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[pascalnavstar]

Performance and Reliability Problems with  WiDi

Two  month ago I received my new Laptop Dell Inspiron 15R (N5110) with Intel Core i5 Sandy Bridge, WiFi Centrino N1030, Intel HD Graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bits and my new D-Link DHD-131 MainStage TV Adapter.

 I had successfully made the setup of my WiDi with a LG 47" TV, and I have tested the WiDi  a little without any problem, using the Clone Display option and the Extended Display Option (1920x1080). The WiDi interface have successfully updated  the D-Link firmware and I have used it a few days without any problem.    WiDi was performing 100% OK.  Two days ago, I have decided to use it again, and for my surprise the WiDi now has serious performance and reliability problems, and it is totally unusable!.   

The WiDi starts OK, but it have very poor performance, interrupting the video transmission after less than a few minutes, keeps turning the TV screen black and restarting again, sometimes shutdown the connection permanently. Other times there is a visible lag between the image in laptop and the image in the TV or sometimes the TV screen shows  little coloured squares pixels and this causes the restart of the connection again and again. The problem occurs using the Clone display option and using the Extended display as well,  appears that the problems is the same. All this is  making WiDi totally unusable.

I have tested the WiDi connection using another TV (Samsung 32"),  have reset the D-Link firmware to factory default, restored my Windows 7 to a  previous restore point down to one week ago, installed new Laptop BIOS, reinstalled the WiDi application, but nothing resolved the problem. 

As my Windows 7 Laptop is kept update  by Microsoft (Windows Update)  and I usually keep the hardware drivers updated using the Dell Support Center Tool, I suspect that some of updates for  drivers or related software is causing the actual problem. A complete Dell hardware test showed  no problems with the Laptop hardware.

Versions of the related  WiDi drivers and software:

Windows 7 Home Premium:
Intel Centrino WiFi N1030:  14.2.0.10
Intel HD Graphics:  8.15.10.2361
Intel PROSet Wireless WiFi: 14.2.0.10
Intel WiDi: 2.1.42.0
D-Link DHD-131 MainStage TV Adapter:
Firmware: 2.0.39.0 (original) and 2.1.16.0 (updated)
 

Another thing is that the blue screen logo on MainStage shows “WiDi 2009-2010” whereas in Windows 7 WiDi software it shows “WiDi 2010-2011”. This is normal? What is the latest firmware level for DHD-131? If it is not 2.1.16.0 how to get it?  Thanks

[JavaLawyer]

Your post was created in the wrong category and was subsequently moved to the DSM-330 board, a "closer" but not perfect fit.

[pascalnavstar]

Thank You for the help

[pascalnavstar]

New Activity:

1)WiDi Related software:

Intel Centrino WiFi N1030: 14.2.0.10
Intel HD Graphics: 8.15.10.2361
Intel PROSet Wireless WiFi: 14.2.0.10
Intel WiDi: 2.1.42.0

2)The D-Link TV Adapter connects OK to TV. The PC WiDi connects OK with the D-Link  TV Adapter initially.  The real problem is that there is a bad overall performance and reliability in this  connection .

3)Just have uninstalled WiDi V 2.1.42.0 and re-installed  the Intel HD Graphics Driver from Dell site  (V 8.15.10.2361) and re-installed the  old version  Intel WiDi Conection Manager V2.1.41.0 A02 from Dell site. The problem now seems worse: it disconnect  in less than 15 seconds and keeps reconecting and disconneting many times, turning the TV screen black until,  after about 10 times in this game, it disconnect  permanently.

4)The WiDi application asked to download and install a new version V 2.1.42.0,  I have accepted, it installed normally, but the problem remains.


5)Run Dell Tests for Intel HD Graphics and Intel Centrino 100% OK.

