Weird Intel Driver Update Utility problem? (Wi-Fi driver problem)

Recently, the WiFi on this particular laptop has been sub-par. Downloading the same file, the WiFi downloads at the rate of 70 kbps (pretty bad) while the Ethernet cable is at 700 kbps ~ 1000 kbps. I know that the Ethernet is almost always faster than the WiFi but the discrepancies are just jarring. I also noted that the signal strength is at maximum so distance isn't an issue. This isn't the case with other devices, such as my phone's WiFi speed, where I can stream HD Youtube videos with no problem.

Possible culprits:

Software:

Whenever I use Intel Driver Update Utility to attempt to fix the problem, it shows that I need to update my WiFi driver and my Bluetooth driver. The weird thing is that after I downloaded and installed those updates, it says that I need to install those same drivers after re-scanning for updates. This tells me that there's something fishy with this laptop's wireless drivers software-wise.

Hardware:

I have an Intel Wireless Dual Band AC 8260 as my wireless driver. I'm not really familiar with these, but I heard somewhere that there are certain frequency speeds (5 GHz, etc...) that need to be configured in order for the driver and the router to be compatible. The weird thing is that I've been using my laptop for 3 months now and it didn't have a problem until two weeks ago, which makes me think that this is a software problem.

Thanks for your help in advance!

Are you on the first Win 10 or the Anniversary version. I noticed when I upgraded with a clean install with anniversary that some drivers are updated to Microsoft installed drivers but aren't 100% compared the first Windows 10 (non insider version) Even with severely outdated drivers all the driver dates are inside Windows are really off. They didn't fix something with drivers and updating them. Nothing extreme but its gonna give some people issues on older machines. I think with insiders earlier on Anniversary are using newish type PC's. My laptop is a 2013 model and nothing special but fully updated/optimized it amazes me. So its gonna take some trial and error with drivers.

You might be right about the Windows 10 upgrade issue. I did a little bit of research about that and found that there's a tool that you can download to upgrade Windows 10. After "updating" (took like 5 seconds), it says that "thank you for upgrading Windows blah blah.."

Here's the catch. The WiFi became even SLOWER! I saw that this update was launched about two weeks ago (around the same time my WiFi started having problems). The full story is that once my laptop started having WiFi problems around two weeks ago, I did a hard factory reset (clearing personal files and OS updates) and noticed that WiFi was slightly better (still not at full potential though). Now that I upgraded it, the WiFi returned to its slowest form once again.

I also saw that there's another upgrade that will be released on August 2nd (not sure if it's the same update). We may just have found the real culprit, but I'm not really sure where to go from here. I now believe that the problem is a mixture of Windows 10 and Intel Network Adapter software.

I'll try to find the solution. Right now, I'm contemplating whether to do another factory reset to make this laptop slightly usable (I'm typing this on my phone). If you find it yourself, you can go ahead and reply to the thread. I appreciate the help.

UPDATE: I just factory restored my laptop... WiFi still terrible. I don't even know anymore. *sigh*

UPDATE: It's still pretty slow

What tool are you referring to for a Windows Update you downloaded that took 5 seconds? A clean install should take a minimum like 10 minutes. In my case about 20-25 minutes maybe. Older machines or huge drives maybe longer. You never said what version/build of Windows 10 you have now. If you went back to factory and only updated than I suggest to just upgrade to the anniversary 14393 by way of clean install using Rufus so it can delete and than create all the partitions needed. Spending all this time with various drivers is just gonna go out the door if you still need to go to the anniversary update anyway.

If you did a factory restore you took your computer back to how it was when it left the factory in a box. I don't know if you have a new PC or a 2 year old PC but keep that in mind since you did a factory reset. A clean install is always best and debloats things other than Microsoft forced apps. Remember depending on where you bought your computer the build date is more relevant. A PC you bought on sale 6 months ago could have been sitting in someones warehouse for 2 years, you never know.

When installing drivers you have 4 options technically. 1 through Microsoft, 2 is through your pc's manufacturer, 3 is from each individual hardware, 4 is a update utility. In a lot of cases the best option is go to option 2 and 3. I've found issues running in my case Dell update utlity vs their system detect. 1 will show I don't need drivers and 1 will show I need 3 drivers but when I go to the actual site and manual search my configuration it shows about 8 drivers and all versions show mine were out of date. When I upgraded original Windows 10 to the new Windows 10 anniversary I saw that Microsoft removed almost all of my individual drivers with there own other than Intel. So when I go to the device manager all of my drivers have a generic version/date on them. Everything seems to work fine. However I haven't gotten my full bandwidth optimized yet. Utorrent is my only use for a lot of bandwidth. Downloading 3-4 movies at one time. Normally a torrent would download at 3-5 Mbps with 3-4 active downloads or 9-11 Mbps with just 1 active download. I'm running the same settings as I did pre upgrade. In my case and maybe yours its gonna be a trial and error. I can't trust Windows to give my 3 year old Dell optimized drivers. Another note to show you are gonna have to do your research is Intel driver utility showed I only needed video and audio drivers but Dell system detect showed I needed the SATA driver. I have a generic Microsoft SATA driver right now.

Going to download and upload speeds. Remember there are many ways Microsoft can eat away your bandwidth if you don't reselect the settings you had. Automatic updates and the area where you choose how updates are installed under settings. Make sure its turned off where it says updates from more than one place. They want all of us to share our updates and give them to each other P2P. With a new upgrade coming and the deadline for Win 10 upgrades that could be your problem. Even turned off make sure you have it set to PC local and not PC local and PC's on internet. Also make sure to check everything else that was set or turned off prior to your factory reset. Background apps, etc. We have no idea how you use your PC or if there are 5 weather apps in the background gathering data.

Do what I said above first. Make sure all appropriate settings are adjusted. Than test the download/upgrade speeds. Were you using a different DNS. Than try the first round of drivers. Sounds like you've been installing and uninstalling random drivers you were able to download. Its best to keep drivers that work just fine unless recommended. I don't know how many different drivers I have had since July 2015 Windows 10 but I haven't noticed any decrease in performance or increase when I did upgrade the drivers whichever they were. What type of internet speed package do you have. About a year or so ago I had a basic cable internet package and everything was fast and perfect until I downloaded like 1 movie or something. Than they would throttle the hell out of my connection for an hour or so and than go back to full speed. Only when I upgraded to 1 gigabit package did that stop throttling my down speeds. Hope this helps

Here are your drivers. 1st 1 is Wifi and date was June 2016
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...?product=86068

This is for Bluetooth and also dated for June 2016
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/dow...?product=86068

Make sure you download 32 or 64 bit. These are for the 8260 Intel. If there happens to be an issue after installing these check the adapter.

UPDATE: I'm doing a fresh install (not factory recover) of Windows 10. I'm letting Windows Update take care of the updates, which includes driver updates (probably a bad idea?).

I see that Windows Update is installing a version of Intel Dual-band 8260



Also, I already installed those June 2016 drivers to no avail. Those were the ones that Intel Driver Update Utility was suggesting.



Just to confirm the Anniversary Update is the one being released tomorrow, right?