Notebook detects and establishes connection only when placed very near the wifi modem.

Hi: I have two portable computers. An Acer Aspire One Cloudbook 14 (AO1-431-C8G8) and an HP 250 G5. There is also a wifi modem. The Acer can detect and establish connection at a distance of 50m from the modem while the HP only works if placed at 5m from the modem. How can this be explained? The Acer was manufactured in 2016/1/15. For the HP I don't have a manufacture date but I have just bought it and can expect it was manufactured not before 2016.

I think the difference is made by the hardware alone, that is the range does not depend on the software but, just in case, the Acer runs Arch with wifi-menu and the HP, Slackware with NetworkManager.

First thing I'd do is check the BIOS on the HP, you may find that there's a power savings option that causes the WiFi to run at lower Tx power which might limit range.

Then try booting from a different Live CD distro and see if that makes any difference, just to make sure there isn't an issue / incompatibility with drivers.

I'd check for Bios updates first like TenTenths suggests, there may be issues with the firmware controlling the wireless card. If that doesn't fix it (or there are none), I'd do a physical check on the wireless card to make sure the antenna(s) are securely attached, this can definitely be caused on a 2x2 card if 1 of the antennas comes off.

There is no power saving option in the BIOS menu. I tried with Debian and Arch. The Debian installer fails when exchanging keys with the modem, no matter how close to the modem I place the machine, while wifi-menu (Arch) gives 'Unreachable network'. Is it worthwhile to try with Windows?

As to the physical check, where I'm living I lack any tools (though perhaps it's only a matter of buying a screwdriver).

Originally Posted by stf92 Is it worthwhile to try with Windows?

Sure, and if you get the same results it's likely a hardware failure.

But the fact remains that Slackware (14.2) can connect though only at very close range.

i have seen questions like this, and more often than not there was a solution, by adding some options to the wifi driver.
but to figure this out, a lot of effort is required from the original poster.
not only troubleshooting attempted fixes, but also reporting about it comprehensively, and testing the results extensively (hint: web browser page loading times are not a good test).
unfortunately the OP of this thread hasn't offered ANYTHING that would enable them to even get started here, and my experience with this particular user is that they never will.

I have taken the notebook to the shop where I bought it. That they tell me if it is a hardware or a software issue. If it is the hardware the warranty allows to take it to HP.

Wouldn't hurt to try a different distro from a cd/dvd or usb maybe.

it's most likely a hard ware problem
BUT
you can get an idea of what is going on with the wifi adapter with

iwconfig wlan?

it will show the power setting


this being set to low by how ever your wifi was configured