Wireless Internet Slow - Fast in Safe-Mode

Hi everyone,

I have a very annoying problem with my wireless adapter. My flatmates and I recently had 50MB internet installed. The connection itself is fine, when my laptop is connected via cable it tests near to 50MB, and my flatmates' laptops get a good speed wirelessly too.

When I connect wirelessly it is incredibly slow - testing at less than 1MB. The tests themselves seem to stutter and pause. Downloads are slow (less than 100kb/s) and web pages are slow to open and often hang.

I have a nearly new Dell Inspiron laptop, with an Intel Centrino 1030-N wireless adapter. Windows 7 Home Premium 64.

Now - the strange bit - when I boot in safe mode with networking enabled and connect wirelessly the connection is fast (consistently tests at 40MB+).

I assumed this meant there was a conflicting service or something, but could not find which ones were causing the problem after spending an entire day of trial-and-error switching them off.

I became so frustrated that I formatted the drive and performed a fresh install of windows.... Same problem. Even though I only installed the network drivers the exact same problem has re-occured - fast on safe mode, terribly slow on normal boot.

So, to summarise, so far I have tried:

Updating wireless adapter drivers (and rolling back to older drivers - no change)
Re-installling windows (so no chance of any spyware, adware, or viruses)
Switching off startup services which could be potential culprits - no change

This is really annoying - I just want to enjoy my new superfast internet!

Any ideas or help would be appreciated very much!

I just opened the Intel statistics program and found the following. Is it supposed to only be receiving on the 1mbps? Or have I stumbled onto my problem?

Hi,

Thanks for the responses - but I have (kind of) figured out what the problem is.

Turns out there is a compatibility issue between the Virgin Media "Superhub" router and the Centrino 1030-N wireless adapter.

Switching off the N wireless mode in my adapter nets results of about 15MB in speedtests (a marked improvement on the 0.3 I was getting!). I called Virgin and they are sending me out a free USB wireless N adapter.

That just leaves the mystery of how the N wireless works when in safe mode? I'd rather not use a plug-in USB adapter if possible...

Any more insight would be gratefully received.

(Looks like that re-install was a waste of time then!)

(Oh - and the fresh install was not using the Dell disc - was just Windows)

I had the same issue! My Centrino Wireless-N 1030 adapter had compatibility issues with my Motorola SBG6580 router. Disabling the N-mode solved the problem. Thanks for the help!