Difficulty Connecting to Specific WiFi Source. 12th Gen Intel Windows 11

Community Support
1

Resolved. See post #6

Hello and greetings!

System

I have a 12th Gen Intel Framework, AX210 WiFi Card, running 3.05 BIOS, Windows 11 with the Framework Driver Bundle.

Issue:

One WiFi sources I frequent is a NETGEAR C6220, a typical budget COAX modem with built-in WiFi. IIRC, its configured to 5GHz only, with a Primary and Guest WiFi connection.

A few months back, I began to notice this specific WiFi source (both primary and guest) will take a few attempts to successfully connect, and that became more and more difficult over time. Fast forward to now, it’s basically impossible. If I recall correctly, I also exhibited similar difficulty connecting to WiFi Hotspot from my Note 20 Ultra, until I set it to 2.4GHz only.

All other WiFi sources I regularly connect to functions properly.

Diagnostics Steps:

The 12th Gen FW’s hardware isn’t broken. I installed a fresh copy of Windows 11 on an external SSD, booted my Framework off of that drive and installed Driver Bundle. I was able to immediately connect to WiFi from the C6220, with satisfactory speed test result.

Different devices, such as AMD Framework 13, my multiple phones, and an Intel MacBook running macOS are also able to smoothly connect to the WiFi from C6220. However, I do recall experiencing similar difficulties, to a lesser degree, on a MacBook (A1707, 7th Gen Intel) running Windows 11.

Therefore, my 12th Gen Intel Framework very likely doesn’t have a hardware problem. The NETGEAR C6220 is also unlikely to be ‘broken’.

Attempted reinstalling Framework’s Driver Bundle, no fix. Attempted optional driver updates from Windows Updates, no fix. Attempted forgetting WiFi network, no fix.

Conclusion

From the results above, it does appear to be a software issue of some sort, and it’s strange how it gradually got worse, instead of a straight forward working/not working. I wonder if you have encountered similar issue or known what this is? Apparently, judging by the result from booting on an external copy of fresh Windows, I can likely resolve this issue by doing a fresh reinstall of Windows. However, I really prefer to avoid that out of convenience; And, if this issue re-appears again while the cause is still unknown, that could be a headache. As such, I strongly prefer to fix my current Windows installation. (assuming that’s where the issue is at, of course)

I’m now at a dead-end on my own investigation. If you are familiar and have points on where I should look next, that will be highly appreciated.

Best,
Jason

2

First thing that comes into my mind:
Do you have any 3rd party security software installed/running?
Do you see to which channel the WiFi is set when you have troubles connecting? (you can use this tool for that: WifiInfoView - WiFi Scanner for Windows 10/7/8/Vista (nirsoft.net))
Also I would doublecheck the settings of the WiFi card in device manager. Just to get sure.

Generally speaking, I would search for differences between your current and the fresh installation.

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3

Good idea!

I do not have 3rd party security programs, but I do have a consumer oriented VPN client running. It appears to install a ‘TAP Adapter’ and routes all traffics through that.

From my experience, when the VPN client do act up, the result typically is programs running inside Window cannot connect to the internet, DNS errors, etc. It hasn’t prevented the computer from connecting to WiFi network, let alone one specific WiFi. But this indeed is something I should look at tonight.

Thanks for the WiFi scanner tool! I’ll dig out an old laptop that’s able to connect with the C6220’s WiFi, and see what I can find in the scanning results.

I did poke around in that area but found nothing out of the ordinary and I haven’t changed anything. I just looked again, it’s set to Dual Band 802.11a/b/g, 802.11ax, with Channel Width for 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz all set to Auto. Driver Version 22.250.10.1; I’ll boot into the clean WinToGo and compare again.

4

Things I forgot in my first post:
Did you check the logs on the Netgear router?
The Windows eventlog could also provide some info.

5

This is what I first thought of. To me it sounds like the router could be failing. Especially if things use to work and this is the only real issue the card has.

6

That’s it! Fixed!

I wasn’t sure if I can get into the router easily so I checked Windows Event Viewer logs first. Found logs being generated each time I attempt (and fail to) connect to the NETGEAR C6220 router, which origin is traced back to AX210’s driver.

I used Device Manager to Uninstall Device + Uninstall Driver checkbox on the AX210 device. I then re-run the Framework Driver Bundle again. I was able to immediately connect to the NETGEAR C6220’s WiFi, with satisfactory speed test and being stable so far.

Thanks again for your tip on where to look. How come I didn’t think of uninstalling the AX210 that way! I erroneously assumed updating the driver and re-running Framework Driver Bundle are enough.

I actually had another identical NETGEAR C6220 fail in a very slow and deceptive way, so I was seriously considering it could be a router failure again. But my earlier testing showed, as I described in my earlier post, other devices (or the same Framework booting off fresh WinToGo) can work with this router, so that points toward software-related things between my current Windows installation and the router that don’t see eye-to-eye. I’m glad yanking and reinstalling the driver fixed it! I just still couldn’t figure out what initially caused this weird issue.

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7

That is great to hear! Hopefully it wont be necessary to do this again in the future.

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