jiggling PCI WiFi Adaptor and Poor WiFi or bad adaptor?

Alex Adamson · 25 Sep 2019 at 21:17

So I just moved into new university accommodation and the WiFi is acting up. However, previously I used an ethernet cable so I thought the problem might have been my PC. So I took out and reinstalled my PCI WiFi adaptor, but I noticed it could very slightly wobble when in the slot, not hugely, but more so than the GPU, which is firmly in place. Could that have been the problem?

The WiFi is very inconsistent: Sometimes it's fine and sometimes not so much. Would that be more likely to be at fault of the WiFi adaptor or the WiFi itself?

I believe it is in a PCIE slot. The smaller x4 one.

LuckyBenski · 26 Sep 2019 at 08:11

I would bet good money that your university accommodation has an inadequate WiFi provision.

Ask a friend to bring their laptop into your room and try it. Place it near your PC.

An antenna extension to bring it away from the rest of the PC might help but I'd suspect the WiFi access point (or generic router) is overloaded.

I wouldn't worry much about card wobble in this case - you're not wobbling it while you're at your keyboard.

labcoattech · 26 Sep 2019 at 09:10

Is Wi-Fi the only option in your room?

Alex Adamson · 27 Sep 2019 at 19:43

LuckyBenski said:
I would bet good money that your university accommodation has an inadequate WiFi provision.

Ask a friend to bring their laptop into your room and try it. Place it near your PC.

An antenna extension to bring it away from the rest of the PC might help but I'd suspect the WiFi access point (or generic router) is overloaded.

I wouldn't worry much about card wobble in this case - you're not wobbling it while you're at your keyboard.

Thanks for your reply. My phone seems to be able to keep more of a consistent rate, but does disconnect sometimes. I have the TP-Link N900 mbps Duel Band. I've had it for about three years. I believe I've taken good care of my parts. Do you think a part like that could degrade in that time?

Alex Adamson · 27 Sep 2019 at 19:44

labcoattech said:
Is Wi-Fi the only option in your room?

There is an Ethernet socket, but it doesn't work /: my friend has also stated that his ethernet doesn't work, so I've been meaning to ask the accommodation company about it.

LuckyBenski · 27 Sep 2019 at 21:36

Alex Adamson said:
Thanks for your reply. My phone seems to be able to keep more of a consistent rate, but does disconnect sometimes. I have the TP-Link N900 mbps Duel Band. I've had it for about three years. I believe I've taken good care of my parts. Do you think a part like that could degrade in that time?

I have found some WiFi adapters to degrade and eventually fail, but it was mostly cheap Chinese USB ones. Windows has been picky in the past compared to Linux. You could try removing and reinstalling the drivers, see if that helps.