Puzzling Wireless Network Issue

[Vapor1000]

So in the last week i have updated my laptop (Vostro 3750) from the 1TB Samsung 5400rpm spinner that i have been running for the last 4 years to a 1TB Mushkin Reactor SSD.

Nothing else hardware wise has changed in the laptop.

The operating system installed for both drives is Windows 7 64 bit.

Ever since i loaded windows on the 1TB SSD, i have found my wireless connection running at about one quarter of what it did before i changed hard drives.
For reference, on the old 1TB Spinner with the old install of windows, my network and internet transfer speeds averaged around 5.2 Megabytes per second, and now with the 1TB SSD and fresh install of windows i average around 1.2 Megabytes per second.

I figured it was simply a driver issue as i downloaded and installed the latest drivers with this fresh install (for the Centrino 1030 Wireless-N Adapter) driver version 15.11.0.9. So i back-revved the drivers to 15.0.0.75 which was the version i was running on the previous install. This resulted in no change.

At this point i thought maybe just maybe something had changed in my wireless network, or my environment causing interference. So i pulled out the SSD and re-installed the old 1TB spinner which still had my old install of windows intact on it. The old spinner started to transfer at about 5 Megabytes per second across the wireless network just as it did before i installed the new SSD.

So i am uncertain what is causing the huge drop in bandwidth from old install to new. I know it is software related clearly as i can still recreate the old transfer rates by tossing in the old hard drive/OS install. I just do not know where to go from here.

Anyone have any ideas/thoughts/guidance to offer?

Thanks in advance!

 

[naota]

Are the chip set drivers up to date? I have had that burn me in the past before. Did you install any of the Intel utilities for the rapid storage, etc. It sounds like the SSD may not be optimized to run on the laptop. That could be the cause. Another thing that could be going on is that the SATA and Mini-PCIE may be sharing the same resources and with the SSD running faster could be bogging the wireless down.

 

[Vapor1000]

Are the chip set drivers up to date? I have had that burn me in the past before. Did you install any of the Intel utilities for the rapid storage, etc. It sounds like the SSD may not be optimized to run on the laptop. That could be the cause. Another thing that could be going on is that the SATA and Mini-PCIE may be sharing the same resources and with the SSD running faster could be bogging the wireless down.

Yup, all of the laptops drivers including chipset and rapid storage are installed.

 

[michalrz]

Yup, all of the laptops drivers including chipset and rapid storage are installed.

You might have knocked the WIFI antenna wire pair (usually white and black) from the tiny SMA sockets on your WIFI card. It could have happened when you were opening the covers. The antenna wires usually go through the hinge and into the screen bezel. Something in that area may have loosened and opened thus crushing your wifi wires.

Edit: re-read and noticed you have double checked and the spinner was giving you faster Wifi. In that case, it sounds like electromagnetic interference or powerline noise. Personally I have heard coil whine appear when SSDs inserted. Try running on battery, without mains power, and try forcing low power CPU modes. That's all I can think of...