, but I can't yet figure out what it is.  There is no difference for a wired connection.