Wifi takes forever to connect on startup...wtf

TechLady

TechLady

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Interesting problem...Toshiba Satellite A665 takes FOREVER to connect wirelessly on startup. Otherwise performance is fine, system itself is not really slow. Takes forever to connect to other networks on boot when traveling as well, so the problem can certainly be replicated in that regard. Does just fine once it gets going but customer has to wait a solid ten minutes for it to get its act together. Again, not general performance problem--just the wireless. Another tech supposedly disabled/reenabled the adapter with no change. Win7 with SP1, all up to date. Not sure where to start with this.
 
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Do you have another wifi card to throw in the laptop to test it? I had a doggy/slow one awhile back which turned out to be a faulty card.
 
katz said:
Do you have another wifi card to throw in the laptop to test it? I had a doggy/slow one awhile back which turned out to be a faulty card.
Click to expand...

No, but my instinct says that may not be the problem since it performs just fine once ten or fifteen minutes has gone by after boot...
 
For me, it usually deals with the WiFi driver or services related not starting in a timely fashion or some program conflicting.

- Uninstall the WiFi driver fully, reinstalling
- Uninstall any WiFi software that takes WiFi function from windows, even if Windows is managing WiFi. That Intel software or stuff like the Lenovo/Dell WiFi management software sucks IMO. I have seen some of these programs that at boot time would re-take control of the WiFi from Windows because of an autorun and then give it back to Windows after the program starts.
- Have had problems with Cellular Device software and Wireless hotspot software from Sprint, Verizon and others.
-Sometimes the AV software's Firewall kicks in late, holding up progress.. uninstalling any AV software should fix it if that's the case. However, in the case of Norton, McAfee, and Kaspersky you may still need to run their respective "Full Removal Tool" because the built-in uninstaller will fail quietly. I presume that is because it was broken or compromised in the first place.

If all that fails, do a reset on the networking stack with D7 and/or the tweaking.com System Repair utility OR you could try these first. Whether you do these utilities first is up to you any usually goes just fine.
 
I am sure you did a search on this model and it's wifi problems. These and Lenovo s that use the Realtek cards are best fixed by replacing the card with an Intel card. You can waste a lot of time messing with drivers and settings without much luck.
 
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TechLady said:
No, but my instinct says that may not be the problem since it performs just fine once ten or fifteen minutes has gone by after boot...
Click to expand...

And your instinct tells you that it may take ten minutes for a driver to warm up? Although a delayed start in a service...I suppose it's possible. At any rate, I'm with altrenda on this one. The reason that I suggested a card swap is that it may be a quick & dirty method of troubleshooting - the issue may be resolved quickly and you won't be chasing down a driver/service/software issue for hours. It's worth a shot.

Also, by checking the card you may find that the existing card is loose in its slot from the laptop being handled roughly. Re-seating a loose component is a known fix for many issues. But we all troubleshoot by using different methods; for me, I check/clean all hardware first...usually go to the logs after that. YMMV ;)
 
Toshi laptop....I wonder if it's an Atheros wireless chipset? I hate...Hate...HATE Atheros wireless cards. Can't throw them to the ground and smash them up with my feet fast enough and with enough satisfaction that it's destroyed!

Next question...what antivirus is on there? As a test...uninstall the antivirus software, reboot....run a TCP/Winsock repair....reboot. Now see how it runs.

I have seen some antivirus software really...reeeeeaally...slow down the ability of the wireless NIC to come alive and latch on. And oddly enough...can depend on the wireless network card type....some AV works fine with one brand, but has issues with another.
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys, very helpful. I'm going to bring it back to my workshop this weekend and check logs first. I'll let you know what I find.
 
I just had a similar issue with a HP laptop and Intel adapter. Wireless adapter connected fine during cold boot but would take minutes to connect when awaking from sleep.

I had the client use the NIC for a few days and never an issue. I just uninstalled the wifi adapter, rebooted, let Win 7 install the software and problem gone.

I see where you said "another tech supposedly disabled the adapter." I never believe the customers because they aren't techs. Even when I was supporting other techs in the field I always started troubleshooting from the top like no one was ever there. Plus disabling/enabling the adapter is not the same as uninstalling/reinstalling.

Good luck!
 
I wonder if the power management setting is turning off the NIC on startup. if you check the NIC properties - power management tab in Device Manager is there an option to allow Windows to turn off this device to save power?
 
Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this...client didn't respond and just gave me laptop now. Event viewer shows hundreds of Service control manager errors, event 7009.
 
my asus laptop had similar problems. i put up with it for ages then decided to uninstall the "asus wireless console" software and the problem magically went away.

iow could be the oem wireless software. the windows wireless software works just fine on it's own.

g
 
Are you using Windows connection manager or the Toshiba connection app? I would use Windows connection manager to connect to wifi to test if it is the wifi manager.
 
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