A work-around for flaky WiFi on the Stream 7

[eekaspider]

I've found this to be a perfectly good tablet. It isn't fancy by any means, but I'm very pleased with the utility of such an inexpensive device. The one hassle I've had is that the Wi-Fi can be a bit unreliable. Pretty often it won't be able to find any networks (at work or at home), requiring a restart.

Recently I found that all it really needs is for the Wi-Fi adapter to be restarted. Doing that manually in the device manager is a hassle, however, so I've created a batch file that does it.

I can't seem to use .bat files as attachments (sigh), but this is what the file should contain:

@echo off
netsh interface set interface Wi-Fi DISABLED
netsh interface set interface Wi-Fi ENABLED

For greater convenience I wanted to be able to run the file as a tile from the Start screen, which turns out to be less obvious than I thought - you can't pin batch files with a long-press. This workaround (Pin .bat files to Windows 8 Start Screen) works, however.

The only remaining hassle is that the batch file needs to be run as an Admin, and the only way I know to do that is to long-press the tile, open the submenu, choose "run as administrator", and OK the credentials elevation. It is a stupid pain, and I'd love to know how to have the file automatically launched with admin privileges. Does anyone know how to do that?

 

[Jiffybag]

I'm assuming you are using win8.

The original drivers that came with the device were great, the updates then had the same symptoms as you describe.

The only way I found to properly fix in win8 was a factory reset and disable driver update for the WiFi.

In win10, the drivers seem stable, although the tablet seems to reboot during sleep about once or twice a week

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[eekaspider]

10532, actually.

I have what I think is the latest driver (3008.11.515.2015, from July), but I still have these issues. The wi-fi reset fixes things every time, which helps to keep the annoyance level low.

 

[Jiffybag]

In that case, check the settings in Device Manager for the Wifi card;

- Antenna Diversity needs to be switched to 'on'.
- Bandwidth needs to be set to '20mhz only'

 

[eekaspider]

Interesting! I've put in those settings (my card was set to disabled and 20_40, respectively) and I'll see if it makes a difference.

Thanks.

 

[Linuslion]

Hi , I had very similar trouble with Wi-Fi Network Adapter on my HP Stream 7 and it took me a long time to figure out that the NEW driver was CAUSING THE PROBLEM.
My Driver that works:
Realtek RTL8723BS Wireless LAN 802.11n SDIO Network Adapter
Version: 3007.6.901.2014
It works well now and I have been very pleased with Wi-Fi performance . I was ready to give up on it but I'd passed the warranty return point . Hope I understood correctly what your problem was Good Luck ,
Mike

 

[Paisley Pirate]

I was having this in Win8.1 - haven't seen it show up since I upgraded to Win10 today. Time will tell.

Anyway, what I would do is slide the right side, and settings is right there, click it, click wifi, turn it off, turn it on, and it would come back on, never had it not come back up full strength and working.

 

[eekaspider]

At some point a few months ago this issue completely disappeared for me. I think it was a new driver (3008.30.315.2016, from April 1 2016), because the settings jiffybag mentioned above weren't the solution and I'm (successfully) using the opposite settings now.

The Stream 7 is still a pretty limited device, and I don't use it for much, but thanks to reliable wifi it is not useless!