6)Run Intel Tests for PROSet Wireless and the results and reports shows it is 100% OK

7)WiDi Related software:
 
Intel Centrino WiFi N1030: 14.2.0.10
Intel HD Graphics: 8.15.10.2361
Intel PROSet Wireless WiFi: 14.2.0.10
Intel WiDi: 2.1.42.0

[skexie]

I've got the same issue, only not as bad. My TV will blink at times and will eventually disconnect all video in the middle of display. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Maybe memory related? pascalnavstar, how do you have yours hooked to the TV? Mine is via HDMI. I wonder if the issue is some kind of HDCP encryption check..? I am not using the short cable that came with the device, but a longer HDMI cable that I got from my cable company some years ago.

Also do you have other wireless networks in your residence? I noticed that this device works by using the laptop as an access point to make an ad-hoc network using the IP scheme 192.168.16.2 on my local machine and 192.168.16.3 on the WiDi TV adapter. I'm not sure of the encryption type, though because it seems that the network is not broadcasting. I haven't actually tried to sniff it yet. Could this be a network conflict? I'll try to do some more packet, wireless network research and troubleshooting this weekend to see if there are any collisions happening or not, but for some reason I think that might be it.

I have i7 Dell XPS17 laptop
Adapter hardware version shows 0.0.0.0
Adapter firmware version shows 2.1.16.0 Firmware is up to date (how do you have 2.1.42.0 and MINE also says up to date?!? And how do I update mine?!)
Connection to TV from WiDi Adapter = HDMI


I have not run any tests on mine yet. I was hoping this would be a simple problem to fix, but since this is new technology I guess you and I are the pioneers here!

Will update with more info soon.

[skexie]

found in the Intel MiFi setting that it was set to WPA2-AES. It was also broadcasting on channel 1 by default. Here's what I've done so far tonight - no issues just yet, but again mine were less frequent than yours...

10/15/11 - updated MiFi wireless channel from 1 to 9 - my WiFi is broadcasting on channel 6 with WPA2-AES
Updated the SSID from generic to a new name
   This required authorization again from PC
   This reset my entire aspect ratio settings

wireless NIC info:

Intel Wifi Link 1000 BGN
Driver:  netwns64.sys
Driver Version:  14.0.1.2, 12-21-2010

[pascalnavstar]

Hi Skexie, 

Thank You for the reply.

1) Regarding the D-Link DHD-131, the firmware is identical to yours, that is:
Firmware: 2.0.39.0 (original) and 2.1.16.0 (after update by WiDi software itself). 
2) I found strange that the blue screen logo on D-Link MainStage shows “WiDi 2009-2010” whereas in Windows 7 WiDi software it shows “WiDi 2010-2011”. How it shows in your configuration?
3) My connection uses HDMI too, but I am using the std D-Link cable and worked OK 2 month ago. I have made a test using another longer cable but shows  no difference.
4) My WiFi router is a D-Link DSL-2640B and uses the   WPA-TKIP (not WPA2) encryption and that works   OK with the two Dell laptops Inspiron 15R (only one have WiDi) .  This had no problem when the WiDi worked fine 2 months ago, so I do not think that changing this to WPA2 would make any difference to the problem
5) My WiFi PROSET Wireless shows  NetWNs64 Version 14.2.0.10 (same version of the driver of the Intel Centrino N1030 hardware), and the Intel tests shows no problem.  Your Wireless Hardware is Intel Centrino N1030 too? Or it is a 1000 BGN? Maybe this is the difference!
6) I do not understand the need to change in WiFi Channel. It changes only the MyWify channel, or changes the Router Channel too?  I can not change my Router WiFi channel, and it is working fine. 

Summary: My problem is not resolved, may be it can disappear when Intel releases a new version of drivers and WiDi software... I hope this will be soon! Hope to see more news from You.

Best Regards

Pascal

[pascalnavstar]

Hi Skexie,

MyWifi configuration shows channel 1 and WPA2-PSK.  My Router (D-Link DSL-2640B)  uses channel 11.  WiFi connection is OK. Problem only with WiDi.   The change of channel from 1 to 6 you made on your MyWiFi worked? Near my home there is about another 7 other WiFi Nets using 11b/11g/11n. Can this be a problem? Should I make a channel change? Thanks.

