The famous "wireless" issue...

Okay I ordered an Acer Aspire One (3-Cell/XP/HD) from JR, and after reading a lot of stuff on the internet, I'm already regretting the decision. I hear the wireless issue is very tough to fix, almost impossible. Is there any way I can have the wireless to be useable without having to swap out the wireless card for an intel one? I really don't want to void my warranty, and also...I'm not very comfortable with opening up the AAO. I've never opened up a laptop before and I'm afraid of breaking something, etc. I've read a lot of fixes, but I'd really like to know what works for sure without swapping out the card.

I heard of the device manager power saving disable modification. I've also heard that BIOS 3109 has the least issues with wireless, and I've heard that downloading the newest Atheros driver works. Do these all work for sure? I really can't have any down time as I'm in school.

Oh, and I'm not sure if this is right, but I heard somewhere that downloading the 5006 drivers work better than the 5007 drivers.

 

What wireless issue? I got my One (XP, same specs as yours) on Black Friday at Sam's but didn't get to start using it until Christmas, so I am about 6 weeks into it. I think it has 3304 as the Bios version. So far everything has worked OK, so I have not even bothered to update the Bios. I did a MS update but pretty much left all of the drivers intact. My wireless has worked fine, for surfing, streaming Netflix and using Skype. In fact I get a max signal everywhere I go around the house, including the patio. I haven't traveled with it yet so it might not work on all networks, but on my home network it works fine. I had zero issues finding the network and locking on the signal and getting signed on using the WEP key. Don't assume you will have an issue until one pops up.

 

You have to be careful when viewing forums such as those, as the membership is largely self-selected towards those with problems. Some AAO's have wireless problems (mine doesn't) in some situations*, but you will find that some portion of any laptop will have some problem.

* And wireless products are such a mess that you can't know for sure whether many of the problems are AAO's fault, the access points fault, or just due to background EMF interference.

 

There is no solution for the wireless problem yet. I have updated to latest bios v.3309, using latest Atheros drivers 7.6.1.184 and all power-save-settings disabled, still after resume from standby wireless is gone and no networks are detected in my AAO A110X model any longer. However, after a reboot everything is working again.

I have given up hope that this is ever going to be fixed, because Acer is now switching to 10" line.

Regards,

Guido

 

Hey, I haven't been able YET to get wireless . . . or ANY internet access so far. I have spent about 9 hours searching for and trying out fixes but still . . . Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage!! I've used just about every trick I know, at least all I can think of.

FWIW, both my ethernet and my wifi say they're connected.

I thought this was the usual operator error/stupidity and that the blatantly simple fix would occur - but now I'm scared.

Is there a way to make my new toy work, or should I just ship it back to Tiger--hah, I think it's not returnable!

 

Can you ping? Windows occasionally farts out its TCP stack, and there is an easy fix somewhere on MSKB. But if you can't even get a ping to your router, I would say there is something wrong with the hardware.

 

Actually once I updated the driver the WiFi connection has been very good.
Take a look at: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=8466
One of the other "issues" is if you use the PC in a situation where the bottom vent holes are even partially obstructed. This causes the PC to overheat and the WiFi card seems to be the first thing to shut down. But my experience has been once you update the driver and make sure the PC vents, the problems go away.

 

I know this is going to sound to simplistic, but every time that happens to me, (showing connected, but no internet access), I have to reboot my Linksys router/access point. Before you tell me that other computers on your network are okay, still reboot the router! One time all the computers on my wireless network were working except my AA1, so I reasoned that the problem was with the AA1, but after rebooting the router everything worked fine. BTW, I flashed to the 3309 bios and installed the latest driver from the very beginning.

 

I had this exact same problem with my brand new aspire one. Also from JR, and also the 3-cell XP version. While operating on battery, every 10 mins or so it would lose connection. Rebooting the machine or turning off the radio and turning it back on would fix, but really who wants to go through all that? Without reliable wireless, this unit is worthless to me.

I read a little bit on line and decided to do two things. First I updated the Atheros driver (via windows update - custom update). Then I went to the device driver and changed the power save feature from "maximum" to "off". After I did both those things I haven't had a single problem since. It works great now. Not sure if that will work for you or not as it seems there isn't a common solution to this problem. It definitely appears to have fixed me though. Good luck!

 

If you have just bought it, why not send it back very quickly, as most retailers will give refunds for a month or so ?

There are plenty of other Netbooks on offer now.

 

I had the same problem. Use WINDOWS UPDATE to upgrade the wireless driver. It definitely solved my problem. Do not use the driver provided on the Acer's website!

