Broadcom Wireless N adapter not working in N mode - Samsung NF210 netbook

[moeburn]

I have a little Samsung NF210 netbook, and its a sexy little white thing compared to most netbooks, but I can't get the Wireless N mode to work. On my friend's laptop, he has the option to connect to two different wireless networks in my residence: one for G mode @ 2.4ghz, and one for N mode @ 5ghz. He is able to connect to the N mode just fine, and proves it by transferring files across the network at 10mB/s. But my netbook only sees the 2.4ghz G mode option, and when connected, I get a measily 2mB/s file transfer rate, which is pretty much the same as my internet connection. I transfer large files very often, so this is kinda important to me.

In device manager, it has a "Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter", but in the 'advanced' tab of the adapter properties, there isn't any option for setting the wireless mode, just crap like "WZC IBSS Channel" and "BSS PLCP Header" and "WTF OMG BBQ Threshold". In fact, I don't see anything regarding wireless mode settings anywhere. Someone said this might be because older wireless adapters only run in "Draft N" mode. I'm not sure what that is, but this laptop is only 18 months old, so I doubt it...

Thanks for taking the time to read my question, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Detection]

Maybe your adapter doesn't support 5GHz mode, tell him to set the router to Wireless N 2.4GHz too and see if you can connect then

[moeburn]

  On 15/07/2012 at 17:22, Detection said:

Maybe your adapter doesn't support 5GHz mode, tell him to set the router to Wireless N 2.4GHz too and see if you can connect then

Okay I didn't realise this is how it works, but apparently Wireless N 2.4ghz @ 300mpbs is enabled too. So I'm not sure if I actually am connecting in N mode, since there's nothing that actually says what mode I'm connected in the wireless status, other than the fact that I'm limited to 54mbps.

[Detection]

Is it 2 separate APs for G and N ? Or the same router with G and N enabled ?

If they are separate then surely you should know which one you connected to whether it is the N or G AP, if it is the same one, disable G and see if you can still connect.

I have 3 wireless N devices here, all mobile devices / small devices and none of them connect higher than 65mbps, could just be the limitation of your netbooks adapter

[moeburn]

  On 15/07/2012 at 18:11, Detection said:

Is it 2 separate APs for G and N ? Or the same router with G and N enabled ?

If they are separate then surely you should know which one you connected to whether it is the N or G AP, if it is the same one, disable G and see if you can still connect.

I have 3 wireless N devices here, all mobile devices / small devices and none of them connect higher than 65mbps, could just be the limitation of your netbooks adapter

Not sure what an AP is, access point? This is regarding one single router that has 802.11b/g/n @ 2.4ghz and 802.11n @ 5ghz. I am able to connect to the router just fine, but there's no way (in "wireless network connection status" and "network connection details" in Windows 7 Ultimate) to tell which 802.11 mode it is using. The only indication is the signal speed, which never goes above 52 Mbps.

I will try and disable everything but N and see what happens. But even then, is there any method or freeware that lets me see which mode I'm connected in?

[Detection]

Never having used 5GHz on my router, can you actually have 5GHz and 2.4GHz simultaneously ?

I would disable 5GHz and see how you get on

If you disable everything but N and connect, then you don't need anything to show you which mode you connected in, it would have to be N

EDIT - AP = Access Point yea

Just read this about encryption type: (untested)

Using TKP will lock your speed to 54mbps, use AES if possible

If the adapter complies with the "draft" standard, then the adapter will be restricted to 54Mbps if you use WEP/WPA-TKIP encryption protocols. But, if it complies with the non-draft version of the standard...it will not be restricted to 54Mbps and can still perform up to the full "n" data-rate supported by the adapter even if you use a WEP/WPA-TKIP protocol

[moeburn]

  On 15/07/2012 at 18:33, Detection said:

Never having used 5GHz on my router, can you actually have 5GHz and 2.4GHz simultaneously ?

I would disable 5GHz and see how you get on

If you disable everything but N and connect, then you don't need anything to show you which mode you connected in, it would have to be N

EDIT - AP = Access Point yea

Technically, the way it does 5ghz and 2.4ghz at the same time is by having two separate AP's inside the router, transmitting with two different SSIDs (the 5ghz one just adds the word "-5ghz" to the end of your assigned SSID).

As I brought my laptop with me to the router (so i could use ethernet cable while i messed with the wifi settings), i noticed the speed went all the way up to 65mbps! This must mean I am in wireless N mode! Granted, that only happened when the signal strength was between -10dB and 0dB (5 feet away from router), but it works! Now the question is why I am only running at 65, when the router is clearly 300mbps capable. Even my laptop can detect that the router can provide up to 300.

