Strange issue - Linksys e1200

[truoc]

First off if this is posted in the wrong section I apologize and feel free to move it. First a little bit about my current household setup:

Currently have Comcast's Performance tier internet and usually get anywhere from 22-27mbps down and 4-5mbps up which has treated us well.
Xfinity SMCD3GNV gateway modem in bridge mode so I can use my own router
Desktop #1 is hard wired to router
Desktop #2 is wirelessly connected (has Asus PCE-N15 wireless NIC in it - driver up to date)
Macbook wirelessly connected
Xbox 360 S hard wired to router
Nokia Lumia 900 wirelessly connected

I have a few different routers (Asus rt-n56u, Linksys e1200, Linksys WRT54GL all with latest firmwares) that I mess with far too often and am having a weird issue with the e1200. I know I shouldn't even bother with either of the Linksys branded routers I own because the rt-n56u smokes them both, but I like tinkering and none of my devices are 5ghz capable (I know I could just shut off 5ghz on the rt-n56u) so I'd rather just use the single band e1200 if possible. What I found is that when I am using the e1200 every device works fine and gets the normal speed (22-27 down/5 up) except desktop #2. The speeds are absolutely atrocious. Even the WRT54GL which is wireless G smokes the e1200, but only on desktop #2. I thought it might be a setting which is different than when I test the other routers, but I make sure they are all the same. The download speeds sometimes barely get to 5mbps but upload speeds are fine on desktop #2 with the e1200 whereas with the WRT54GL and rt-n56u the download speeds are 20+mbps. Would anyone have any idea why this would be? Just kind of strange that every device works as it should other than one computer with the e1200, but that computer isn't effected when the other routers are tested with the same settings. Thanks for your time.

 

[coxhaus]

I don’t have an answer to incompatibility between the NIC and E1200 router but I would use the fastest router that you own and get rid of the E1200 router. You can setup the 5 GHz with a separate SSID, I would not turn it off, maybe use it as a guest account or in the future when you have new hardware which supports it.

 

[truoc]

I don’t have an answer to incompatibility between the NIC and E1200 router but I would use the fastest router that you own and get rid of the E1200 router. You can setup the 5 GHz with a separate SSID, I would not turn it off, maybe use it as a guest account or in the future when you have new hardware which supports it.

Yeah I'm sort of out of answers as well. Here's a few things I have tried:

-Made sure the router was running the latest firmware
-Made sure the wireless adapter had the latest driver
-Rolled back the driver on the wireless adapter
-Turned off ipv6 in the wireless adapter settings
-Changed the channel width on the router from auto (20/40) to strictly 20mhz
-Changed wireless channel from auto to 1,6,11
-Toggled WMM on and off

All of these things made no difference for desktop #2 and it can only achieve around 3-5mbps with the e1200. Probably will just use the Asus rt-n56u, but since the e1200 and desktop #2 have problems with each other it has me interested to figure out why that is lol.

 

[jlake]

I read somewhere that you have to go to realtek site and update the driver. I don't have any of those products you mentioned, so I can't say for sure. I've had driver headaches in the past with various products. Sometimes going directly to the manufacturers website helps and sometimes it causes me more headaches.

http://wikidevi.com/wiki/ASUS_PCE-N15

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/

 

[truoc]

I read somewhere that you have to go to realtek site and update the driver. I don't have any of those products you mentioned, so I can't say for sure. I've had driver headaches in the past with various products. Sometimes going directly to the manufacturers website helps and sometimes it causes me more headaches.

http://wikidevi.com/wiki/ASUS_PCE-N15

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/

Thanks for the tip, but unfortunately this didn't help either. I also thought about trying a different PCIe slot on the motherboard, but unfortunately there is only one on the motherboard. I did take the card out and reseat it, but still same issue. No idea if this will be of any help, but I have included a link to an album of screenshots of each setting for the Asus PCE-N15 wireless card in the computer. These all look ok or do any of them need changed? If they look ok then I guess I'll just use the rt-n56u since I'm at a loss. Thanks for your time!

http://imgur.com/a/TV92L#0

 

[jlake]

I'm not aware of any setting on the router or the adapter that would help.

Here's the steps that I would take and I would test after each step. After I tried all of them, then I would throw in the towel.

1. Remove all wireless profiles.

http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/GetAr...less_Network_Profiles_.xml&pid=80&converted=0

2. Give the E1200 a unique SSID that you've never used before.

3. Use inSSIDer to rule out interference. Unplug all your other routers from electrical outlet.

4. Go to device manager and uninstall your Asus adapter. Reboot computer.

5. Run CCleaner.

6. Reset TCP/IP stack on that computer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357

7. perform 30-30-30 reset on E1200

8. install DD-WRT (if your version of E1200 supports it)

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_E1200

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=153176

or tomato

http://wikidevi.com/wiki/Linksys_E1200_v2

(make sure you know your version # and use the right firmware or you might brick it).

9. Throw in towel.

 

[truoc]

I'm not aware of any setting on the router or the adapter that would help.

Here's the steps that I would take and I would test after each step. After I tried all of them, then I would throw in the towel.

1. Remove all wireless profiles.

http://kb.linksys.com/Linksys/GetAr...less_Network_Profiles_.xml&pid=80&converted=0

2. Give the E1200 a unique SSID that you've never used before.

3. Use inSSIDer to rule out interference. Unplug all your other routers from electrical outlet.

4. Go to device manager and uninstall your Asus adapter. Reboot computer.

5. Run CCleaner.

6. Reset TCP/IP stack on that computer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357

7. perform 30-30-30 reset on E1200

8. install DD-WRT (if your version of E1200 supports it)

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_E1200

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=153176

or tomato

http://wikidevi.com/wiki/Linksys_E1200_v2

(make sure you know your version # and use the right firmware or you might brick it).

9. Throw in towel.

Thanks for the reply. It's definitely an incompatibility issue between the adapter and the router. I just tried a TP-Link TL-WN722N USB adapter in the same computer with the e1200 and could achieve the normal 27mbps I get on all the other computers. No idea why the Asus PCIe adapter is having issues with the e1200, but oh well I'll either just use the USB adapter or use a different router. Thanks for all the suggestions and help!

 

[truoc]

On another note let me ask this question. Would there be any real benefit if I used the rt-n56u over the e1200? I know the rt-n56u is superior on the charts, but as you can see in my first post my networking needs I don't think are that demanding. I mean I don't have any computers that are able to use the 5ghz band, the macbook is barely used and when it is it is used for general surfing/youtube, no files are transferred over the network, and the desktop that is wireless only gets used for general youtube, but mostly Facebook. The only demanding things that get done are playing online games with the Xbox that is hard wired to the router and the other desktop computer that is hard wired plays online games as well. Based on those things would the rt-n56u be any better than the e1200 considering most of the stuff that is done on my network is through being hard wired and not wireless? Thanks.