GPU under stress causing WiFi Connectivity Issues

[bilaltiger]

I have a HP Spectre 15 2019 Model with GTX 1050Ti Max-Q. It contains Intel AC 9650 WiFi Card. I have come across a very strange issue, whenever GPU is under load wifi connection starts losing packets to the point its basically unusable. It happens instantly, for testing i opened up cmd window with "ping google.com -t" and stress the gpu with furmark. As soon as the stress starts most of packets start getting timed out and some go through with insanely high ping. Stopping the stress test immediately resolves the issue.

Upon further investigation and googling, many other laptops seem to report this issue and nothing fixed it for them except for workarounds.

The issue only appears when connected to 5GHz WiFi not on 2.4GHz. And even on 5GHz if you go to Network Card properties in Device Manager and change 5 GHz Bandwidth to 20MHz only that resolves the issue (although that is not a usable option since it limits 5GHz to 144Mbps only).

Lastly, the issue only appears when laptop is plugged in, not on battery power. This led me to open up MSI Afterburner to see GPU Clock Speeds, and i found something confusing and interesting. When pulgged in and under stress GPU MemoryClock is around 3500Mhz and on battery it drops to around 2500MHz, to test i under-clocked the memory clock by -500 and issue was gone. Digging deeper into it i found that it only appears when memory clock is left at default speed of 3500 under load. When we over or under clock it even -+100MHz the issue disappears. This is most usable fix to the problem so far without affecting any functionality.

I don't know what could be causing this, any input would be appreciated seems to be some issue with PCI bus. I would really like to come up with a logical explanation of this weird issue.

I also tried updating wifi and bluetooth drivers from Intel's site and no change, graphics drivers are already up to date.

Below are few links of similar issues that i found:

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/stressing-gpu-causes-packet-loss-and-network-dropping-over-w...

https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/1217166-stress-in-gpu-causes-the-wifi-driver-to-get-removed/

https://steamcommunity.com/app/219740/discussions/2/1748980761794678793/?l=french

[The_Fossette]

@bilaltiger,

I reviewed your post and I understand that the Wireless connection drops when the GPU is under load.

Don’t worry, I assure you I will try my best to get this sorted.

Awesome job on diagnosing the issue correctly and performing smart troubleshooting before posting your question on HP forums. Kudos to you on that score.  

I recommend you update the BIOS from the below link and check if it helps.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp103501-104000/sp103503.exe

If you continue facing the issue, then uninstall the wireless card from the device manager and then download and install it from the below link.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp103501-104000/sp103641.exe

Let me know how it goes and you have a great day!

P.S: Welcome to the HP Support Community 😊

If you wish to show appreciation for my efforts, mark my post as Accept as Solution. Your feedback counts!

Cheers!

Stay Home – Stay Safe

[bilaltiger]

I updated the BIOS and reinstalled the given Wireless Drivers but the issue is still there. I am using MSI Afterburner to underclock GPU memory clock by -100MHz as a workaround for now.

[Echo_Lake]

@bilaltiger

Thank you for posting back. 

Not to worry, I've got a few more steps to isolate the issue. 

Use the following steps to open the Component Tests menu.

1. Hold the power button for at least five seconds to turn off the computer.
2. Turn on the computer and immediately press Esc repeatedly, about once every second. When the menu appears, press the F2 key.
3. On the main menu, click Component Tests.
4. The Component Tests menu displays.
5. Wireless Module Test - This test checks that the BIOS detects the wireless module and that it is enabled.

To run the test, click the Wireless Module, and then click Run once.

• The Wireless Module Test takes 30 seconds to complete.

If the test passes, try these steps:

Reinstall the network adapter using HP Recovery Manager (Windows 8, 10)

Reinstall original software or drivers using the HP Recovery Manager. If your PC does not locate the Recovery Manager installed, click the ‘next step’ button below.

1. In Windows, search for and open HP Recovery Manager. If prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. If prompted by User Account Control to allow the program to make changes to the computer, click Yes.
2. Under Help, click Reinstall drivers and/or applications and wait for Recovery Manager to generate a list.
3. From the combined list of applications and drivers, with the drivers listed first, select the checkbox next to the drivers you want to reinstall. NOTE: The name of the adapter varies, depending on which one is installed on your PC.
4. When the Installation is completed message displays, click OK.
5. Close all open applications, restart your computer, then try connecting to the Internet again.

If the test passes, try these steps:

• From the Start screen, type device manager to open the Search charm, and then select Device Manager from the search results. Double-click Network adapters. Right-click the name of your wireless network adapter, and then select Uninstall.
• Click here: https://support.hp.com/in-en/document/c03535285 to complete the troubleshooting steps.

If the test passes, try these steps:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for Device Manager and click the top result to open the experience.
3. Expand the category with the device that you want to roll back.
4. Right-click the device, and select the Properties option.
5. Click the Driver tab.
6. Click the Roll Back Driver button.

Hope this helps! Keep me posted for further assistance.
Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.