 

I fiddled around with the Wifi of the AA1 for almost 10 hours. What a waste of time! And finally returned my purchase and got my money back: the smartest thing I did all day.
What I have learned is that the possible problems are due to the fact that the Atom CPU and the Atheros 5007BG are on the same chip according to a technician I talked to (? same waffer, or same plastic package). So there might be over-heating problems, unstable voltage problems, mutual EMF interference, etc.
This can explain the many issues I have read since I joined this user group this morning, i.e. overheating, transient voltage drop triggering a reset, stray pulses adding bits to signals that cannot be overcome by CRC resulting with no transmission, extreme dependency on the router chipset and signal strength, transmission speed depending on the power draw of the Atom CPU chip, etc.

The solution is a huge undertaking, and is the responsibility of the Acer R&D department. More often than not, these days, many digital products have significant and known problems when they are marketed. The final word is BUYER BEWARE.

 

Congratulations on taking it back while you still have the chance.
Some of us lose focus & just forget it's just another consumer product that's supposed to work out of the box.
If every other laptop in the airport lounge hooks up to the wifi, so should the Acer, WITHOUT spending hours messing around with it.

I wouldn't buy a new car then expect to reprogram the engine management or ABS myself.

 

Mine has been losing connection after I've been connected wirelessly for a while.
But...only if it's plugged into the mains with a full battery!
The last few days I've been experimenting and it's only an issue like this. Never disconnects on battery only, or while charging. Around an hour or so after the full charge is reached however, bye bye wireless.
Seems like those that are suggesting that it's a heat related issue might be close to the root of the problem.

 

The Atom/Atheros shared wafer excuse is pure BS. I would expect better from a "technician".

The Aspire One would appear to be afflicted by Quality Control issues though. Out of five AA1s that have passed through my hands, two have had to be returned due to common faults. #1 shut down when the battery reached 60% or less, #5 had serious backlight flicker. No wireless issues with any of them though. Hopefully #6 due this week will be OK in every respect.

I use XP SP3 with the Atheros driver from the Acer support site. Sure the network card gets quite warm but I haven't noticed any dropouts and reconnection after resume from standby always works. Wireless range is nothing to write home about (I can't see any of my neighbours' unsecured networks with the AA1) but coverage within our home is fine. I use a Netgear DG834G v4 wireless router/ADSL modem, which is proving to be one of the most reliable wireless networking devices that I have come across.

Admittedly, my AA1 wireless is mainly used for light browsing, occasional multimedia streaming and Windows updates. It would be interesting to see if I have any problems after long periods of continuous video streaming over WiFi (more than an hour?)

 

I am wondering if later production got, somewhat, better. As I mentioned on another thread we added WiFi at the pool and the clubhouse and my Acer One has become quite popular. I believe there are 8 to 10 around now. (Mostly women ) Anyway, I haven't heard about any real problems but I have warned most (we have a large Yahoo group) not to cover the vent holes and have either turned off the power save or updated the driver. Quite a few run a lot of Windows Live Messenger as that seems to be the most popular ap I introduced. Sensitivity seems to be on a par with the Intel 3945ABG card on my Toshiba laptop as measured by inSSIDer. A neighbor's router shows up at about -83 to - 86 dbm on both PCs from the kitchen table.

On another thing you mentioned I have found the older WRT54GS Linksys routers have been very good, particularly when running dd-wrt.com software. It really opens up the options such as power out e.t.c. Also I schedule a reboot every morning at 4:00 AM. I have 2 of them up and running. One is up at the marina where it gets very heavy use. Both have been very solid. Maybe the reboot helps.

Admittedly 8 to 10 PCs is an abysmal sample size but for $300.00 I think the Acer has been a huge success in my rather limited world.

 

Yes, my 40% DOA rate looks very dissapointing when taken at face value. The other three that were not faulty have proved to be fantastically usable little machines. The Linpus/512MB/120Gb models retail for less than £200 ($290 at current ForEx rates) in the UK and for anyone that is prepared to tackle the RAM/XP upgrade themselves this represents an absolute bargain. At close to £300 ($435) for the better specified XP models the Samsung NC10 or even a cheap full-size laptop would probably be a better proposition.

AA1 #4 was bought as a 70th birthday present for my Dad last week, because my Mum is always hogging their Dell Inspiron laptop. My Dad loves his AA1 and after only a week my Mum has decided that she wants one too. Looks like the Inspiron will end up on ebay now.

 

Several people have taken advantage of this deal in the states:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4008406&Sku=A180-8000

Seems to be a wide golf in pricing.

Also check out the 24 reviews. I wonder if later production is better?

 

Amazing. We always get screwed on pricing in Europe. I'm filing the immigration papers and memorizing The Oath of Citizenship right now...

 

You don't want to immigrate to America, dude...a lot of us are contemplating moving to Europe somewhere. This country is going to hell, and very quickly...Obama sucks, and is screwing this country and attempting to quietly convert us into a Socialist Republic...