I heard this might be because the router will transmit at the speed of the slowest device on the network? If that's the case, then I understand why they added a separate 5ghz transmitter for the fast N devices. And the slowest device on my network is probably my 802.11g printer, and I'm not gonna disconnect that, so I guess I'm screwed until I get a 5ghz capable wifi adapter for my laptop.

Thanks for your help!

[Ambroos]

Sometimes you need some tool from your notebook manufacturer to get it to work. On my Sony Vaio, even when I use Intel's own drivers I have to enable 5Ghz in Sony's own network manager, otherwise it won't work.

[Detection]

  On 15/07/2012 at 18:43, moeburn said:

Technically, the way it does 5ghz and 2.4ghz at the same time is by having two separate AP's inside the router, transmitting with two different SSIDs (the 5ghz one just adds the word "-5ghz" to the end of your assigned SSID).

As I brought my laptop with me to the router (so i could use ethernet cable while i messed with the wifi settings), i noticed the speed went all the way up to 65mbps! This must mean I am in wireless N mode! Granted, that only happened when the signal strength was between -10dB and 0dB (5 feet away from router), but it works! Now the question is why I am only running at 65, when the router is clearly 300mbps capable. Even my laptop can detect that the router can provide up to 300.

I heard this might be because the router will transmit at the speed of the slowest device on the network? If that's the case, then I understand why they added a separate 5ghz transmitter for the fast N devices. And the slowest device on my network is probably the 802.11g printer, and I'm not gonna disconnect that, so I guess I'm screwed until I get a 5ghz capable wifi adapter for my laptop.

65mbps is the highest my mobile devices connect at too but a wireless usb key I bought the other day will connect at 150mbps at the same time

I edited my post to include about the encryption settings (If it applies to your setup)

[moeburn]

  On 15/07/2012 at 18:45, Detection said:

65mbps is the highest my mobile devices connect at too but a wireless usb key I bought the other day will connect at 150mbps at the same time

I edited my post to include about the encryption settings (If it applies to your setup)

I also just realised my blackberry might be forcing the router to limit its speed... I have too many wireless devices.

I read your post about encryption stuff... I am using AES. Here's my wireless setup:

[Detection]

afaik, having different wireless N devices connect at lower speeds won't make all the wireless N devices connect at that speed

Problem comes in when you have G/N network and a G device connected, the N network will drop to the G speeds

Sure Budman will chime in soon enough and sort it out for you

[moeburn]

  On 15/07/2012 at 18:56, Detection said:

afaik, having different wireless N devices connect at lower speeds won't make all the wireless N devices connect at that speed

Problem comes in when you have G/N network and a G device connected, the N network will drop to the G speeds

Sure Budman will chime in soon enough and sort it out for you

Ah, well either way thats what I meant. My laptop cannot use the 5ghz network, only the 2.4ghz one, which is G/N. It has many slow G devices on it like a printer, a blackberry, etc, so it is being limited to 64mbps (at 5 ft away) which is effectively 8mbps in my room, which means the network file transfer rate is almost the same as the internet download speed.

unrelated: I could have sworn my account had an avatar picture... man how these forums have changed since I was last here...

[Detection]

  On 15/07/2012 at 21:21, moeburn said:

Ah, well either way thats what I meant. My laptop cannot use the 5ghz network, only the 2.4ghz one, which is G/N. It has many slow G devices on it like a printer, a blackberry, etc, so it is being limited to 64mbps (at 5 ft away) which is effectively 8mbps in my room, which means the network file transfer rate is almost the same as the internet download speed.

Best way to overcome that is to attach another wireless AP in G mode only, then set the main router to N only, that way your N clients connect at their N speeds, and your G devices still have a wireless connection

[remixedcat]

DDWRT

[moeburn]

  On 15/07/2012 at 21:23, Detection said:

Best way to overcome that is to attach another wireless AP in G mode only, then set the main router to N only, that way your N clients connect at their N speeds, and your G devices still have a wireless connection

That sounds like a really good idea! Do I add it as a child of the Netgear router, and then assign it as the DMZ?

  On 15/07/2012 at 21:30, remixedcat said:

DDWRT

I googled that (you should have linkified it :p), and it appears to be an open-source firmware/OS for routers to open up more settings/features... but we chose this Netgear specifically for that reason. I mean look at the screenshot I provided; see all those settings pages on the left scroll bar? That's only half of them! The router also automatically updates its own firmware online, which is regularily updated. I don't think I want to be tinkering with the firmware just now.

[Detection]

  On 15/07/2012 at 21:48, moeburn said:

That sounds like a really good idea! Do I add it as a child of the Netgear router, and then assign it as the DMZ?

If you're just gonna use a spare router, turn off DHCP on the G router and give it an IP on the same range as the network, and set its wireless up the way you need it for the G devices, then plug it LAN to LAN port with the N router :)