Pascal 

[skexie]

Pascal,

So far, I've been watching Netflix for about 5 hours tonight with no issues. However, I did have a hiccup earlier today while running XBMC and using some music add-ons on my Extended desktop. The screen flashed for a second and the audio cut out momentarily, but no black screen.

I'm not yet sure if changning the wireless channel, SSID and WPA2 passphrase has changed anything, but it hasn't hurt.

Also, I live far away from neighbors so I don't have any other wireless networks that could be causing problems. Do you have a way to view the least crowded wireless channels around you? If not, you may just want to switch channels and see if you have any performance improvements. You won't break anything by switching channels.

Skexie~

Skexie

[pascalnavstar]

Than you Skexie,

I have just changed the Channel of Intel MyWiFi from 1 to 9 and make a test: same thing, the problem continues: disconnect in less than 1 minute (about 30 seconds) and  black TV screen, than reconnect again and so on several times, until it make a final disconnection.  No difference at all.

I think now that the cause of the the problem should certainly be WiDi driver and software incompatibilities  because all other functions of WiFi and Graphics are OK and passed all tests.

I have now two options:

a) Uninstall all WiDi stuff (software and drivers like Intel PROSet, WiDi software, Intel Centrino driver etc.) using the standard Windows program, clear the Register and than, reinstall all over again.
b) Wait for new set of WiDi updates from Dell, Intel, D-Link and Microsoft that eventually resolves the problem.


I have been using 2 others options for PC/TV connection that is working well:

1) The simple direct connection Laptop/TV using a long HDMI cable
2) Another toy using Wireless USB  (Warpia SWP-120A) that is working fine.

So I think that I will opt to wait for new WiDi updates that eventually could solves my problem.

If You discover others things about this issue, please tell me.

Thanks and best regards

Pascal   

[pascalnavstar]

Problem Solved! Incredible!  As I was concerned that there are some conflicts in the WiDi software, I have created a fresh new User ("WiDi") in my Laptop, and I do not believed when the WiDi worked OK! I have connect to NetFlix and watched about 1 hr of  movie without problem! But my std user still do not work with Wadi giving the same problem, I do not know why.  Maybe some configurations stored in the User files? Anyway, I am considering now using my new user "WiDi" exclusively for use with Intel D-Link WiDi  and NetFlix.

Thank You for the support and best regards

Pascal

[skexie]

Great job Pascal! It must have been some settings that were profile specific! Mine hasn''t acted up since 2 days ago, but I will definitely keep this in mind if it starts again.

Hopefully, D-Link will someday shed some light on this...or Intel will make WiDi non-proprietary, so that it can be investigated further. As for now though, hopefully others having this problem in the future will find this -thread and be able to fix it like you did!-

Skexie

[pascalnavstar]

Thank You Skexie, more two things I have discovered:

1) The firmware of the D-Link DHD-131 (and others brands) are made by Intel itself, they are standard.
2)  Seems that besides a maximum distance, there is a MINIMUM distance from the Laptop to the TV adapter! When watching a movie in NetFlix yesterday, my laptop was at less than 1 meter from the D-Link and TV: in the middle of the movie, I  heard a big bang, the laptop screen and the TV screen  both turned black, but the sound was still working.  WiDi gives a message telling that the Video configuration was not compatible. And more, after this,  WiDi do not start again, telling that there are not a valid profile.  I see in MyWiFi that the standard profile was deleted! I tried to recreate the profile without success. So i have deleted the user "WiDi" with all files and created another fresh one "IntelWiDi , and than, worked again!  This is unbelievable!

[pascalnavstar]

Found that all this  problems was caused by the use of any non Standard Microsoft Aero Theme that probaly have changed the Video configuration. When I changed to a standard Microsoft AERO Theme  the problem is solved.