Poor Wifi Signal (RTL8723DE)

[PizzaBeard]

Hi, I've been tearing my hair out since buying this laptop. The wifi signal is terrible. I've tried uninstalling it and letting Windows reinstall. I've tried downloading a driver from this site. The result is the same. Very poor signal compared to other devices. Is there any simple way to fix this, since I'm not particularly technically minded?

Edit: Interestingly, since downloading from HP, I now have the antenna diversity option, and have set it to aux, as I have seen that as advice on many places. No change though. Oh, and I have it at max power in the power options.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The only suggestion I can offer would be to try the latest driver for that model wifi card.

This package contains the driver installation package for the Realtek RTL8188EE, RTL8723DE, RTL8821CE and RTL8822BE wireless LAN Controller in the supported notebook models running a supported operating system.

2023.58.704.2017 Rev.A     Sep 11, 2017

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp81501-82000/sp81917.exe

Probably the biggest issue is I believe that there is only 1 wifi antenna connected to the card which pretty much cuts the range significantly.

[PizzaBeard]

I've installed as advised. Seems about the same, but time will tell. I'd read that the antenna may be the issue, quite disappointing on a brand new laptop. I was quite limited though because I wanted something with an internal optical drive, which are becoming tricky to find. Perhaps an external antenna is the answer?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

There is no way to hook up an external antenna that I know of.

If that driver doesn't help, you may have to purchase an external usb wifi adapter.

They make some pretty small ones nowadays that don't stick out too far from the USB port.

Yes, you have to be pretty choosy about selecting the model laptop you want.

I always check to make sure they come with a dual band wifi N or AC card.

Those notebooks have to have two antennas and the reception is always good.

I don't even know why HP or any other manufacturer would bother putting single band cards with only one antenna in a notebook today.

[PizzaBeard]

This was actually the only laptop I could find that got close to what I wanted, and before I bought it, I hadn't even considered the antenna as a potential problem, since I've never encountered the issue before. Oh, well... thanks for your help and time. Much appreciated, even if there is no actual remedy to the problem. At least I can stop pulling my hair out looking for an answer that isn't there.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

Sorry that driver didn't help.

If you are happy with the PC otherwise, just get an external usb adapter.

Something like this.  I have this one plugged into one of my HP desktop PC's and it sticks out less than an inch.

https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Max-Stream-Dual-Band-MU-MIMO-WUSB6100M/dp/B01DT48WRQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UT...

[COE2k14]

Realtek RTL8723DE is now working in Linux:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Wireless-and-Networking/Realtek-8723DE-wifi-module-unofficial...

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @PizzaBeard

There is now an even newer W10 driver for that model wifi adapter which you may want to try...

2023.66.1104.2017 Rev.A     Nov 21, 2017

http://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp82501-83000/sp82801.exe

[COE2k14]

I have the recent driver installed for RTL8723DE Wireless and Bluetooth. Wifi signal strength is poor.  But, in Linux (Ubuntu, Debian etc), the signal strength is very good. I have to use an driver parameter "ant_sel=2" in Linux to get satisfactory result. So, the Windows 10 driver for RTL8723DE has to include the optimization to use the antenna parameter (I guess) to get the result as in Linux.

[chetanc10]

I might have missed the proper answer in the bunch of answers already given.

modprobe would work. But you have to do a modprobe for removal and insertion of our 8723de driver every time the system is rebooted.

I have a static fix for this to avoid modprobe and it uses the same 'ant_sel' others are talking about.

After doing:
git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new.git

I opened the file rtl8723de/sw.c and checked the default value of ant_sel and it's default to 0.

module_param_named(ant_sel, rtl8723de_mod_params.ant_sel, int, 0444);
MODULE_PARM_DESC(ant_sel, "Set to 1 or 2 to force antenna number (default 0)\n");

As suggested by other people here, ant_sel value can be set to 2 for better signal strength. So I've changed it in driver itself from structure rtl8723de_mod_params:
.ant_sel = 0;
to
.ant_sel = 2;

Saved the file and did:

make && make install;
reboot;

Worked for me!