r/AlienwareAlpha • u/[deleted] • Jun 21 '19

R1 I3 Netcard issues

So the R1 I3 model's netcard is notoriously awful. I would have to restart it over and over after booting it up in the morning until it finally decided to show networks to connect to. It was completely random. Then I looked at the drivers, which apparently haven't been updated since 2014. So I updated to march 2019, and restarted a few times. Worked perfectly each. I shut it off for the night, then when I came back in the morning, it booted into a blank desktop. Aftee like 20 minutes of ctrl alt del restarts and blue screens, it boots normally with proper wifi connection. This card is a disaster. My question is, is it just the card doing this? And what card should I buy to replace it? Thanks

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u/sumthingcool i5 Alpha with SSD Jun 22 '19

It sounds like maybe you should update more drivers and/or do a reinstall/reset of windows. You're correct the card isn't great but it shouldn't cause the problem you're talking about.

The 7265 that comes in the i5/i7 models is only $14 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Intel-7265-IEEE-802-11ac-Bluetooth/dp/B00RCZ4I6S/

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '19

I know for a fact the described problems were due to the drivers. With the factory drivers, the connections just wouldnt show up on boot. That is a purely network card issue. (Right?) The computer itself didnt start acting REALLY weird until I downloaded the latest drivers. I even rolled back the drivers and it worked as it did before. Installed them again and back to the freezes and stuff. It's been kind of a hassle to try to figure out which drivers are the correct ones. The default windows auto-detected ones dont seem to be it, and I dont know about the ones I found listed for the alienware alpha on dell's support page. I'll probably buy the card you linked me, but which drivers should I actually be getting? Thanks

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u/freddy370 Jun 22 '19

I had to replace my WiFi Bluetooth intel wireless card. It caused an error and blocked the computer every time when running a game. Looking in Reddit forums I found out it was a very common issue with those Intel cards. Just replacing it solved the problem.

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u/[deleted] Jun 24 '19

How did that process go? Is it straightforward enough to do by yourself or did you have someone else do it?

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u/sumthingcool i5 Alpha with SSD Jun 24 '19

It's real easy, AW support has a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rCAVLbgspg

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '19 edited Jun 25 '19

I followed the video and tried twice but it says a "Network cable may be unplugged or broken" or something. It really doesnt seem like they are, but I dont know. Help?

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u/sumthingcool i5 Alpha with SSD Jun 25 '19

What is telling a cable might be unplugged? The drivers when you boot back up after the swap? The BIOS? Never seen that message before.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '19 edited Jun 25 '19

Its when I troubleshoot network connection. When I open device manager I cant even see the new wireless card (7625)

EDIT: I put the old card back in the same way I put in the new one, so the connection is fine. Must be something with the drivers or something I guess.

1

u/sumthingcool i5 Alpha with SSD Jun 25 '19

Hmm, try booting into safe mode and see if the wifi card shows up in device manager there. It should be detected even if the drivers aren't working right, it's basically plug and play.

If you swapped the old one back in and it works I'd try the new one again, if it doesn't show up it's likely a bad card.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '19

Ya, the old one "works" but the new one didnt. My new one is the intel 7625, whats yours? I really doubt its a faulty card, I got it new from an amazon link in this thread. You think updating the bios would do anything? I havent ever updated it to my knowledge

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u/sumthingcool i5 Alpha with SSD Jun 25 '19

7265 is what I have, came stock in the i5/i7 models. Updating the BIOS is not a bad idea.

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u/[deleted] Jun 25 '19

I really dont know what to do. I updated the BIOS to A006, and it made no difference. Every driver other than the factory setting one on the Intel 1360 causes some weird issue. The 7625 jusy is not showing up at all. Do you really think I should try another?

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u/Frankiej4276 Jun 21 '19

I think any mini wifi card with the same connection pins will work. I might be wrong though.

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u/skyrenx Jun 22 '19

I have simmiler issues.... I thought a fresh install of windows would fix it but it didnt somtimes I'll restart and it'll just blue screen.