WiFi Card RTL8821 CE Problem

[BondanSullivan]

Hello,

I'm using an old HP AC146tx laptop. I have a question about the WiFi card. It came with an RTL8723BE 2.4Ghz card. However, because it was damaged, I bought a second-hand RTL8821CE Dual Band card. When I installed it, everything worked fine, but when I checked the connection speed, I only got 57-72Mbps at 5Ghz. I checked the Wireless Mode settings in Device Manager and found that the maximum menu options were 802.11 a/b/g. However, when I checked using CMD, the Connection Type showed it supported up to 802.11ac, but the Radio Type in CMD showed it only connected to 802.11n. I've tried installing many drivers from HP to Lenovo, but none of them enabled the 802.11ac option.

Is this due to the motherboard's default 2.4Ghz WiFi card?

Additionally, I briefly used a Linux Mint USB Live Boot, and when I checked my home router's connection speed, it was reaching 150Mbps, while on Windows 11 24h2 it was only 72Mbps.

Sorry if this is too long and messy, as I'm using a translator.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Since the card is working, it would have nothing to do with the motherboard or BIOS.

The card has a maximum throughput of 433 MBPS on the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band, but you won't normally ever get that fast of a download speed from that card.

Did you check the actual connection speed by going to the Windows control panel>Network and Internet>Network and Sharing Center>click on the 'View your active networks' and click on your wireless connection?

This is the latest driver HP currently has for that model Wi-Fi card:

Version 2024.10.231.0

sp171538.exe

On a totally unrelated subject, since your notebook does not meet Microsoft's minimum W11 hardware requirements, it will not automatically get an upgrade to the next version of W11.

Your notebook should be running on W11 25H2 which is the current version.

If your notebook has the latest W11 24H2 cumulative and security updates installed, you can run the W11 25H2 enablement file that I zipped up and attached below, and your PC will be updated to W11 25H2 in a couple of minutes.

The file works on PCs supported and not supported to run W11 that are currently running W11 24H2.

Just unzip and run the file.

Here is the source document from Microsoft that describes the attached file which is no longer available on the Microsoft Update Catalog website:

KB5054156: Feature update to Windows 11, version 25H2 by using an enablement package - Microsoft Sup...

My understanding is that W11 25H2 can be upgraded to 26H2 using the same procedure in October when the 26H2 build is released.

[BondanSullivan]

I've tried installing the driver you provided, but the results remain the same.

The connection speed in the control panel also shows only 57.8Mbps at 5GHz. When I use the USB WiFi RTL8188EU, I can get a connection speed of 150Mbps at 2.4GHz.

I've included a screenshot of the device manager settings, which only show 20MHz and auto, and Wireless Mode, which only supports 802.11a/b/g.

Radio types supported : 802.11n 802.11g 802.11b 802.11ac 802.11n 802.11a

Thank you for the 25h2 enablement package file.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know what the problem could be with the Wi-Fi adapter.

I used to own a HP 255 G7 with the same model Wi-Fi adapter and it would connect at 433 MBPS with an excellent signal but I never got download speeds beyond 120 MBPS from that card.

I wish I still had the notebook so I could check the advanced Wi-Fi settings in the device manager, but from what I recall, there was no AC setting to select...just the ones you see in your screenshot, and as you can see in your report it shows the card can support wireless AC.

You can experiment with the #5 A/G setting because that would just eliminate being able to connect to a wireless B router (11 MBPS), and I doubt anyone has one of those anymore.

[BondanSullivan]

Yeah, that's fine.
Actually, everything works pretty well with the signal, but when I run a speed test, it seems like it's not getting the most out of my internet package. I'll try your suggestion.
Thank you for your response.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

If nothing  else, at least you now know how to keep W11 updated other than having to clean install it every year.

[BondanSullivan]

Sorry Paul, could you let me know where I can get the drivers for the Bluetooth too?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Below is the link to the latest W11 25H2 RTL8821CE Bluetooth driver:

16.11.4039.3000     02/28/2026

sp172371.exe

[Paul0311]

I thought I would pass along some information for comparison. I have a hp 14-dk0024wm running windows 10 22h2 that has the RTL8821ce  802.11ac adapter. Your adapter settings in the Advanced tab look the same as mine. The Wireless Mode is set to 802.11a/b/g; there is no 802.11ac option. The 802.11n channel width for 5 GHz is set to Auto. I'm running Driver version 2024.0.10.233 and have been forever. 

When I go into Settings -- wifi -- and look at hardware details it shows Protocol as 802.11ac, Network band 5G and Channel 48 (I configured that in the router). I run a Comcast Speed test and get about 190 Mb/s download and 11 Mb/s upload with latency of 18 msec.

A couple of comments: 

The speed reported in the Control Panel are the transmit and receive rates but don't relate to a real speed test. I have a second laptop running windows 11 that shows a speed of 600 Mb/s via the control panel but I'm only getting 180-230 Mb/s with an actual speed test.

netsh wlan show interfaces         should show the radio type used for the connection. Also look at Rssi to get a snapshot of signal strength (relates to dBm); so check signal strength. The other thing I would look at is Authentication (Security). I read that if a router is set to an older security mode (mismatched with the adapter) it will cause the adapter to fall back to an earlier wifi protocol (802.11n ?).

[BondanSullivan]

Thanks so much, Paul