Windows 10 laptop hogging the wifi

tsb

A couple of months ago I posted about an Acer Laptop https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6332885/weird-problem-with-wifi-windows-10-laptop/p1
The laptop although slow was usable after the reinstall.  It has been used a handful of times over the last month without issue.  I booted it up yesterday and it is doing the same as it was before the reinstallation of Windows.  Anything else that is connected to the same wifi router loses internet speed and pages just hang while loading.  As soon as I put the Acer laptop into 'airplane mode'  the other devices speed back up to normal.

I haven't changed any settings, no new software has been installed although there has been Windows updates. Anyone any ideas?

J_B

Just a guess - can you set the Acer to just use 2.4 Ghz wifi?

Think it's in Settings / Network / Wifi perhaps

EDIT - Device Manager / Network Adapters / select your wireless adapter / advanced / preferred band ... and choose 2.4

Similar happened to me when I was using wireless printing with my Canon printer and then again when we purchased a Sonos speaker

tsb

I'll certainly give that a go, thank you.

debitcardmayhem

right click on the windows start and select run, then type  perfmon /res

from performance monitor you can see what is running on the network tab

[Deleted User]

tsb said:

A couple of months ago I posted about an Acer Laptop https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6332885/weird-problem-with-wifi-windows-10-laptop/p1
The laptop although slow was usable after the reinstall.  It has been used a handful of times over the last month without issue.  I booted it up yesterday and it is doing the same as it was before the reinstallation of Windows.  Anything else that is connected to the same wifi router loses internet speed and pages just hang while loading.  As soon as I put the Acer laptop into 'airplane mode'  the other devices speed back up to normal.

I haven't changed any settings, no new software has been installed although there has been Windows updates. Anyone any ideas?

Pretty much the same as I said in your previous post, that Wifi NIC is outdated but I'll go a bit further now and say it might not be functioning correctly - maybe the aerial connection is duff, often use cables running into the screen of the laptop, these may have perished and now it is being rude on the wifi because it can't hear the other clients and it isn't sharing airtime properly..

Possibly the Acer is trying to download updates this time you have switched it on and it is hogging all the airtime.

Find the connection speed it is using in the network settings along with what network activity is happening and it will give a better idea of what is going on.

tsb

The link speed receive/transmit is 54/54 mbps and the network band is 2.4 GHz.

With the resource monitor running there is a number of svchost.exe, chrome.exe, dasHost.exe and system processes showing.  I'm not fully understanding what to look for but nothing seems to be unusual especially after comparing the resource monitor on another laptop.

What is now happening is that after 20 minutes or so of the laptop being connected to the wifi, the home router loses connection to the internet and has to be reset.  This can't be a coincidence, this laptop is upsetting the home network when it's wifi is turned on.  

[Deleted User]

tsb said:

The link speed receive/transmit is 54/54 mbps and the network band is 2.4 GHz.

With the resource monitor running there is a number of svchost.exe, chrome.exe, dasHost.exe and system processes showing.  I'm not fully understanding what to look for but nothing seems to be unusual especially after comparing the resource monitor on another laptop.

What is now happening is that after 20 minutes or so of the laptop being connected to the wifi, the home router loses connection to the internet and has to be reset.  This can't be a coincidence, this laptop is upsetting the home network when it's wifi is turned on.  

Do both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands go down when the problem occurs?

Jenni_D

Do the 2.4 and 5 networks have the same SSID names? (May not exactly relate to what you're seeing but I've had connection issues in the past when both networks have the same SSID, so I always make sure they have separate names now).

tsb

[Deleted User] said:

tsb said:

The link speed receive/transmit is 54/54 mbps and the network band is 2.4 GHz.

With the resource monitor running there is a number of svchost.exe, chrome.exe, dasHost.exe and system processes showing.  I'm not fully understanding what to look for but nothing seems to be unusual especially after comparing the resource monitor on another laptop.

What is now happening is that after 20 minutes or so of the laptop being connected to the wifi, the home router loses connection to the internet and has to be reset.  This can't be a coincidence, this laptop is upsetting the home network when it's wifi is turned on.  

Do both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands go down when the problem occurs?

Yes both bands go down.  

poppellerant

I'm betting that the laptop is doing running Windows Update, which can be confirmed by looking at the Update & Security section of Settings.

What speed is your broadband? It could be that the laptop is saturating a slow internet connection, merely by running Windows Update.  Maybe run a speed test while the laptop is off to find if your speed matches what what you normally see - if not, you could have an connection problem.

tsb

poppellerant said:

I'm betting that the laptop is doing running Windows Update, which can be confirmed by looking at the Update & Security section of Settings.

What speed is your broadband? It could be that the laptop is saturating a slow internet connection, merely by running Windows Update.  Maybe run a speed test while the laptop is off to find if your speed matches what what you normally see - if not, you could have an connection problem.

I thought it was Windows Update that was causing some of the problems so I have them off at the moment on this laptop. So definitely can't be that. 
I have fibre broadband but speed isn't the fastest at about 22mb/s but is more than enough for two laptops doing everyday surfing, emails etc. Even then it shouldn't cause the router to drop the connection should it?

Even if the laptop is just connected to the wifi and not being used it is upsetting something, enough to make another laptop unable to do a simple google search, the page just hangs.  If I turn off the wifi to the Acer laptop the other laptop suddenly springs back to life.  If I leave this Acer laptop connected to the wifi for more than 20 minutes, the router drops connection and the router needs to be reset to regain internet access.