Intel Centrino Advanced N6200 AGN wifi locks up Envy 17 whenever I try to download large files.

[GimpsUnlimited]

Yes, it should. Although 6300 has 3 antennas and the Envy17 has only two.  But using only 1 & 2 should do.  As for the BIOS issue, I doubt it.  But we will see once I put it in.

[pepe999]

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GimpsUnlimited wrote:

Yes, it should. Although 6300 has 3 antennas and the Envy17 has only two.  But using only 1 & 2 should do.  As for the BIOS issue, I doubt it.  But we will see once I put it in.

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I have installed a third antenna additionally myself to make my 6300 more powerful..

[GimpsUnlimited]

Yes, they sell those on ebay or Amazon too.  How hard it is to wire the antenna?  Supposely, shouldn't one put it somewhere behind the display for optimal reception? 

[pepe999]

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GimpsUnlimited wrote:

Yes, they sell those on ebay or Amazon too.  How hard it is to wire the antenna?  Supposely, shouldn't one put it somewhere behind the display for optimal reception? 

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It's not so difficult with a manual from a service guide. The hardest thing is to stick the metal stuff to the display assembly. I used a black tape. Make sure that the antenna is long enough. 17" laptops need longer antennas so don't buy antennas for a netbook or a 15.6" laptop, they might be short..

[GimpsUnlimited]

Well, got my 6300 card from ebay and installed it.  Got the E072 HP error screen initially.  After taking out the battery and reboot, it was fine.  But I still get the random crash, despite trying 13.5 and 14.2 drivers.  

So I took another 6200 card I had and put it in, so far so good, no crashes.  What I have done differently is the order in which I boot the computer with the card:  Shut down; take out battery;  wait a few; then power it back on with battery; then connect power, USB, etc....  I use mine as a desktop replacement.  So it sets on a cooler; display port out; and USB to my monitor for keyboard/mouse.  I think the order matters, as there must be a defect with this laptop design that when the USB port is connected when boot, it causes issues?  Power spike/surge?  

I bought my Envy17 partly because my prior Envy15 had served me well.  Never an issue.  I swear, if this happens again, I will sell it and buy an Asuss G74sx or MIS GT780.  

[mmccadden]

I'm not sure if this helps, but my ENVY17 2280NR also locks up and I have read others have attributed it to Intel 6200 wifi card and the wifi router being used. In my case the router did not have N option so when I disabled it in the ENVY driver (third option under advance tab) for the 6200 the lock ups have not yet reoccurred... I'm using latest 14.2.0.10 driver as older drivers didn't help with me. Anyone else found the same solution? Maybe its the answer, I am not sure yet, but so far more than 24hours without a lock up is a record fro my brand new ENVY.

[GimpsUnlimited]

Yes, the fact that intel's own driver download page recommend use the old 13.5.x driver instead of the new 14.2.x driver gives me pause.

But if it indeed the 6200AGN, then why is my Thinkpad X201. Asus U30JC, and my prior Envy15 never had this issue.  They all have the Intel 6200AGN chip inside.  I upgraded the Asus one myself. 

Besides, I have had my WNDR 3700 router for years running DDWRT, never an issue.

[grafals]

ARRRGGGHHH!!!!

Well, after several weeks of good performance with only a couple of lock-ups, I am again back to this "top of the line" machine locking up like clock-work when I try to download anything of any size.  It still doesn't happen on every download, just when the download is relatively large, like a podcast, movie or long song.  The download starts out like a rocket, and you can watch it get progressively slower and slower until it begins to start/stop and eventually it will stop and the whole PC just locks up completely. 

It seems like it must have something to do with some memory registers or cache or something filling up, but even that seems implausible on a machine with 16GB of memory.  This is a stupid problem to be having on a $2,000 plus machine.  I guess I'm going to have to send it back to HP AGAIN!!!!

Has anyone identified a driver that solves this problem yet? 

[GimpsUnlimited]

I seriouly doubt that this is a driver issue.  I would point the finger at HP.

Does anyone know how many returns/repairs would it take before I can demand HP to swap this laptop for another?  

[mmccadden]

I am not convinced it is HP / and or the Intel Wifi yet? Can anyone else rule out it is not being caused by torrent downloading? I have noticed a lot of computer lock up problems on the uTorrent forum and this was when I was getting most of my freezes (but confusingly I got the occasional freeze when I thought I wasn't using uTorrent). I have since swithced to BitTorrent, and still got one lock up so far, but not as often. Other issues I wonder about are whether the antivirus (I'm using Microsofts Security Essentials) is the cause? These are things I don't have on my other laptops that do not lock up using the same wifi router.